Srikumar Rao's Blog, page 21

Don’t Let Yourself be Hijacked!

Don’t Let Yourself be Hijacked! You don’t need a guy with a gun to capture you and spirit you away to where you would rather not be! Would you like to be car-jacked? A guy with a gun comes up to you when you are stopped at a traffic light, motions to you to unlock…

The post Don’t Let Yourself be Hijacked! appeared first on The Rao Institute.

Finding Joy in Meaningless Tasks

Finding Joy in Meaningless Tasks Are You Bored Out of Your Wits by the Drudgery of What You Have to Do? There is stuff you do in life that, frankly, is not very exciting. This is true of even the most glamorous occupations. I was envious – and admiring – of high fashion models. There,…

The post Finding Joy in Meaningless Tasks appeared first on The Rao Institute.

Yes! You Can Change Your Past

Yes! You Can Change Your Past Are you bound and chained and immobilized by what you thought happened to you? I cannot even count the number of persons who have come to me, bemoaned their circumstances, and then attributed their current situation to something that happened in their past. Some awful tragedy, some dire misfortune,…

The post Yes! You Can Change Your Past appeared first on The Rao Institute.

Was the Prisoner Really Freed? (Or was he free all along?)

Was the Prisoner Really Freed? Or was he free all along? It was an advertising gimmick and an expensive one. There were full page ads in magazines and newspapers that proclaimed the prisoner would be freed by force. There were television commercials that invited viewers to come and watch this historic event. Clever copy did…

The post Was the Prisoner Really Freed? (Or was he free all along?) appeared first on The Rao Institute.

The Strange Disappearance of the Wedding Guest

The Strange Disappearance of the Wedding Guest Would you like all your problems to vanish? I mentioned in a previous blog that great teachers frequently taught through parables. One such parable is that of the wedding guest who disappeared. It was actually a wedding crasher who vanished but that term was not used in those…

The post The Strange Disappearance of the Wedding Guest appeared first on The Rao Institute.

Is he really such a jerk? (A tip for dealing with difficult people …)

Is he really such a jerk? A tip for dealing with difficult people Are there persons in your life who inflame you and leave you a quivering jelly of frustration and indignation? You can develop ulcers. Or you can reframe the situation. Here is a story that illustrates it beautifully. It is a true story.…

The post Is he really such a jerk? (A tip for dealing with difficult people …) appeared first on The Rao Institute.

You Are Not the King (Neither are you the fugitive …)

You Are Not The King Neither are you the fugitive! In my last blog, I narrated the tale of King Janaka and what became an existential question for him. A question that nagged him constantly and would not let him be. Which was ‘real’? Was it ‘real’ that he was a king who ruled a…

The post You Are Not the King (Neither are you the fugitive …) appeared first on The Rao Institute.

Did the Sage Dream He Was a Butterfly?

Did the Sage Dream He Was a Butterfly? Or did the butterfly dream it was the sage? As I mentioned in my last blog, great teachers frequently use parables to explain profound truths in a manner that really sinks into the minds of their followers. The Chinese philosopher, Chuang Tzu, supposedly dreamt that he was…

The post Did the Sage Dream He Was a Butterfly? appeared first on The Rao Institute.

This is the Truth (And the truth will set you free …)

The great teachers always taught through parables. The best ones have survived through the ages and taken countless seekers to higher levels of consciousness. There is one tale that is particularly powerful and there are many versions of this in various Wisdom Traditions. Here is my version of this fable: Harry, an accomplished horseman, decides…

The post This is the Truth (And the truth will set you free …) appeared first on The Rao Institute.

You Are Not *There* (And That Is The Problem!)

You Are *Not* There (And That Is The Problem!) Forget work-life balance. Try being there. Have you thought about work-life balance and do you feel that your life is out of whack on this dimension? I get calls about this all the time. Entrepreneurs, professionals, senior executives – they all feel that work is taking…

The post You Are Not *There* (And That Is The Problem!) appeared first on The Rao Institute.