Being Naked - Where to draw the line...

I have always wondered - how much openness is enough in a relationship, at work or in any other situation that involves other people. Is there a fine line, which once crossed can make you look like a fool or a nut case. If we are completely open there will be only 2 opinions people can have -
1. Either they love us for being so honest and forthright.
or
2. They hate us for not being a part of the herd!
But mind you being naked or being very honest can have serious implications too. It makes you very vulnerable, it is a kind of vulnerability that comes from being completely open and honest with no sense of pretense or cover.

The side effects include:
a. Being Judged all the time.
b. Being Embarrassed - Since u r open, its inevitable not to make mistakes or ask some dumb question or even give a stupid suggestion. So its a great chance that we may be embarrassed in front of people.

At the same time being naked is not for weak people and those who employ this approach need to be prepared for the implications. People behaving in such a manner leave themselves exposed to criticism and rejection, and may lose popularity amongst the group. It requires a certain self-esteem, humility and courage that many people do not have. However, anyone who is willing to set their ego and fear aside can practice the approach successfully. And they will benefit both in terms of the success of their professional as well as personal lives. This is one of the ways to build deep lasting relationships as you are projecting your true self - with no veil.

But again how much openness is enough --- That I leave on your intelligence...-:).

P.S: Corporate world has started realizing this model and recently there was a book "Getting Naked" by Patrik Lencioni. The model of this approach as written by Mr. Lencioni is summarized in the diagram below.


Enjoy
..Am

If the world were a village of 100 people....

Hi,
Just came across this beautiful post, it helps to see things in perspective and what exactly is going on in the world.

" If we could reduce the world’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

* The village would have 60 Asians, 14 Africans, 12 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 from the USA and Canada, and 1 from the South Pacific.

* 51 would be male, 49 would be female.

* 82 would be non-white; 18 white.

* 67 would be non-Christian; 33 would be Christian.

* 80 would live in substandard housing.

* 67 would be unable to read.

* 50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation.

* 33 would be without access to a safe water supply.

* 39 would lack access to improved sanitation.

* 24 would not have any electricity (And of the 76 that do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night.)
* 7 people would have access to the Internet.

* 1 would have a college education.

* 1 would have HIV.

* 2 would be near birth; 1 near death.

* 5 would control 32% of the entire world’s wealth; all 5 would be US citizens.

* 33 would be receiving—and attempting to live on—only 3% of the income of “the village”."

For a nice video, please visit

Miniature Earth

Wishes
Anurag

Born to Run......

Hello,

Recently, I read a book - " Born to Run" by Chris McDougall. It is a book about how we as humans have been engineered to run - BARE FOOT. Yes, bare foot!! Humans have been known to kill animals, before weapons for hunting were made. Did you ever think how they did it?? They used to chase the animal until it was tired and finally passed out, isn't it strange? Sounds funny but is actually true. What it really means is; that if you are hunting a deer, you chase it and just keep the poor bambi in your sight and after a few miles the deer will no longer be able to run fast and finally die. Wonder why!!! The answer is simple - to prevent overheating the body we need to have a very efficient cooling system. Animals just have only one way to cool themselves, most of them pant with their tongue out. But the great human body has an excellent cooling system. We can maintain a state of homeostasis by regulating the body temperature through sweat glands (present throughout the body). So in short animals can run faster for a shorter distance but if they are made to run for longer distance ultimately they will pass out.

Another interesting observation made in the book was it is very unlikely for us to injure our self while running barefoot vis a vis running with nice, expensive, cushioned shoes. I will not go in the physics as to how it happens, see the video below and you will understand it. The bottom line the impact on the feet is much less when we run barefoot as compared to running with cushioned shoes.

Of course to make the book exciting, Chris goes on telling us the story of Mexican tribe (Tarahumara/Raramuri) who have been running barefoot for 100's of years now. And how they run more than 100 miles a day without getting injured. The book ends in a race between ultra marathon runners in U.S and the Raramuris.

The bottom line is - we can run barefoot without injuries and in long-run the practice is better for the muscles and body. So taking Chris's advice too seriously I started running barefoot and was surprised to see the benefits. First, I noticed my speed increased, second I was able to run more efficiently i.e. getting less tired and running for a long time and last but not the least it felt great. Initially, there may be little pain in the shin muscles but eventually the feet get accustomed.

Incidentally, I found to run barefoot outdoors and protect our feet, Vibram has come out with cool shoes/sandals or whatever. These are called FIVE FINGERS ($85 dollars for a pair - kinda expensive though).

So just try running barefoot and enjoy your workout. Let me know how it feels.

Bye
Anurag

Who am I & Powers of 10...The perfect co relation - Concluding Part

In short everything is nothing but just energy and vibrations or in a geek's language it is just phonons vibrating and electrons getting from one state to the other. So all matter seen at the quantum scale is nothing but a combination of energy and vibrations.

