Time and success

Recently, a few lists have emerged of young people who got to be successful. By reading it, I just wondered how many are really prepared...

First of all, most of the successful people were such due to some financial attainments. Success is however a feature where harmony, happiness and peace, among other qualities, are experienced in a constant way; what about their state of mind or their family relationships? That was not taken in account.

In reality, success needs time to come to our lives, just like a fruit from a tree. In Hindi, the words have something to do with each other: success is safalta, and fruit is fal...

Yes, to reach that point of success - total, global, true success - you do need to seed right seeds. You also need to take care of the soil, sun and water, and lots of patience because even when the fruit is emerging, you still need that fruit to reach maturity. If the tree is fruitful, not only one fruit will emerge and many other people can benefit from it. Then, you sow it again...

That success as soon as you start to experience becomes an unending cycle and that is another sign of success: you don't experience it once. Maybe you can have your "peaks and valleys", but when you reach the real success your life turns into an ascending line.

How to do it? How to reach to that point of success when you feel you are on eternal holydays and yet, producing in an effective way? A few tips:

• Understand the real meaning of success. This will help you to identify it.
• Whenever you go through a "peak", that is, you feel success in some task or activity; reinvest that energy into your life. For instance, if you get a promotion in your work, use that money for more training instead of buying that new cellular phone you want, and share your experience with other people so that 
• Whenever you go through a "valley", that is, you fail in something, use that as a step towards success. For instance, check what happened and train yourself so you don't repeat the failure.
• Be honest with yourself and don't let yourself to be deceived by limited successful events.
• Meditation is very useful. It will help you to develop honesty, patience and perseverance, without which you cannot reach success.
• Value your time by making it worthwhile.
• Balance your life and especially provide yourself some reflection time.

I wish you an excellent journey on your way towards success.

Mercy, compassion and pity, and the art of serving

Our feelings for others matter. They have been the material with which we build bridges and are able to communicate with other people, creating this extremely powerful and yet fragile thing called society.

If we look into the past, we can't find terms like "customer service"... There was no customer service two centuries ago because there were no real customers. There were people, and the service was given to people.

Nowadays, when we see an organization that treats others as people, with respect and consideration, intelligence and gentleness, this is the result of a powerful feeling: mercy.

Yes, customer service is based on mercy. A company with mercy for a client whose luggage were damaged in a flight, who missed a flight because the company decided to depart early or simply a client with bad luck who lost their wallet somewhere, this organization is not simply fulfilling an offered product or making publicity; this company has mercy on people.

Because no matter how big we are, we serve people. Whether we sell fruits in a corner or we are part of a huge multinational, still we serve people. And mercy is a feeling of respect for others, for all their energy used to buy our products or to use whatever we offer them to use.

Mercy is not compassion. Compassion means going there and healing the person and that is not everyone's task. Those whose task needs compassion - doctors, nurses, mothers - cannot forget compassion is the basis of their lives and it can never be missing there.

But a few people would accept pity from others. No matter how bad is their shape, pity is not an option as it is depleted of respect.

Perhaps our brothers and sisters of the world are in a real bad shape and sometimes, we have to extend our hands and give something extra. Still, we don't need pity to do that. We can do out of compassion, a deep sense of compassion, going beyond mercy and with the clear knowledge that person is capable and soon will be walking by themselves. It is a feeling like a doctor or nurse has, who knows their patient one day will be out there, healed.

Next time you have to serve someone, open your heart and just let those feelings emerge, and watch for the outcome.

Finding the truth

I can't say I have been looking for the truth, but since I was a child, I was looking for something that was not present in my life. I have dedicated myself to read and learn as much as possible, but with no clear aim in my mind, except to understand my context. Unknowingly, I have been looking for the truth since I was a child.

One of the Hinduism ideas is that we are all living a big illusion... That is not far from the fact our society is more and more into things that provide us satisfaction, even though it is an illusion. A proof of that is the fact we give much more importance to industry than to agriculture; salaries, status, comments in the media, all show it. However, we can live without industry, but nobody can live without food. The reflection of that illusion in our economy is so big that a country is known as developed according to its own industries.

