i-TFTD #47

#47-1. Not to do what you feel like doing is Freedom.
-Swami Chinmayananda

#47-2. We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.
-Herman Melville

#47-3. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.
-Og Mandino

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I normally avoid clubbing quotes on the same subject but the above three just happened to be related. What I like about them is they provoke thoughts in a logical sequence. My initial reaction to the first statement was, "How can that be?" The second quote hints at the answer by talking of interdependence. The third one pithily points out the benefit of a serving attitude. When I then re-read the first quote, it seemed to make more sense.

A couple of follow-up thoughts on i-TFTD #41: Two Lives and Resistance. My experience is that it is very liberating once we take some action on a long-pending desired action. And it becomes easy after the first few steps. So start on one of them. At the same time, it is better to revisit and evaluate such longings to see if we need to let go of them based on current reality. After all, if I have not worked on something for years, maybe it is not really important or aligning with my true priorities. Removing such vague clutter from the list of long-term To Dos frees up my mind to focus more energy on the remaining ones.

i-TFTD #37

1. If things are not going well with you, begin your effort at correcting the situation by carefully examining the service you are rendering, and especially the spirit in which you are rendering it.

-Roger Babson

2. In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins -- not through strength but by perseverance.

-H. Jackson Brown

3. The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.

-Alvin Toffler

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The concept of "servant leadership" has been gaining prominence with books and blogs dedicated to the subject. I believe Mahatma Gandhi proved that a different kind of leadership is possible and effective. Service orientation can be applied at many levels usefully.

Persistence, perseverance, stubbornness (in a positive sense)... key qualities that most of us can work to acquire and benefit from.

The last quote from Toffler, one of the few truly prophetic futurists, is profound. His books are difficult to read but have time and again predicted future trends in business and society. Learnability is the ultimate skill today, that usually tends to reduce with experience.