Thanks giving – Gratitude

When I was a kid my mother was always insisting that whenever I interact with people, I use two phrases always …..’thank you sir & if you please’. I had taken them to heart and it is something that I have used with everyone from bell boys to CEOs and the guys who serve me coffee in front of the CEO when we meet.

In the US people will be celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend and I would also like to thank my readers and especially those who follow my blog. I know you’ll have a lot of options and limited time, so the fact that you share that time on my blogs is very critical to me. I hope I live up to your expectations.

My mother was a very intelligent lady, but I am not sure if she knew the impact those two statements have on us, when we speak them from a neuro science perspective. When in a state of gratitude / thanks keeps you happy. When you are in that state, you can’t be having negative thoughts because in a state of gratitude your brain feels safe. It doesn’t have survival at stake.

With the second phrase, by saying please you do two things. One you don’t let your brain bring your ego into the picture. Also the moment you say please, the other person’s guard is also let down, because you are requesting not ordering.

In today’s world our egos have become so fragile that we get into a rage at the slightest indication of someone even making a statement let alone ordering us. So when we start with ….can you please, if you can please….you are also helping the other person relax and listen to your request. She still may say no. But because she is relaxed she will not react in defensive manner.

By being in gratitude and saying thanks many times a day and requesting versus ordering also keeps you happy. So thank you all .

Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Two milestones for this blog

Affirmative action, Fear, Gratitude, Human Brain

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who read my posts and follow my blog. I hit two milestones in the last few days. The first one I crossed 400 posts total and the second one is that I have written one post everyday for the last 200 days.

One of the main reasons that I have been able to achieve this milestone is that you read my posts. I am grateful.

I talk about the the first step or just one step etc. Just so that all of you , who have started following my blog recently, understand where I have come from, I took the first step to writing my blog in 2017. There were a lot of start and stops. I thought I had to be an amazing writer with deep facts. Those were all the items my brain was showing resistance (creating fear) to do work for writing the posts.

Initial couple of years, I let the resistance overrule me and I put up posts only once in a while. After that I heard Joe Polish multiple times talk about being prolific versus being perfect. I slowly started putting up the posts a daily basis. these were typically short posts so that I didn’t have to have too much mental load of making a perfect post. The idea was that you could read this post on your mobile / tablet while waiting in the line for your coffee.

I have tried to maintain that style. Rarely are my posts longer than -3 minutes read and I try to give out the core message within that timeframe.

Whether its getting your marketing right or your financial independence, or your health – the 3 key themes I write about – just start, like I have. Once you start the momentum eventually carries you through. Today I feel incomplete if I don’t spend the 45-60 min to write a post for you.

Till next time …. for our next milestone

Carpe Diem!!!

Happiness

Energy, Gratitude, Happiness, Human Brain, Yoga

Happiness is such a fundamental thing, as far as I am concerned, that I tell all my team members that there’s no point in doing a job if it doesn’t get you to be happy.

I have written a lot about gratitude and how it helps you feel more happy, safe etc. This is one practice that I follow a lot.

In addition I do a little bit of Yoga / Pranayam (different kinds of breathing exercises) everyday in the morning because it gets me tuned a little better to start my day. Just the fact that I take time out in the morning without looking at my phone ensures that I don’t get any SMS or WhatsApp which can cause me to become anxious.

I don’t get a newspaper at home, I don’t watch newspaper on TV and I don’t have any apps on my mobile or tablet that can give me news because all these channels only vend negativity in some form or another, which gets my brain anxious

So while I wrote about activities which stop me from getting anxious (consciously or subconsciously) as per Steven Kotler there are actually methods by which you can ensure happiness.

In his book The Art of Impossible, he also talks about Gratitude as one activity to increase happiness. Then he talks about mindfulness – while I use Yoga. Then he says even exercise makes you feel happy because it helps you reduce cortisol levels, thereby reducing stress, while increasing feel good neuro chemicals.

Finally the most surprising thing that I read was a good night’s sleep. I have known that a good night’s sleep is critical for being alert and active. But this alertness and activeness is because of the higher energy levels that you have after a good night’s sleep. As per Steven, because of the higher energy levels, your brain feels more capable of solving the challenges ahead and therefore you feel more secure, which in turn leads to feeling more happy.

But when you are under pressure, these are the exact things you stop doing, which causes a negative spiral to take place. So how do you ensure that you do these four things even when you are stressed…. I don’t know…but would definitely like to know if any of you has been able to crack this code.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Gratitude – it makes your more resilient

Decisions, Fear, Flow, Gratitude, Habits, Happiness, possibility thinking, problem solving

This was news to me. I have always spoken about being grateful for whatever we have in life instead of bothering about what we don’t have. This habit has held me in good state, because God has genuinely given me a lot to be thankful for. That doesn’t mean I don’t have aspirations, but I definitely don’t get anxious about things which don’t come my way.

What I learnt over the last few weeks is that gratitude gets more dopamine into your brain. That spike in dopamine helps the brain feel good. Since the brain is designed to make you safe always, it is always looking for the next point of danger. So the brain is always looking for the next negative item.

When the dopamine enters and the brain feels safe, it does not have fear. When it feels safe it is willing to think of more possibilities. The moment you get into a possibility mode, you tend to solve problems better, you take better decisions and better decisions help you get better in life. You get into flow state faster because negative things are not bothering you.

When you are able to solve problems, then your brain does not get frustrated with the impediments that come your way.

When impediments come your way, your brain goes into negative mode trying to visualise all the negative situations in a snowball effect. When that happens, your ability to think of solutions goes down. And you get further frustrated, which leads to anxiety and most health related problems start from there.

Therefor being gracious, having gratefulness, is extremely good for your health. when you have good health automatically you become more resilient handling tough situations physically also.

Till next time then, be grateful for all that you have.

Carpe Diem!!!