Similarly, we have surrounded ourselves - and I, as an individual, have surrounded myself - of things that give me the sense of comfort, satisfaction and happiness. But, in reality, most of it is an illusion. How to be free from it? By finding the truth about yourself and your life, about others and the world in general.

Looking for the truth is not something you can do using Google, nor even going to a library. It takes time, but, yes, you have to start somewhere, and Google and your local library is a nice beginning. Here are a few questions that can help you in that research.

• Who am I? Beyond my known identity, what are my main characteristics?
• Who is God? If you don't believe in God, what is your Higher Source of energy, power and love?
• What is really happening in the world? Rather than a superficial analysis, how everything is connected?
• What are my aims in life at the moment? Beyond my job and other responsibilities, what do I really expect from myself?
• Which help do I need to accomplish whatever I want to accomplish?

I wish you success in this necessary and beautiful quest.

How to get success ALL THE TIME

I know... this is a world that pushes you, pulls you and it seems you are forced to be successful. ALWAYS.

I have been working on this for a long time now initially for the sensation of being a total loser - no success on my path. Later, I started to experience success here and there. And I have been observing my own personal process.

Sometimes my success is short-lived, like winning a Solitaire game or getting that job I was really wanting. Listen to me: the feeling is almost identical. And for that reason, I have become more and more detached from this type of success. Spirituality has helped me a lot. Of course, I am human and I still celebrate when his type of success knows at my door (not the Solitaire game anymore...).

There is another type of success, the long-life one. You know, it is that act of success that changed your whole life. I have felt that many times and it is a wonderful feeling. The greatest I remember happened when I traveled abroad first time. The feeling of freedom has never left me and every time I travel, I still feel as that first time. Long-life success goes with you and it becomes part of your life, forever.

And then there is that success you feel you are going to get it. It is not expectation, which creates confusion and anxiety, but it is like when sow a seed and start to see it growing... You know the fruit will come eventually and the time it takes, is a time to invest in other things and situations. That is the kind of feeling I am having more and more, and it is wonderful as it motivates me to perform even better in whatever I do. In fact, it stimulates me to BE better.

The last type of success is specifically for spiritual people and those who work on affirmations and it is when success comes disguised as failure. In fact, ask any successful person if they have had failures in their lives and the answer will always be YES. What you and I do with failure, which is something different... You can turn failure into a step of success. Failure can become learning or a chance for progress. Failure can be a sign on the road of life indicating you shouldn't be doing that. Failure is a very powerful tool for those who only think in terms of success.

In reality, thinking this way will make you feel you are successful, no matter what happens in your life. Try it, you will enjoy!

About listening

Language has its wisdom and one proof is the fact we have two verbs in relation to audition: to hear and to listen.

While hearing is mandatory except if you have a physical problem, listening is something else, and it can be the key to have a better communication and relationship; it is also considered a virtue for leaders.

Listening is natural for many, but others need to develop that special skill. Among the last ones, some do realize that need, others face so many obstacles that one day reaches that point of realization, but there will be many who won't listen at all...

If you are a natural one, congratulations. But if you would like to develop that sense of listening, here are a few tips that have helped me (yeah, you guessed right, I am not a natural...):

• If you are going to talk to someone, check your own motivation and interest. You cannot fake you are listening, but you can tune to your own motivation towards listening to the other person.
• Before talking to someone, organize your life. Definitely, put your mobile phone in hold (switch that off, if you may), but other aspects of your life too. Be there, present with the other person, as if nothing else is going on in the world.
• Listen with attention. Get into your inner silence and make your best to not analyze or think about a response right now. There will be the moment...
• Remember: you are not a closet. Yes, smile and laugh, nod your head and do little talk in a way that you don't interfere with the other person's talk, but at the same time don't be too quiet.
• If you can't give the person a proper quality time, don't give it. Negotiate another moment and explain it is because you really care about the other.

May you be a good listener!