Positive Thinking

“Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head.” WilliamShakespeare.

When adversity strikes, we tend to be cowed down by the overwhelming circumstances. It is during these tough times that the tough get going. And mental toughness is about accepting reality, analysing facts, realising achievable changes and above all, it is about keeping a sustained positive attitude towards life.

Here’s a story. 

A young boy and his father were climbing a mountain. The walk was long and arduous, and the boy was tired and complaining.

Suddenly, the boy fell, hurt himself and screamed: "Aaahhhhh!!!"

To his surprise, he heard a voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain: "Aaahhhhh!!!"

Curious, he yelled: "Who are you?"

He received the answer: "Who are you?"

Angered at the response, he screamed: "Coward!"

He received the response: "Coward!"

The son looked to his father and asked: "What's going on?"
The father smiled and said: "My son, pay attention."

And the father he screamed to the mountain: "I admire you!"

The voice answered: "I admire you!"

Again the man screamed: "You are a champion!"

The voice answered: "You are a champion!"

The boy was surprised, but did not understand.

Then the father explained: "People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It's a reflection of you! It gives you back everything you say or do. If you give hatred, life will give you hatred back. If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart. ”

How true it is that this relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life. For example, in your day-to-day working life, if you want more competence in your team, you have to first improve your own competence. Your success or failure in achieving the desired results will simply reflect your actions.

The power of positive thinking is enormous. You thoughts influence how you react with your environment. If you think negatively, you will act negatively and the environmental response will be negative. This will further reinforce your negative thinking, and over a period of time you will be engulfed in the spiral of negativity and failure. Positive thinking will make you act positive, and the probability of positive results will be higher. One positive result got, you will be acting towards achieving more such results. This is an upward spiral that will lift you heights of success.

If basis of success is attitude, it calls for each one of us to introspect upon our attitude towards life.

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

'Unworthy' Deemed Universities

The Human Resource Development Ministry has sent final notices to the 44 deemed universities that were found “unworthy” of the tag by P.N. Tandon review panel. Centre has asked all these universities to give a satisfactory explanation on the deficiencies pointed out by the review panel. Many of these universities have inadequate infrastructure and faculty and do not qualify for the deemed university status. This is the last chance for these institutes to retain their 'deemed university' status.

Source: www.indiaeducationreview.com, January 28, 2011

A very welcome step from the HRD Ministry!

The strength of a nation is its youth. Quality of education cannot be compromised if India has to make an impact on the global power map. We need good technologists, economists, businessmen, thinkers and policy makers to take the country to a leadership position in the world.

Strong and fair regulating bodies are necessary to ensure smooth functioning of all national development sectors. The eduction sector comprises of government and private run institutions. Both should be under the scanner. Regulating bodies must take a physical audit of all the institutions rather than be satisfied with data provided by them.

Any university has to get approval from the UGC before starting its operations. The fact that 44 deemed Universities have been served notices is an eye-opener on the manner in which they would have got approval to conduct their business and issue degrees. In India, most deemed universities are started by private trusts constituted by politicians. An investigation needs to be carried out on the approval committee that gave a go ahead to each of these universities. This will sent a strong message to future experts on the committee that they should not be working under political or other pressures.

India will reap the benefits of good governance in its education sector in the long run. The key to it is stringent criteria, regular audits and appropriate action. Let us hope that the HRD ministry is now able to take action in a reasonable time frame, without letting dubious institutions slip out of any loopholes!

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

Resilience

If you are going through a tough phase in your life, it is time to brace up to one fact. You and only you can make your fortunes turn. Is there any successful person who has not had to face adversity? Ask them how they handled it, and you will get one answer- resilence.

Here is some food for thought!

“Put three pots of water on a fire. In the first pot put some carrots. In the second pot, put some eggs. In the third pot, put some ground coffee beans. Boil all the pots for 15 minutes.

The carrots went in hard, they are now soft. The eggs went in soft inside. They are now hard inside. The coffee beans have imparted the water with colour and a wonderful smell.

The problems of life are like the boiling water! What happens to us when we face difficulties in our life? 

We can be like carrots. We go in tough and strong, we come out soft and weak. We get tired. We lose hope. There is no more fighting spirit left in us.

We can be like eggs. We start with a soft and sensitive heart, expecting to do good and get good. We end up hard and unfeeling inside. We hate others, we become embittered. We don’t like ourselves anymore.

We can be like coffee beans. The water does not change the coffee beans, the coffee beans change the water. See it! Smell it! Taste it! The hotter the water, the better the taste. We can adapt. We can learn from the problems we face, garner new knowledge, get new skills…. We can grow in experience. We can make the world around us better!"

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

It is important to understand that success is, among other things, a function of your ability to respond effectively to adversities. Remember, all setbacks are temporary and every failure is a lesson. Do not lose sight of your goals. Review your approach to handle the current situation and just keep doing things you need to do. When the going is really tough, it is all the more important to take care of yourself. Eat right, read inspirational material, listen to motivational songs. Believe in yourself and surround yourself with people who have a positive outlook. Negative people can de-motivate you…disassociate from them if you can.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest only patience, perseverance and tenacity can help you get on top of the situation.

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.