Be Like a Pencil

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

"There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."

"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand."
"Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil."
"Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."
"Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."
"And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write."

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you.  Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you'll need it to become a stronger person. 

 

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make. 

Four: 

The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside.

And Five: On every surface 

you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.
 

 Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Keep Smiling ! :)

Swati

Intimate Note

My third YES!+, which I’m taking full fledged as a teacher is on. Today was the third day of the course. The second Sudarshan Kriya!!..Everyone was in bliss..the mind so relaxed and totally in the present moment :)

 

If I think of it closely, everything boils down to mind. As it goes, “Mind is a good servant but a bad boss”. The current YES!+ has taught me a lot. I haven’t shared it with anyone yet and my blog is the only lucky one with whom I’m going to reveal it. It may sound as cribbing but it’s purely my viewpoint.

When I went for my TTC, there were so many who said that they will organize a course for me when I come back. For me, its any YES!+ is Guruji’s course. Who takes the course is not an important criterion, though definitely it has some value. The main aim is to make people experience Sudarshan Kriya. When the Shalimar Bagh course was announced, I anticipated some volunteers to support and come forward for sewa. But I was shocked (rather zapped!) when only me and Neha ended up working for it! No doubt it’s been a great learning and I’m thankful to Guruji to the core for giving such an experience. After working with a team for so long, for a change I did everything myself – right from calling, putting posters, spreading messages, emails to venue arrangements! 

My concern is not that volunteers didn’t come forward. What I’m concerned about is are their so called reasons( I still call them excuses). Many say they were busy preparing for exams or were exhausted after back to back sewa activities. To all such dearies, if one has either of the 2 reasons stated above, then one should also not be doing facebooking, enjoying birthday parties, meeting up friends and other stuff. If sewa is distraction for you, what are these?????It irks when I see some morons who take sewa wrongly and further to see bigger morons who support them! I have also given exams, I have also been exhausted but it DOES NOT mean that you leave sewa. Sewa is our very nature. Yes, the kind of sewa done can vary. For instance, those who can’t come out of their home can take up calling, messaging, emails. And the lucky ones who can, sparing one hour daily is big deal???  I can say this with guarantee that no one studies for the whole day. Half the time is spent in useless activities or simply day dreaming. But if daily sometime is spared in sewa, the positive effects will be evident. The mind will be much more relaxed and in a happy state. Don’t you think one can study more in that state of mind??  Hence proved, sewa helps in better studies but still people have wrong notions. Also, sewa has a grace factor which many may have experienced :)

I’m not saying leave everything and plunge into sewa. But again, if you fail in balancing sewa and studies, please don’t put the blame on the former! Please accept first that yes, it’s me whose unable to manage things and that is why not doing sewa. It has happened with me a lot many times but I’ve never backed off from sewa. I’ve been available in whichever way I can.

I have no ill feelings against anyone. All are devotees of Guruji and we all work for him only. But in life, certain fundas should be clear. I have also made mistakes and learned but it has only happened because I came forward, took risks, did unconventional things and moved beyond my boundaries. It isn’t about organizing a course..it’s about self growth as well as getting people into this precious knowledge. 

All said and done, this is my opinion. And I have no qualms in stating it openly. I love everyone and I wish volunteers grow on this path and achieve success in their passions :)

Keep Smiling :)

Swati

Express and Impress!

At times, such beautiful and inspirational thoughts erupt in my mind which makes me feel good and I wonder was it me?? The credit goes to twitter. Seriously! I’ve been following exceptionally good people who post exceptionally good tweets. Dinesh Ghodke, Saleel Pulekar, Robin Sharma to name a few. I know many don’t like Robin Sharma’s style of writing but I find it simple and very connecting. It is crisp and directly creates an Aho! inside ( at least in me ;)

My TTC Teacher Rohit Sabharwal is of similar kind. He speaks less and to the point. He doesn’t beat around the bush and his answers are like tart: razor sharp. I wish he was a Delhi YES!+ teacher (he lives in Mumbai). Not to say that Delhi teachers aren’t good but I would have loved to work under/with him.

Off late, I’ve been taking GD, Interview / Personality Development Classes for XII^th pass who are preparing for entrance examinations. Teaching them is helping imbibe those qualities in me all the more. One of my key observations through the classes has been that if your focus is EXPRESSION (presenting yourself clearly), the IMPRESSION (on the Interviewer) automatically happens! Think about it, if one expresses clearly, is aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses, is lucid and natural, nothing can stop him/her! An interview, according to me, is a conversation in which they just want to know you better and assess how fit you are for their institute. If I’m natural and myself, I’ll be honest about things. Now this doesn’t mean one can be blunt and outright. You can put across your point, but in a certain way. I mean courteous, firm but not rude, assertive but not aggressive. I know it sounds easy to say all this than to do it. Not to say I’m a perfectionist in it, but I’ve gradually become a lot better at it. And it all has happened because I’ve accepted my shortcomings and made efforts to work on them.

Openness to feedback is crucial. Off late, I’ve started asking feedback from others. And believe me, I really had to keep my ego aside to ask feedback from certain people ‘coz in a feedback, one has to be open minded to listen to what the other has to say. Certain things may not sound sweet and this is the beauty of feedback – it is not sugar coated and states things as they have been perceived. And this is helping me grow better. One catch point - Feedback doesn’t mean that you accept whatever is said – you do listen with all ears, analyze it and then if you find worth in it, you take action. Please understand, the one who is giving feedback is also human! (Or so I suppose :P ) So there is subjectivity involved. There may be different feedback for the same thing. So you take some point and ignore the rest BUT ignoring should happen only after careful listening :)

I think I’ve spoken enough for the day ;) Time to shut off and go in the rest mode.

Keep Smiling :)