Physics agrees with the fact that the world of name and form exists only as a condition of perception; at the subatomic level, everything is flux of energy. I strongly believe that all things are flux of energy, as well as space. This point of view is well corroborated with powers of 10. Viewed in a certain manner, powers of 10 have a hidden secret. If we think in numbers. At a distance of 0.1 angstroms we see nothing but a vast space between electrons
Written in powers of 10 this is - 10^-11
At 10 angstroms the outer shell electrons appears as vibrating points.
In powers of 10 this is - 10^-09
At 1 meter (10⁰ ) we see things as compact and solid mass.
Now lets see what happens if we keep increasing the distance.

At a distance of 100 million million meters, sun is seen just as a speck amongst other stars.
Written in powers of 10 this is 10<sup>14

Going even further at 100 million light years, we see nothing but pure space; yes pure empty space.</sup>
In powers of 10 it is 10²⁴.
We started with 10^-11 - everything was nothing but space and ended with 10²⁴ and all we see is nothing but space. Everything comes out of nothingness and everything goes into nothingness this is the alpha and omega of life. In fact, if somehow we get rid of the all the space between atoms then the whole world can be packed into a match box, yes a match box and I am not kidding.

The above argument tallies well with modern physics, a real scientist will acknowledge the fact that the things we see out in the world are not separate from each other and from us. We think them to be separate because of the limitations of our senses. For e.g. - if our eyes had a high resolution we may have seen the world as a continuous field of vibration, energy and space.

The entire spiritual journey can be summarized in 3 steps.

1. There is an infinite, changeless reality beneath the world of change.
2. This same reality lies at the core of every human personality.
3. The purpose of life is to experience this reality EXPERIMENTALLY/SUBJECTIVELY, which means to realize a feeling of oneness with every human being on the planet.

This reality is nothing but the fact that all of us are made from the same energy with lots of space. Name and form may be different but there is an underlying unity that connects everyone.

To summarize, from space I have come and in space I will dissolve; everything else in the middle is a joke.
Excerpt from a conversation I had with someone in India.

Q. Where have you come from?
Ans. Space
Q. Where are you going?
Ans. Space.
Q. What the fuck are you doing here?
Ans. Just fooling around for some years.

Yours Truly,
Space.....

Who am I & Powers of 10...The perfect co relation - Part1!

Hi all,

It has been long time since I blogged (was busy with work and then went on a vacation..-:)). So, sorry about that (not for goin on vacation, but for not blogging for so long-:)). Secondly, I wish all of you very happy and prosperous 2010.


Now coming to today's post. This post has been brewing for quiet sometime and the initial spark came when I was listening to a talk on Carbon Nanotubes. The speaker (who happened to be my friend) was explaining the strange behavior of nanotubes using laws of quantum mechanics. The essence was that at nano or quantum scale the usual laws like gravitation etc are no longer valid and there is an entire new world that exists. Things are crazy in this world. In short everything is nothing but just energy and vibrations or in a geek's language it is just phonons vibrating and electrons getting from one state to the other. So all matter seen at the quantum scale is nothing but a combination of energy and vibrations. That was my Aha!!!! moment, and I began thinking - if this is true for all matter, then its valid for the human body too.

I do not remember what happened after this in the presentation. As I was lost in the synthesis of east and west or in other words bridging the gap between science and spirituality.

How and what I was thinking, will be concluded in the next post.

Till then,
Good Bye
...Anurag

To Marry or Not to Marry

A few people in the world have this doubt, should they get married or not. After all it is a huge commitment as you are taking the responsibility of a person.
There was a great philosopher - Socrates, and a few people went and asked him. Hey Socrates, " Should I get married?" These were the people who were not sure whether it is worth an investment.

Socrates was the correct person for the question as he had suffered a lot from his wife. She was really terrible -- a witch. She used to beat Socrates, she had also poured a kettle of tea over his face and had burned him -- half his face remained burned throughout his life. Such a beautiful man, such a beautiful person like Socrates, and he had found the most terrible woman.

So these young men asked. Socrates said," Yes, if you listen to me get married. There are 2 possibilities. 1st - if the wife is like mine, you will became a great philosopher like me. 2nd - if you get a nice wife, of course you will enjoy your life. Both the possibilities are good." As if the wife is very bad she will nag you continuously and this is a great help to meditation. By and by one starts feeling unattached. One starts feeling," This is all illusion, maya." So don't avoid complexities in life, learn, pass through them, because that is the only way to grow.

So in short what we can conclude is in life, never escape from problems. They are very helpful, as they aid your growth. And if you are going to marry/date a girl, do not get a cow. So find a real woman, who will give you all sorts of troubles...-:). It is in that situation, one's mettle is put to test....

Happy Hunting...-:)
....Anu

Nice Poem.....

Recently I came across these beautiful lines. Here it goes.....

a> Watch your Thoughts, they become words.

Watch your Words, they become actions.

Watch your Actions, they become habits.

Watch your Habits, they become character.

Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny.

The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settle for.

Life is like melted butter.. once things cool down, it can be reshaped!

Bye

..Am