Heroic Genius

What one CAN be one MUST be...

Watch this reel by axaychandi_2.0 on Instagram axaychandi_2.0 • Original Audio

“Feelings follow behavior.”

Depression can be created by sitting slouched in a chair, shoulders hunched, head hanging down.

Repeat these words over and over:

‘There’s nothing anybody can do. No one can help me. I’m helpless. I give up.’ Shake your head, sigh, cry.

In general, act depressed and the genuine feeling will follow in time… Feelings follow behavior.”

You want to feel depressed? Follow the prescription outlined above.

You want to feel better? Get active!

In any case, get up! BREATHE. Stretch yourself out. Shake yourself up. Bounce up and down a bit. SMILE. And get to work.

So, the next time you’re starting to feel a little off, take a moment to check in on how you’re holding yourself.

Know that, as Reynolds says: “Behavior wags the tail of feelings… We do, then we feel.”

The best way to finish is to start

The road to success is dotted with many tempting parking places, but nothing tops the feeling of continuing down that road when you feel like giving up.

Every step you take is that much closer to your goal.

As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.”

Imagine where you could be if you had already started.

So start now.

You can either go to bed satisfied with your efforts today or stressed with what you left for tomorrow.

You can either work hard to take on the hill or never know what it is that people see at the top.

So, what have you been putting off?

The best way to finish is to start.

खत्म करने का सबसे अच्छा तरीका शुरू करना है

सफलता का मार्ग कई आकर्षक पार्किंग स्थलों से भरा हुआ है, लेकिन जब आप हार मानने का मन करते हैं तो उस सड़क को जारी रखने की भावना से ऊपर कुछ भी नहीं होता है।

आप जो भी कदम उठाते हैं, वह आपके लक्ष्य के बहुत करीब होता है।

जैसा कि अरस्तू ने कहा, "हम वही हैं जो हम बार-बार करते हैं।"

कल्पना कीजिए कि अगर आपने पहले ही शुरुआत कर दी होती तो आप कहां होते।

तो अभी शुरू करें।

आप या तो आज अपने प्रयासों से संतुष्ट होकर बिस्तर पर जा सकते हैं या कल के लिए आपने जो छोड़ा है उस पर जोर दे सकते हैं।

आप या तो पहाड़ी पर चढ़ने के लिए कड़ी मेहनत कर सकते हैं या कभी नहीं जान सकते कि लोग शीर्ष पर क्या देखते हैं।

तो, आप क्या टाल रहे थे?

खत्म करने का सबसे अच्छा तरीका शुरू करना है।

What iceberg of pain do you have in your life?

The way to get through anything mentally painful is to take it a little at a time.

The mind can’t handle dealing with a massive iceberg of pain in front of it,

But it can deal with short nuggets that will come to an end.

So instead of thinking, Ugh, I’ve got twenty-four miles to go, focus on making it to the next mile in the distance.

Whether you’re running twenty or one hundred and twenty miles at a time, the distance has to be tackled mentally and physically one mile at a time.

The ability to compartmentalize pain into these small bite sizes is key.

SO

What iceberg of pain do you have in your life?

How can you break it down into short little nuggets?!

Nice.

Now, let’s hit it.

आपके जीवन में दर्द का कौन सा हिमखंड है?

मानसिक रूप से कष्टदायक किसी भी चीज से निकलने का तरीका यह है कि उसे एक बार में थोड़ा-थोड़ा करके ही लिया जाए।

मन अपने सामने दर्द के एक विशाल हिमखंड से निपटने को संभाल नहीं सकता है,

लेकिन यह छोटी डली से निपट सकता है जो समाप्त हो जाएगी।

तो सोचने के बजाय, उह, मेरे पास जाने के लिए चौबीस मील है, इसे दूरी में अगले मील तक बनाने पर ध्यान केंद्रित करें।

चाहे आप एक बार में बीस या एक सौ बीस मील दौड़ रहे हों, दूरी को एक बार में मानसिक और शारीरिक रूप से एक मील से निपटना होगा।

इन छोटे काटने के आकार में दर्द को विभाजित करने की क्षमता महत्वपूर्ण है।

इसलिए

आपके जीवन में दर्द का कौन सा हिमखंड है?

आप इसे छोटी छोटी डली में कैसे तोड़ सकते हैं ?!

अच्छा।

अब, इसे हिट करें।

What do you love doing?

Extrinsic motivation reflects the desire to get more of something that we don’t feel we have enough of: money, approval, social standing, power or even love.

‘Intrinsic’ motivation grows out of the desire to engage in an activity because we value it for the inherent satisfaction it provides.

