Mathew John_BLP007_Happiness_September 2012

The key driving factor for humanity is happiness. This brings me to circumspect deeply as to figure what exactly the meaning of happiness is. Happiness according to me is a sense of satisfaction that is emanated out of an act of goodness done to oneself or to the world. The world throws many perceptions on the term happiness. Even terrorists are happy in successful achievement of their targets. But, is that what one could define as happiness? Where is the goodness? Where is the positive growth? Happiness is intended to touch one’s soul and bring about positivity. The word happiness is simple but the meaning cannot be described in just one sentence.

Happiness is everywhere, which means it is something which we cannot seek. Happiness is something that generates itself amongst goodness. Understanding this would bring about great change to this world. Often, people seek happiness in the form of money/pleasure. But it isn’t that simple.  Happiness is achieved only by bringing goodness to mankind. Anything which is harmful or negative cannot be defined as happiness. This raises a question. Why can’t happiness vary from people to people? Slaughter and exploitation makes certain people satisfied, isn’t that happiness to them? My answer is no. Harmful activities are the result of sheer negativity and pain. Happiness never exists amongst negativity and pain.

So then, how can happiness be achieved? What causes it? These questions are quite interrelated and can be figured out with careful thought. As you figure out, you will realise that there is a strong correlation between happiness and positivity. Both these words are mutually inclusive. Happiness is not of the flesh but of the soul present within. The flesh is only a part of one’s entity which acts according the will of one’s soul. Hence, happiness is caused from the soul. This is where worldly items like money and pleasure get beaten. Again, the emphasis is never on the pleasure required to live a life but of the excessive pleasures which brings about greed and eventually end in pain.

The first step in bringing about happiness is to be mindful of the fact that the simple things are by far the most valuable things in the world. One must also realise that the greater purpose in leading a life rests with the society as a whole and not with the individual alone. Hence, individualism has to be nipped right at the bud. The second and the final step is to spread positivity and one’s happiness to everyone around.

Stay simple and stay happy!!

Mathew John_BLP007_Self Leadership_September 2012

Leadership begins with understanding the emotions of one self.  This is one of the main reasons for which the importance of emotional quotient is deeply highlighted in SOIL.

                During our leadership session with Anil sir, EQ was taken up as one of the key topics of the day. A significant correlation exists between enhancing one’s EQ and the ability to listen. I feel that effective listening can improve the EQ of a person to a great extent. When I am mentioning about listening, am not only emphasizing on listening through our ears, but also the importance of listening through our eyes. This helps us to give the minutest attentions to detail. Such level of understanding will improve the level of EQ to a great extent. One, listens to understand and the more you understand the better you are in an emotional level.  This is the first step in improving one’s EQ.

                EQ as we know is derived through trust, respect and acceptance. But in order to take it totally to another level, one must learn to appreciate the goodness amongst mankind. This is where the power of appreciative inquiry comes into the picture. Appreciative inquiry, as we are aware, is a tool which helps eradicate negativity using its alter ego – positivity. Understanding the power of appreciating the best qualities of others play an important role in bringing a positive atmosphere and also acts as a factor of motivation in order to achieve bigger results.

                After all, making ordinary people achieve extraordinary things is the ultimate aim of appreciative inquiry. This habit of appreciative inquiry invariably helps in taking our EQ to a whole new level and is unparalleled to any other kind of intelligence.

                On a concluding note, I would like to reiterate that deep listening helps us achieve great understanding and this understanding opens up to extraordinary ways of developing oneself to a greater form of a human being.

Mathew John_BLP007_Self Leadership

Self leadership was the order of the day. It was a real pleasure to have been part of the class today. It was such a wonderful feeling to have experienced an energetic batch in action. Needless to say the extremely flamboyant and charismatic leader in the form of Anil Sachdev, made my day.

Anil sir, a profound leader in his own way, walked down the aisle to greet us with joy. This was our first class with the great visionary. With so much positive vibes emitting from him, he began the session by explaining self realization through a series of brain storming questions and group interactive activities.

The 6 layers of self, as mentioned by my fellow bloggers was also a key concept that was showered upon us from Anilji. He also went on to explain that the alignment of these layers will help achieve self leadership.

The class was very much alive with Anil's motivating lecture and the plentiful examples that he had narrated during the course of understanding Self Leadership. I hope to experience even more of those leadership classes and again, it would be an honor to have Anilji amidst us during the course of what could be a fantastic year ahead.