Rajith Rajappan's Blog, page 196

Spend Money On others

The editors of forbes.com gave $5 or $20 randomly to 46 strangers. Half the group was told to spend the money on themselves, while the other half was told to spend it on others. Those who'd shared the cash felt much happier at the end of the day than those who'd spent it on themselves. There was no difference in happiness between those who spent $5 or $20, suggesting that it's not how much money you spend, but how you spend it, that can boost the spirit.

(source :- readersdigest.co.in)

Hardwork and fun is what life is all about. As soon as so...

Hardwork and fun is what life is all about. As soon as something stops being fun, I think it's time to move on. Life is too short to be unhappy. Waking up stressed and miserable is not a good way to live. If you do still hve to work for a boss at a job you don't like, as almost everyone does at some point, don't moan about it. Have a positive outlook on life and just get on with it. Work hard and earn your pay. Enjoy the people you come into contact with through your job. And if you are still unhappy, make it instead your goal to divide your private life from your work life. Have fun in your own time, you will feel happier and you will enjoy your life and your job more. ( Richard Branson)

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your...

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it. That's the mark of a true professional. ( Gautam Buddha)
Hard work is painful when life is devoid of purpose. But when you live for something greater than yourself and the gratification of your own ego, then hard work becomes a labour of love. ( Steve Pavlina)

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your sma...

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.Somewhere in your makeup there lies sleeping, the seed of achievement which if aroused and put into action, would carry you to heights, such as you may never have hoped to attain.(Source: TOI)

Your thought is creative. Thought fused with feeling beco...

Your thought is creative. Thought fused with feeling becomes a subjective faith or belief, and according to your belief it is done unto you. (MATT, 9:29)
(Joseph Murphy)

"The celebrated chemist Friedrich Von Stradonitz of Germa...

"The celebrated chemist Friedrich Von Stradonitz of Germany of the nineteenth century was completely puzzled because of his inability to solve a complex problem related to the structure of hydrocarbon called benzene. He was exhausted, tired and a frustrated and decided to utilise the power of the subconscious mind. In his sleep, he saw the image of a snake biting its own tail and turning around like a pin wheel. When he awoke next day, he got the long-sought answer, the circular arrangement of atoms, which is known as the benzene ring." Very few of us are aware of it enough to use the power of subconscious mind. Except perhaps for a few eminent scientists, lawyers, doctors or businessmen. Many creative scientists have used the power of the subconscious mind to find solutions to complexities associated with their discoveries.Your subsconcious mind does not need your advice to say what is to be done to overcome barriers, when there is a blockade in your daily life. It is continously alert. Positive in- positive out. It is entirely up to you, how you use its power.
(Source : The Times of India- By B D Basu)

Fable

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, �I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.� The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, �How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!� So he came back and told Buddha, �The water in there is very muddy. I don�t think it is fit to drink.� After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha. Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, �See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own � and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don�t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.� What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, �It is effortless.� Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.
(http://www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/stories.html#Story51)

Present Moment

Present moment living, getting in touch with your "now", is at the heart of effective living. There really is no other moment you can live. ( Wayne Dyer)