How about you?

Where’s your motivation coming from?

Are you doing everything you can to accumulate money, praise and toys?

Well, that’d be extrinsic motivation. Nothing wrong with the money, praise and toys, of course, but if that’s your PRIMARY motivation than you’re losing out on some opportunities for higher levels of creativity and performance.

The trick is to follow your heart. To be INTRINSICALLY motivated. Build your life from the inside-out, doing the things that really matter to you and that make you feel good when you do them, with or without any potential rewards.

Rock that and let the secondary consequences flow to you as a by-product of your passion!

Are you doing what you most want to be doing with your life? Do you know what that is?

“We rarely offer ourselves the time and space to consider:

Am I doing what I most want to be doing with my life?

Do I even know what that is?

We are so busy doing ‘something’ that we rarely take a moment to look deeply and check in with our deepest desires.

Volition is a tremendous source of energy.

But not all volition comes from the heart.

If your volition is only to make enormous amounts of money or to have the biggest number of Twitter/Insta followers, that may not lead you to a satisfying life.”

Volition. How is yours?

The only way to answer them in the most powerful, authentic way is to give yourself the silence through which that “still, small voice” can whisper into your soul’s ear and help you navigate your life.

Joseph Campbell captures tells us:

“This is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers this morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes you.

This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be.

This is the place of creative incubation.

At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”

Here’s to creating the silence to optimize our deepest purpose!

“Sensory food is what we take in with our senses and our mind—everything we see, smell, touch, taste, and hear.

External noise falls into this category, such as conversations, entertainment, and music.

What we read and the information we absorb is also sensory food.

Perhaps even more than edible food, the sensory food we consume affects how we feel.”

We want to bring more mindfulness to what we’re consuming.

As Thich Nhat Hanh tells us, we’re digesting this “food” long after we consume it.

If we’re stuffing ourselves with junk sensory food, we’re going to have a tough time connecting to something bigger than ourselves!

Think for a moment about all the conversations you’ve had, magazines you’ve read, plus TV shows and movies you’ve watched over the last day or two or three.

Was it the kind of stuff that nourished or depleted your soul?

So, choosing our sensory food wisely!

"संवेदी भोजन वह है जिसे हम अपनी इंद्रियों और अपने दिमाग से लेते हैं - हम जो कुछ भी देखते हैं, गंध करते हैं, स्पर्श करते हैं, स्वाद लेते हैं और सुनते हैं।

बाहरी शोर इस श्रेणी में आता है, जैसे बातचीत, मनोरंजन और संगीत।

हम जो पढ़ते हैं और जो जानकारी हम ग्रहण करते हैं वह भी संवेदी भोजन है।

शायद खाने योग्य भोजन से भी अधिक, हम जो संवेदी भोजन खाते हैं, वह हमारी भावनाओं को प्रभावित करता है।"

हम जो उपभोग कर रहे हैं, उस पर अधिक ध्यान देना चाहते हैं।

जैसा कि थिच नट हान हमें बताता है, हम इस "भोजन" को खाने के लंबे समय बाद पचा रहे हैं।

अगर हम जंक सेन्सरी फूड से खुद को भर रहे हैं, तो हमें अपने से बड़ी किसी चीज से जुड़ने में मुश्किल होगी!

एक पल के लिए उन सभी वार्तालापों के बारे में सोचें जो आपने की हैं, आपके द्वारा पढ़ी गई पत्रिकाएं, साथ ही टीवी शो और फिल्में जो आपने पिछले या दो या तीन दिनों में देखी हैं।

क्या यह उस तरह का सामान था जिसने आपकी आत्मा को पोषण दिया या समाप्त किया?

तो, हमारे संवेदी भोजन को बुद्धिमानी से चुनना!

All the sounds around us and all the thoughts that we’re constantly replaying in our minds can be thought of as a kind of food.

We’re familiar with edible food, the kind of food we physically chew and swallow. But that’s not the only kind of food we humans consume; it’s just one kind.

What we read, our conversations, the shows we watch, the online games we play, and our worries, thoughts, and anxieties are all food.

There are four kinds of food that every person consumes every day.

In Buddhism, we call these kinds of food the Four Nutriments.

1) Edible food 2)Sense impressions 3)Volition
4) Consciousness, both individual and collective.

We’re constantly chewing on more than just our food.

If we want to create more silence in our lives, we need to bring more awareness to what we’re consuming.

