The art of friendship (The 16 celestial arts)

As social beings, one of the main skills we need to develop is the art of friendship. But for that, you need first of all to win some friends.

A relative is something different; you don't choose. But a friend comes from a choice and a selection. It comes from your own power of discernment and decision-making.

Whilst some people can give you very powerful tips on how to get friends, we have to understand that word a little better. A friend is not something so easy as he will share your deepest secrets, and he or she will share  theirs. It is like doing an open-heart surgery: you need courage and clarity on what you are doing.

Probably the period of life we have more friends is during our childhood. Innocence helps a lot as we don't request too much and there are not that many secrets to share anyway. Along the life, number of friends decreases until you have very few. Out of those few, some are just for mentioning but there will be even fewer you can count on them for anything, and they will count on you for anything.

Translating that into a world of competition, where people try to beat you all the time and the chances for prosperity look smaller and smaller, that means those selected people in your life that you know will back you up no matter what happens.

A friend is someone who can help you in many different ways like listening without judging, offering help without waiting for reward and loving you, even when you are not lovable...

Yes, that will definitely help you in your productivity or in finding a better job. Or simply, it will help you to be a better human being, because that is the reason of having friends.

And how to get a friend? Any formula?

My main advice is just to not get too shy with people, don't get used to the Facebook "friends" and allow life to put you in touch with people you can get tuned easily.

When you do have a friend, avoid too many emails or text messages and make your best to share some quality moments together. You will feel the difference in your life when that happens.

You can't hunt or buy a friend, but I am sure there are lots of people out there who are just waiting for you to open a little bit and let them enter in your life.

Enjoy friendship!

The 16 celestial arts

I´ve mentioned during the post on skills of the self about this idea, which I find brilliant, of the celestial arts.

The word in Hindi for celestial arts is of difficult translation: Kala. It is related to the circus arts, which is a mix between art and skill. The translation is an open choice, indicating that is an art that takes you to heaven.

In other words, to be spiritual in this world requires from you to manage life like a circus artist: on a day-to-day basis, rehearsing all the time and expecting the maximum of the self at the crucial moment, when that adverse or difficult situation emerges in your life.

The number sixteen indicates the number of degrees for the full moon, a traditional symbol of dynamic perfection. Both words mean that to reach perfection takes from you the effort to transform the self by applying those arts and understanding that perfection is possible, but it is dynamic: sometimes you are full moon, whilst other times...

I will be talking about these arts in the next sixteen posts. I will make my best to make the matter practical and applicable in life.

Take care for now...

Awareness... why is that so important for a leader?

One of the stories I enjoy more about Nelson Mandela is related to the period he spent in prison. According to the story, his only daily exercise for some time was to walk around, he used to do that by himself but other inmates used to watch him. They used to get some encouragement by seeing him.

Sometimes however he was not feeling well. Conditions were very hard, so disheartenment used to come to him and he would think of not going out, just stay at his cell. But the idea of his inmates not seeing him even for one day... not getting what they could get from him... that idea would move him out of his cell, to the open small space where he used to walk.

The consequences of that leadership would be legendary, if it is not history: he became one day president of that same country. President of his own cell and the space he used to walk around... Even president over those who did that to him.

Behind his position in the government, Mandela had that unique gift a few have nowadays: he was a leader. His leadership was not much getting things done or focus on results, as today people associate leadership with. It was BEING the leader, the model for his people and the embodiment of his own ideas.

In fact, it is not leadership that is missing in a world where the axis of power is shifting North to South, West to East. It is not leadership that is missing in a world where resources are getting shorter and shorter.

Leadership is around. There is the potential there. But it is so often mixed with being a manager that is not working as it should. And the reason is that awareness we could see in Mandela and many others.

A leader, when she or he is awaken to his or her own potential, and its use for the society in general, there is nothing that can prevent a leader to fulfill a mission and to reach a goal.

If you feel sometimes you really don't want to do anything, you just want to flow with the world and it does not matter what happens, probably that means awareness is missing somewhere. You can even be an excellent boss, a good father or a very caring neighbor, but when crisis come you won't be able to overcome them. You will be one more, protesting against those who should be the leaders.

Irony is that you could be one too. Just wake up...

The struggle between Spirituality and Religion III

This is the third and last post of an article intended to help understanding the phenomenon of spiritual groups, something that is increasing its influence in the world today.