Ctrl+Alt+Del

Why does a dead fish weigh more than when it was alive? Anyone wants to give it a try? No one?

Friends...

The truth is a dead fish does not weigh more than when it was alive. When I shot the question, our mind was programmed to believe the fact instead of challenging the fact. Our minds are programmed! Let me tell you a very interesting and thought provoking fact. You may not have had an opportunity to witness this. Please trust me. Back home in India, elephants are considered sacred and are worshipped in most Hindu temples. The elephants 12 feet tall and weighing 7000 pounds will be tied to a sacred pillar. When you imagine of elephants being tied, you will think of thick iron chain being used to tie the elephant’s leg to the pillar. But the truth is the elephants are tied to the pillar with a tiny rope. Puzzling? The reason is this. The elephants are tied to the pillar when they are young; days after they were born. The young elephants, with tiny legs, try to free itself with all its energy. Not strong enough. It tries again mustering all its force with a fury. Not strong enough. Obviously, the tiny rope is too strong to be broken by a young elephant. It tries until its mind gets programmed to believe that it can never succeed. Or in other words, it quits. When the young elephant grows bigger and stronger it has more than required strength to break the tiny rope into pieces. But, with a programmed mind, it never tries or attempts to free itself. Having known this fact, Hindu temples save on thick iron chains. The point to be noted is a negatively programmed mind is very dangerous. Shouldn’t we, intelligent human beings, having the sixth sense - the common sense (which is not very common though ;)) learn a language to program our mind positively? And free up our mind by deleting the negative programs?

In the age of computers, when people talk about programming languages like Java, Visual Basic, Visual C++; I was wondering if I could learn a language to program my mind. And the language I leant is Visualization. This technique has helped me more than once to hit my target. One incident worth sharing is the election I contested in my school for the post of General Secretary. Speculations were that I have only 40% chance of winning; I lack charisma; girls don’t like me; etc. etc. I challenged this with the programming language I learnt - Visualization. I visualized the Election Day from the casting of votes; to the counting of votes; to the declaration of results; to delivering the acceptance speech so vivid, crisp and clear in my mind. I did this exercise at least twice a day until the D-day. It was mind-boggling to me when I won the elections. I was a happy camper to deliver the acceptance speech, which I had delivered numerous times in my mind.

Friends, we all know the “Ctrl+Alt+Del” buttons, the most useful and most used button on windows ;) to terminate and restart programs. Don’t we need this “Ctrl+Alt+Del” buttons in our lives to terminate the negative programs and start the positive programs?

Shift_

I recently bought a new Nissan Altima. I liked their caption Shift_* where * stands for passion, inspiration, performance, individuality, joy, originality etc. No! That is not the reason why I bought a Nissan. But this shift_* reminded me of an illustration from the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R Covey. I read this book several years ago and have appreciated Paradigm Shift in my life. I personalized this illustration (with due reference to the author) on many occasions when I spoke on Paradigm Shift. I thought of narrating it again in my own words for my blog.

I was waiting at the KMCH hospital lobby for donating blood. It was a Saturday afternoon and the seats at the lobby were sparsely occupied. Some of them were reading magazines while most of them were lost in thoughts day dreaming. To break this silence, came two little kids yelling at each other accompanied by their father. One should be less than 5 years of age and the other could be anywhere between 7 or 8 years old. The man took a corner seat, closed his eyes and ignored the very existence of his two kids who were breaking the hell loose. They ran all over, grabbed the magazines from other peoples hand and irritated everyone there. An elderly man in the lobby could not stand this anymore. He went to the kids’ father and politely asked him to mind the kids. The kids’ father slowly opened his eyes, looked around as if he is seeing the world for the first time and said "My wife released herself from the world moments ago at the maternity ward. I don't know how to react and neither do they". My paradigm shifted at that moment. My attitude towards the kid, changed from hatred to sympathy. I could see everyone else in that room undergoing this shift in paradigm.

This story helped me realize how the paradigm shift could change your attitude altogether. If you wear blue glasses, my friends, the world is blue. If you wear red glasses, my friends, the world is red. So make your choice to wear the right glasses.