हमारे आस-पास की सभी आवाज़ें और सभी विचार जो हम लगातार अपने दिमाग में दोहरा रहे हैं, उन्हें एक तरह का भोजन माना जा सकता है।

हम खाद्य भोजन से परिचित हैं, जिस तरह का भोजन हम शारीरिक रूप से चबाते और निगलते हैं। लेकिन यह एकमात्र ऐसा भोजन नहीं है जिसका हम मनुष्य उपभोग करते हैं; यह सिर्फ एक प्रकार है।

हम जो पढ़ते हैं, हमारी बातचीत, जो शो हम देखते हैं, जो ऑनलाइन गेम हम खेलते हैं, और हमारी चिंताएं, विचार और चिंताएं सभी भोजन हैं।

चार प्रकार के भोजन होते हैं जिनका सेवन प्रत्येक व्यक्ति प्रतिदिन करता है।

बौद्ध धर्म में, हम इस प्रकार के भोजन को चार पोषक तत्व कहते हैं।

1) खाने योग्य भोजन 2) इंद्रिय प्रभाव 3) इच्छा
4) चेतना, व्यक्तिगत और सामूहिक दोनों।

हम लगातार सिर्फ अपने भोजन से ज्यादा चबा रहे हैं।

यदि हम अपने जीवन में और अधिक मौन पैदा करना चाहते हैं, तो हमें अपने उपभोग के बारे में अधिक जागरूकता लाने की आवश्यकता है।

The best predictor of general life satisfaction, according to a nationwide study conducted by the University of Michigan, is not satisfaction with family life, friendships or income but satisfaction with self. As Daisaku Ikeda has written:

True happiness is not the absence of suffering:

You cannot have day after day of clear skies.

True happiness lies in building a self that stands dignified and indomitable.

Happiness doesn’t mean having a life free from all difficulties but that whatever difficulties arise, without being shaken in the least, you can summon up the unflinching courage and conviction to fight and overcome them.

Ultimately, happiness is determined by the degree to which we establish a solid self.

This self is actually the true self of one’s life.

Our greatness is INHERENT.

It is existing within us as a PERMANENT, ESSENTIAL characteristic or attribute.

We are great.

The Divine is within us. How could we be anything but great?

That’s our only real work- To do the things that help us connect to the Highest within more and more consistently.

Who is the one person in the world you have the greatest power over?

It’s your future self.

Be Nice to Your Future Self

It’s a general moral principle that the more power you have over someone, the greater your duty is to use that power benevolently.

Imagine your future self. And KNOW that the decisions you’re making today are creating that future you.

As Hanson tells us in Buddha's Brain

“It’s impossible to change the past or the present: you can only accept all that as it is. But you can tend to the causes of a better future.

Most of the ways you’ll do this are small and humble… These little actions really add up over time.

Everyday, ordinary activities—as well as any personal growth or spiritual practices—contain dozens of opportunities to change your brain from the inside out.

You really do have that power, which is a wonderful thing in a world full of forces beyond your control.

A single raindrop doesn’t have much effect, but if you have enough raindrops and enough time, you can carve a Grand Canyon.”

Moment by moment, little decision by little decision, we’re shaping our future. So, let’s choose wisely!

What diamonds sit within in your life looking like rocks ?

HERE IS THE STORY OF ACRES OF DIAMONDS

The merchant picked up the stone and said,

‘This is a diamond of great price and value.’ The new farmer was skeptical, but the merchant insisted that he show him where he had found the diamond.

They went out on the farm to where the farmer had been watering the donkey, and as they looked around, they found another diamond, and another, and another.

It turned out that the whole farm was covered with acres of diamonds. The old farmer had gone off into Africa seeking for diamonds without ever looking under his own feet.

The moral of this story was that the old farmer did not realize that the diamonds do not look like diamonds in their rough form.

They simply look like rocks to an uneducated eye.

A diamond must be cut, faceted, polished and set before it looks like the kind of diamond that you see in the jewelry stores.

Likewise, your acres of diamonds probably lie right under your own feet. But they are usually disguised as hard work. ‘Opportunities come dressed in work clothes.’

SAME THING WITH OUR LIVES.

You have acres of diamonds. You just need to open your eyes and see them.

Your acres of diamonds probably lie in your own talents, your interests, your education, your background and experience, your industry, your city, your contacts.

Your acres of diamonds probably lie right under your own feet if you will take the time to recognize them and then go to work on them.”

“No one can tell you what is right for you except for yourself.

So start telling yourself what to do.

If you blunder for ten years while thinking for yourself, that is rich treasure when compared with living these ten years under the mental domination of another.

The only true, honest and enriching authority is the internal authority of your own Supermind.”

