Inspirational Leadership

Listening to politicians’ nasty rhetoric, one might think that leadership has to be aggressive and confrontational, but consider this parable about leadership.

A student assigned to write an essay about an effective leader wrote this story:

“I’ve been taking a bus to school for years. Most passengers keep to themselves and no one ever talks to anyone else.

“About a year ago, an elderly man got on the bus and said loudly to the driver, ‘Good morning!’ Most people looked up, annoyed, and the bus driver just grunted. The next day the man got on at the same stop and again he said loudly, ‘Good morning!’ to the driver. Another grunt. By the fifth day, the driver relented and greeted the man with a semi-cheerful ‘Good morning!’ The man announced, ‘My name is Benny,’ and asked the driver, ‘What’s yours?’ The driver said his name was Ralph.

“That was the first time any of us heard the driver’s name and soon people began to talk to each other and say hello to Ralph and Benny. Soon Benny extended his cheerful ‘Good morning!’ to the whole bus. Within a few days his ‘Good morning!’ was returned by a whole bunch of ‘Good mornings’ and the entire bus seemed to be friendlier. People got to know each other.

“If a leader is someone who makes something happen, Benny was our leader in friendliness.

“A month ago, Benny didn’t get on the bus and we haven’t seen him since. Everyone began to ask about Benny and lots of people said he may have died. No one knew what to do and the bus got awful quiet again.

“So last week, I started to act like Benny and say, ‘Good morning!’ to everyone and they cheered up again. I guess I’m the leader now. I hope Benny comes back to see what he started.”

Remember, character counts.

Michael Josephson
www.whatwillmatter.com

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How to Make a Airtight Packing at Home

I got this in email few days back and I think it is a great idea. We can make a airtight pack at home very easily with material which are readily available. You just need an empty bottle of water and a plastic bag which needs to be made airtight.
Please see the images and you will realize how simple this is.


Advantage of keeping food airtight is it prevents moisture loss and keeps the food fresh. Sometime it is difficult to have too many containers and this idea can come handy.

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What is Master Cleanse?

There's a lot of buzz surrounding the Master Cleanse. Lately it seems like every Hollywood actress or actor who needs to get in shape is turning to this decades old health system that involves drinking a mixture of lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper.

With all the diets out there to choose from why would anyone bother with the Master Cleanse?

There's two main reasons people like the Master Cleanse. The first (and most obvious) is that it works. The results people are getting with the Master Cleanse border on miraculous, and they are backed by thousands of devoted users who are living testimonials to the effectiveness of the Master Cleanse.

The second reason people choose the Master Cleanse over other diets and wellness programs is that it's fast. The typical person only spends 10 days on the Master Cleanse, compared to other diets that can last months or even years you can see why they choose the Master Cleanse.

Another interesting thing about the Master Cleanse lasting just 10 days is that you only need a short term burst of will power to get through it. Having to sacrifice for months is what makes other diets so hard to stay on, but most people can will their way through 10 days.

What can you expect from 10 days on the Master Cleanse?

Even though most people are going on the Master Cleanse to lose weight quickly, there's many other health benefits to be gained by doing the Master Cleanse. Flushing out your system is what the Master Cleanse is really designed to do. Even back 60 years ago when the Master Cleanse was first invented people had health problems as a result of waste building up inside of them. Today with processed foods, pollution, and all around poor diets our bodies desperately need to be flushed out every once in a while.

When you flush out your body with the Master Cleanse the waste you eliminate will be abnormal. The smell, color, and texture of the waste that comes out of your body shocks some people, so you should be prepared.

If you want to try the Master Cleanse there's more you need to know then just drinking the lemonade mixture for 10 days. In fact most people who try the Master Cleanse without knowing all the steps fail. If you think the Master Cleanse is something you would like to try there's a good book at what is Master Cleanse that you should read before starting the Master Cleanse because it covers the common problems people face, and how to avoid them.

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Cultivate Active Hobby For Faster Growth

Photo Credit : digicla, Flickr

One of my major hobbies since my childhood have been reading. I was mainly into classics and fictions. Then took on Sherlock homes and finished all the novels. Later on during last few years it has been self help books and literature. Currently it is more on Yoga, meditation and alternative healing and blogging on these.

I am able to read pretty quickly in English, Hindi and Bengali languages and little bit of Gujarati language. When I was in college, I was a voracious reader and would read anything I found. I would even try to read a piece of newspaper which was wrapped around something I was carrying.

Gradually I realized that there are two types of activities or hobbies - Passive and Active. Reading is more of a passive hobby while hobbies which require physical activity can be called as active hobby.

I am practicing skating now a days. Learning skating is one of my 50 goals. Presently I am halfway through learning and able to take walk. I started off with just trying to stand still and gradually progressed to present stage.

At present I am for enjoying active hobbies. Active hobbies involve action. It can be anything you enjoy and helps you experience new things in life. This brings freshness in life and makes it more enjoyable.

Active hobby involves moving your body and coordination of mind with the body. If that involves your hobby it obviously means that you will enjoy the activity. The excitement which you will get from the activity is what will pull you towards the activity. That is why mountain climbers keep on climbing more and more challenging mountains although it is dangerous.

I recommend everyone around me to cultivate atleast one active hobby. Most people when you ask them will mention passive habits like reading, listening to songs, watching movies or cricket match. Reading something useful can still be a great thing to do while others are just good for entertaining yourself but they should not be your hobby. These activities will not contribute to your growth.