His simpler life

By Shrabonti Bagchi
March 30, 2013

When Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mukund Mohan decided to make his life simpler in 2001, he started by getting rid of the television. In fact, his four children - an 11-year-old daughter, seven-year-old twin girls and nine-year-old son - have practically grown up without a television in the house. The next year, Mukund, as he likes to be called, stopped wearing suits. In the following two years, he gave up wearing formal shirts and shoes. "I just took that whole process of deciding what to wear out of my morning routine. Life became much simpler when I owned a few T-shirts, pants and one pair of chappals, " says Mukund, who works as the CEO-in-residence at the Microsoft Accelerator in Bangalore (the Accelerator is a startup-mentoring programme run by Microsoft). In 2008, when Mukund and his family moved from the US to Bangalore, he had already sold two Silicon Valley startups in the Internet and enterprise software markets, besides having worked in companies like Hewlett Packard, Ariba, Inc and CiscoSystems. In Bangalore, he founded and sold BuzzGain, a social media tracking service, to Meltwater in January 2010. By any standards, Mukund was a wealthy man.
But the move to India only "accelerated" the process of living simply with few possessions and fewer needs. In the US, Mukund was driving an Audi and a BMW;after moving to India, he bought a Maruti Alto. Even that is used sparingly and Mukund prefers to travel on the city bus. "It is possible to do things this way in India. In the US, it's tougher to walk down somewhere in the neighbourhood or use public transport as a family, " he says. Mukund takes the bus every day from his house in north Bangalore to his office at the heart of the city - a distance of about 20 km. He laughs when you ask him why. "I like riding on the bus. I like watching people, talking to them. You can read on a bus. " While the small car they own is used to ferry the kids around at times, the family often takes bus rides together as well. "Waiting for the bus teaches you patience. Walking to catch a bus - not to mention running after it - is great exercise, " he adds.  Achieving a simple lifestyle has become something of a mantra for him. He likes the challenges and the discipline it imposes on him and his children. For years now, he has been having only one of three things for breakfast - oatmeal, bread or idlis (and the bread could go soon). The time saved in thinking of what to eat, planning the meal and shopping for it can be put to better use, he feels. "Almost 90 per cent of the time, dinner for us is daal and chapati. The kids may want pizza once in a while, and that's okay, " he says. "If you think about it, almost everything is an acquired need. Except for things like water, what do we really need? Basic food, basic living... it makes things so much less complicated, " he says. The area of Bangalore where he lives sees frequent power cuts. When that happens in Mukund's house, it's candlelight time. "We did have an inverter, but it stopped working a few years ago and we never replaced it. Now when the power goes, we just light candles. It's really not that tough, you know. And the kids actually enjoy it. They even do their homework by candlelight, " he says.
When Mukund sold his last company two years ago, initially he didn't really want to do anything by way of earning a living (he was even featured in a TOICrest story on early retirees). He didn't really need to work, and he wanted to spend time with his father, play with the kids and generally lead a retired life. But a few months later, he got involved with some start-ups he was advising and ended up heading the Accelerator, Microsoft's start-up incubator for its Azure cloud platform. "To be honest, we are very well-todo, " says Mukund. "I draw a salary, and my wife takes care of our investments, for which we use fairly simple mechanisms. We have two money managers - one here and one in the US. Practically speaking, we don't need the money, " he says. The family doesn't spend more than 15-20 per cent of its income - and most of that goes into the children's education. They do live in a biggish fourbedroom villa, but there are six people to accommodate, and plus, "it would be too much trouble to move somewhere, says Mukund, "This is simpler. " What was the easiest thing to scale back on when you downsized? Easiest thing to scale back on was food, especially chocolates. I used to love dark chocolate, but it wasn't tough to give it up What was the toughest/what did you miss the most? My gadgets. Now I have a rule. If my kids get a new toy, they have to give away something they already have. That way, not more than 20 toys are at home. I loved my gadgets, especially new cell phones. I would buy a new gadget each month What kept you from slipping back into the old lifestyle? Discipline and my kids since I have to be a role model for them. They keep me honest and ensure that I don't slip back into old habits

Why we can't get no satisfaction

In an interview with TOI-Crest, the author of books such as 'All The Money In The World: What The Happiest People Know About Getting And Spending' and '168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think', discusses the importance of money and time.
You say time is the ultimate luxury. Why? Time is the ultimate luxury because while you can (at least theoretically) earn more money, no one can make more time. All the money in the world will not buy you a second more. Because we all have the same amount of time, exercising control over how you spend your time is the ultimate show of power - it amounts to making the most of a scarce resource. It follows from this that those with lots of time, like unemployed people, should be the richest, but clearly that is not the case, both literally and metaphorically Unemployed people have a lot of free time, but they don't necessarily have pure control over it. After all, there are often money worries, which limit how much you can do with that time. You often wind up scrambling to do things to pay bills and that doesn't feel particularly powerful. When I talk about time as the ultimate luxury, it's that you know your time is very valuable - and yet you choose to spend it on things that the world doesn't necessarily reward. Like reading the paper while there are various calls and meetings going on, because that's what you want to do.
You've written a series of books on making the most of one's life. How important are money and material possessions in leading a fulfilling life? I tend to think money matters for living a full life because money is a tool. Like any tool, it enables you to do things more efficiently and effectively. If you have grand goals, having more money will enable you to have a better shot at achieving them. Material goods are somewhat of a different matter. Money can be converted into material goods, but many things we think will make us happy don't necessarily do so. Furniture, for instance. You're better off buying cheap furniture and spending your money on travel and getting together with friends. Do you think most people today have the wrong priorities? Where are they going wrong? I don't necessarily think people have the wrong priorities. I think they just aren't using their money to effectively achieve their priorities. We want happiness, but we overspend on housing, which makes us cash poor, so we can't do the things that really are fun, which tend to be experiences. Humans are social creatures, and we have evolved to be somewhat obsessed about where we land in the hierarchy. We are always tempted to spend more on "positional goods" - that is, those items like houses, cars, and jewellery, which are easily compared. No one knows if your picnic was better than someone else's potluck dinner, so we have no temptation to overspend on such things. And yet those experiences are more correlated with happiness. What is the single biggest change people should incorporate in their lives to make their existence more satisfying?  To make life more satisfying, I advocate figuring out what matters most to you, and then spending as much time and money as possible on those things. Being in the right job - one that brings you great joy - is a good start. Then you're spending many of your waking hours doing something rewarding, and earning money doing it. That will certainly bring a lot of satisfaction.
(Source :-Amardeep Banerjee)