Vernon says: “Don’t look for someone in whom to believe. Believe in yourself. The only authentic authority is your own original nature.”

SO, START TELLING YOURSELF WHAT TO DO.

“आपके सिवा कोई आपको नहीं बता सकता कि आपके लिए क्या सही है।

तो अपने आप को बताना शुरू करें कि क्या करना है।

यदि आप अपने लिए सोचते हुए दस साल के लिए भूल जाते हैं, तो इन दस वर्षों को दूसरे के मानसिक प्रभुत्व में जीने की तुलना में समृद्ध खजाना है।

एकमात्र सच्चा, ईमानदार और समृद्ध करने वाला अधिकार आपके अपने सुपरमाइंड का आंतरिक अधिकार है।"

वर्नोन कहते हैं: "किसी ऐसे व्यक्ति की तलाश न करें जिस पर विश्वास किया जाए। अपने आप पर यकीन रखो। एकमात्र प्रामाणिक अधिकार आपका अपना मूल स्वभाव है।"

तो, अपने आप को बताना शुरू करें कि क्या करना है।

“Take the survival tale of Swedish adventurer Goran Kropp.

In October 1995, he left Stockholm, Sweden, on a bicycle and rode it to the base of Mount Everest, arriving there in April 1996.

He climbed Everest, reaching the summit with no oxygen mask and no help from Sherpas.

He descended the mountain and eventually pedaled back to Sweden.

If someone invited you to undertake such a wild adventure, you might say: “That’s impossible!” or “You’re crazy!”

It’s not impossible. It’s hard — really hard — but doable under the right circumstances.

SENECA tells us

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.”

What are you telling yourself is it impossible OR is it hard?

What would your life look like if you stepped back and embraced the challenges you’re facing and create even more exciting opportunities for growth?

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The challenges confronting your business, sports, health and fitness, and relationships are far more manageable than you might imagine.

Believe Big

Here is the first step toward success. It’s a basic step. It can’t be avoided. Step One: Believe in yourself, believe you can succeed.

The more successful the individual, the less inclined he is to make excuses.

Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix Movie ;
“What are you waiting for? You’re faster than this. Don’t think you are, know you are. Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me.”

Henry Ford says:

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

SENECA who says: “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.”

So, How about you?

Do you really know you can succeed?

Once you know you can succeed, it’s time to believe big.

The practice of living consciously is the first pillar of self-esteem.

Branden tells us that the practice of sentence completions is a powerful tool for living more consciously.

“Sentence-completion work is a deceptively simple yet uniquely powerful tool for raising self-understanding, self-esteem, and personal effectiveness. It rests on the premise that all of us have more knowledge than we normally are aware of—more wisdom than we use, more potentials than typically show up in our behavior. Sentence completion is a tool for accessing and activating these ‘hidden resources.’”

Basic idea:

“Living consciously to me means…”

Take a sentence and create 6-10 completions of that sentence.

Example

Living consciously to me means…
If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my activities today…
If I pay more attention to how I deal with people today…
If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my insecurities then…
If I bring 5 percent more awareness to my priorities then…

Self-Discipline & Self-Competence
“No one can feel competent to cope with the challenges of life who is without the capacity for self-discipline. Self-discipline requires the ability to defer immediate gratification in the service of a remote goal. This is the ability to project consequences into the future—to think, plan, and live long-range.”

Nietzsche’s wisdom on self-discipline tells in Thus Spoke Zarathustra

“He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.”

Lao-tzu tells us

“He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.”

“Don’t think you can attain total awareness and whole enlightenment without proper discipline and practice. This is egomania. Appropriate rituals channel your emotions and life energy toward the light. Without the discipline to practice them, you will tumble constantly backward into darkness.”

SO

How’s your self-discipline practice?

Self-awareness; Know who you are and who you are not. If you don’t, you’ll be confused daily.

“Self-awareness is like the arrow on the Google map—you start there, figuring out where you are. Then it’s about the commitment to do what needs to be done to get you where you want to be.

Business journalist Geoff Colvin wrote in Talent Is Overrated:

‘The best performers observe themselves closely,’

What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everyone Else.

‘They are in effect able to step outside themselves, monitor what is happening in their own mind, and ask how it’s going. . .

Top performers do this much more systematically than others do; it’s an established part of their routine.’

Alan tells us in Raise your game that THIS is the #1 virtue we need to master if we want a shot at raising our game.

KNOW THYSELF! [खुद को जानिए!]

SO

What do you do really well?
What do you need to improve on?

“We can’t change what we don’t notice.”