What if you do not know which hobby to pursue?
If you do not have any idea about which hobby to pursue, look around you and find any activity which excites you. It can be anything like biking long distances, hiking, trekking, rafting, skating, martial arts etc. Do something which will provide you a different kind of experience. Once you find that hobby give it sufficient time and you will find that your life has a new dimension. So go ahead and choose a new active hobby.

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How to Sleep after waking up at Midnight

Yesterday I had to get up at 3pm since my father in law was arriving by train. We had to pick him up from the station and me and wife got ready quickly and went to the station. At the station there was some confusion due to which we spent around half an hour in finding him and then we got him home after that.

Once we got home I decided to go back to sleep as it was too early to start the day and usually when I am sleep deprived the day does not go of well with me. On getting to the bed initially I found that it is difficult to sleep back once you have to get up earlier. After few tossing and turning I suddenly found an effective way to get to sleep. Let me share that simple process below.

First of all lie down flat on your back with the hands to the side and relaxed. If you try to sleep sideways you would find it difficult to get back to sleep. I usually sleep sideways and find it easy to get to sleep in this position but when I have to wake up at night and again go to sleep sideways method is lesser effective for me. Close your eyes and move your eyeballs little upward. Try to relax the breathing and soon you should be able to see some random moving patterns in front of the eyes. Just observe them and soon you would be sleeping soundly.

I have found another technique to be useful also. In this technique I decide to meditate on the name of the deity I worship. For this I decide that I will slowly repeat the name of the deity around 100 times mentally and with each breath I meditate the name once. Once I start this usually I find myself in sleepy and eyelids become heavy very shortly and most of the times I am asleep before I reach the count of 100.

Important thing here is you should be relaxed and be pleasantly confident that you will be able to sleep with the technique. You can try this and see the results.

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Fear of Falling

Learning to skate is one of my 50 Goals for me. At the beginning of the year I included this as one of my goals for this year. I already had a pair of skates at my place and started practicing. I only put the skates on one leg and used the other leg to to push. I was afraid that I would fall down if I put on the skates on both the legs therefore I felt that it would be safer to put on the skate on only one leg. Another reason for practicing on one leg was I felt that it would give me the feel of skating without the risk and later I could move on to skating on both legs smoothly. How wrong was I.

However much ever I practiced on single leg, the feel is never the same as practicing with skates on both legs. Also it did not help me overcome the fear of falling down because I never fell down practicing on single leg. It happened for two weeks and then I lost interest. That was until last week.

Last week guests came over to our house to stay for couple of weeks. They also have small children and as is usual with most children they want to try out new things. They do not have the fear of failure or falling down as we elders have. Usually that fear is instilled by grown ups in the children. Some of the fears like teaching them to be safe from fire or electricity may be good for them but lot of others are not good for their growth.

Anyway to continue with the story, they started trying out the skates and on the second day I noticed that their nine year old daughter decided to try to skate on both legs. She took baby steps and was successful in covering a small distance without falling down. I was impressed with how quickly she was able to do that and main reason was she did not have the fear of falling. What I was reluctant to try even after two weeks, she decided to try on the second day itself. That is what innocence of a child can achieve.

This gave me hope and I immediately decided to give it a try. I put on the skates on both the legs and was able to cover a distance safely. I was thrilled. I tried again and decided to call my son to show this. My son came saw me trying to skate on both the legs. He was not impressed with the speed with which I was moving and gave me a good push on my back. I fell down on my back. Though it did not hurt much physically, my ego was hurt and got angry on him.

After I calmed down I realized that falling down was not that painful as I had assumed it to be. In fact it was good that I was pushed and I fell down. That incident removed my fear of falling. Now I am practicing skating and hope to gain sufficient skills in near future.

My Lessons
1. Likelihood of falling or failing is lesser that we assume.
2. Falling down is not as painful or disgraceful as we imagine it to be. Falling removes the fear and it is good for us in the learning process.

Go ahead and pursue your dreams. Falling down is part of the process to succeed after all stepping stone to success are the failures. Falling or failing helps us to lose our fears which stop us from growing.

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How to make Yogurt or Curd like Indian Sweet Shops

Unlike US or other European countries, Yogurt is not packaged and sold in India and many other Asian countries. You can get it fresh for the manufacturers, who are usually your neighborhood sweet shop owners.

Day before yesterday, I went to buy curd (yogurt) at a shop near my house. Somehow the yogurt at the shops is very well made and thickly set while when we make the curd at our home it is sour and more contains more fluid.

I asked the shopkeeper the secret to making great yogurt, and he gladly revealed the secret to me. I tried it at home and I was successful in making superb yogurt as you can see in the picture. It was firm and had creamy layer on the top. It tasted great and I made it again and again with the same process.

It is also lot cheaper than what you pay for while buying from the stores.

 Here is the recipe.

1. Use a glass containers. Earthen containers are also excellent option however they are difficult to find everywhere.
2. Use a flat bottom container instead of deep bottomed container. Baking tray is a good option.
3. Pour the milk in the container. In the summers use lukewarm milk and in the winters use hot milk.
4. Add four to five drops of curd from existing collection Yogurt at home, in the milk. Usually we make the mistake of adding too much of curd which make it too sour.
5. Keep the container aside and do not disturb for 10 hours or so. If you disturb the container too much yogurt will not be solid in nature.

Usually start the process in the night and keep it in refrigerator in the morning till you consume this home made yogurt.

 Try it and enjoy the fresh home made yogurt.

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