If we listened to our intellect, we would never have a love affair.We would never have a friendship.We would never go into business, because we would be cynical. Well, that is nonsense. You have got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. – Ray Bradbury

As in all matters, there is a time to play it safe and there is a time to take a risk and to seize an opportunity when it presents itself.

 I have developed my risk tolerance since an early age at School.  I went on stage to perform in a poetry recital without having learnt my lines well , completely blanked out and made up a poem on the spur of the moment. My elocution teacher was dismayed, but my English teacher was delighted and clapped the loudest. Better yet, I did win a prize – for spontaneous improvisation!

Later in life  , I accepted a scholarship to Paris, France at a time when my fellow University students were getting jobs or getting married! Everyone cautioned me that I was being foolish and turning down opportunities (to be employed or to settle down) that may never come again. Contrary to their beliefs, my decision to take the risk launched my career in directions that I never  expected. The world suddenly beckoned to me with open arms and opportunities abounded. Read More→

They say nothing happens by chance and as I was wandering through webland in search of a specific goal, one page led to another as it often does, and my eye paused on the link to this talk.

It was the headline that grabbed my attention.  How to live before you die!

This speech was delivered by none other than Steve Jobs to the graduates of Stanford University – the year was 2005. Here it is for you to listen and re- listen to it as it so beautifully encompasses so much of our own philosophy,  in words spoken straight from the heart of a kindred spirit!

Read More→

What one has, one ought to use: and whatever he does he should do with all his might. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

We have all heard of the Ultimate definition of Commitment so picturesquely described below :  The difference between “involvement” and “commitment” is like a ham and eggs breakfast.  The chicken was “involved” but the Pig was “committed”.

Most successful people can share stories of grueling hardships, obstacles and challenges that have been overcome only by determined, disciplined and persistent application of all of their resources to the attainment of the goal .

Clearly commitment is one of the keys to Success – being lucky does not count because only very few people have achieved success by a random but fortunate turn of events.
Read More→

Who has not felt the cold clammy hand of fear grip one’s spirit and paralyze our actions mid step? Sometimes this happens right at the moment when we are on the very verge of accomplishing our greatest success! Foiled by the Enemy again!

Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Most of us are enslaved by some kind of fear or the other. Like many of you, I have encountered fear in many different forms.

The fear of  being stuck in a permanent cage –  unable to fulfil my true potential, the fear of not living up to the expectations of the people who matter most to me, the fear of loss of my loved ones, the constant fear of being insignificant or of the things I give my life to not mattering to the world.

In my childhood I used to be petrified of  water and of drowning .

I avoided water sports and when I eventually decided to overcome it, I learnt to swim in 45 minutes flat ! I guess the speed of  learning was directly attributable to the intensity of my fear and the strength of my survival instinct!

And in  facing that fear, I am finally able to enjoy the joys of being in the water with the rest of my friends.
Read More→

 I heard this beautiful song for the first time in the earlier version of the film “The Thomas Crown Affair”, and the lyrics were a source of endless fascination to me weaving a rich tapestry of visuals for the pathways of meandering thoughts in our minds. 

Here are some of the lyrics so you can judge for yourself what I mean…

Like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, 
Never ending or beginning on an ever spinning reel, 
Like a snowball down a mountain or a carnival balloon 
Like a carousel that’s turning running rings around the moon.                      

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own, 
Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone, 
Like a door that keeps revolving in a half-forgotten dream,
Or the ripples from a pebble someone tosses in a stream.                

Read More→