Aristotle’s “Virtuous Mean” from The Nicomachean Ethics:

For both excessive and insufficient exercise destroy one’s strength, and both eating and drinking too much or too little destroy health, whereas the right quantity produces, increases or preserves it.

So it is the same with temperance, courage and the other virtues.

What PLEASURES in your life are you taking so far that they’ve become PUNISHMENTS?

It could be drinking a bit too much, watching a bit too much TV, eating too much, spending too much time online, whatever.

What is it for you?

And how can you get back to the virtuous mean?

Do not be impatient with your seemingly slow progress. Do not try to run faster than you presently can. If you are studying, reflecting and trying, you are making progress whether you are aware of it or not.

James Arthur Ray in his great book, Harmonic Wealth tells us: “Everything has a gestation period, a time period that must pass before things will come into form.

If you plant a carrot seed, it takes about seven weeks for the sprout to make its above-dirt entrance.

Bamboo, which can grow up to thirteen feet in as little as one week, takes up to seven years to break through the surface of the ground. But for seven long years it looks like absolutely nothing’s happening. Now that takes some commitment.”

We’d never think to rush a baby in her mommy’s tummy—pushing for “results” in four months instead of nine! And we don’t get frustrated when a carrot seed takes seven weeks to sprout.

So, we apply some of that wisdom to our lives and bring a little more patience to our own evolution.

What is motivation?

“Our first step is to understand motivation’s root, motive, which means a reason for action. It’s the ‘why’ we do something.

To develop a motive for action, our mind, with or without conscious guidance, filters through various thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and chooses from them a set of reasons to do or not do something.

Our mind’s clarity on and commitment to that choice dictates our level of motivation.

If we are clear and committed, we will feel high levels of motivation. If we are unclear or uncommitted, motivation will be low.

In this truth we find our greatest personal power: the ability to take over our impulses and direct our minds to choices and commitments that will serve us.

Simply, we can choose our aim, and our reason for that aim, and a continued focus on the aim will arouse a desire for action, which we sense as energy—a motivating power within.”

Motivation is WHY WE MOVE. Why we do something,

If we want to sustain our motivation, we need to get clear on the choices we’re making and the underlying process of sparking and sustaining our motivation.

“Yes, you can move mountains. Whatever is happening right now, this is it. This is your life & it’s not going to begin again. You can’t change the past, but in five seconds you can change your future.

That’s the power of everyday courage.

When your heart speaks, honor it, 5- 4- 3- 2- 1- and move.

One moment of courage can change your day.

One day can change your life & your life can change the world.

There is greatness in you. The time to reveal it is now.

5…4…3…2…1…GO!”

Want to change your life?

You can.

When?

Right now.

Shall we lift off?

5… 4… 3… 2… 1.. GO!

मार्कस ऑरेलियस ने अपने क्लासिक मेडिटेशन में बहुत कुछ कहा है

"सब कुछ - एक घोड़ा, एक बेल - किसी कर्तव्य के लिए बनाया गया है ... फिर, आप किस कार्य के लिए बनाए गए थे? मनुष्य का सच्चा आनंद उन चीजों को करने में है जिसके लिए उसे बनाया गया है।"

सकारात्मक मनोविज्ञान आंदोलन के नेता और प्रामाणिक खुशी के लेखक मार्टिन सेलिगमैन हमें बताते हैं कि जब हम अपनी "हस्ताक्षर शक्तियों" की खोज करते हैं और लगातार उनका उपयोग करते हैं तो हम एक खुशहाल जीवन जीएंगे।

तो तुम किस लिए बने हो?

आप किस उद्देश्य से पैदा हुए थे?

क्या आप जानते हैं?

यदि हां, तो क्या आप इसे जी रहे हैं?

यदि नहीं, तो क्या आपका प्राथमिक उद्देश्य अपने उद्देश्य का पता लगाना है?

हम सभी का एक उद्देश्य होता है, एक धर्म, जो आप चाहते हैं लेकिन हम उसे पूरा करने के लिए यहां हैं!

Marcus Aurelius said something very in his classic Meditations

“Everything – a horse, a vine – is created for some duty… For what task, then, were you yourself created? A man’s true delight is to do the things he was made for.”

Martin Seligman, the leader of the Positive Psychology movement and author of Authentic Happiness tells us that we’ll live a happy life when we discover and consistently use our “signature strengths.”

So, for what were YOU made?

For what purpose were you born?

Do you know?

If so, are you living it?

If not, is your primary purpose to FIGURE OUT your purpose?

We ALL have a purpose, a dharma, what you want but we’re here to fulfill it!

So, let’s get on that!