Collected tips for releasing stress

Listed below are some collected tips for releasing stress and enhancing happiness in our lives:

Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, SMILE. It is the ultimate antidepressant.

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

When you wake up in the morning, pray to ask God's guidance for your purpose, today.

Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, broccoli and almonds.

Try to make at least three people smile each day.

Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control.

Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Forgive them for everything!

Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Make peace with your past, so it won't spoil the present.

Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

Help the needy, be generous! Be a 'Giver', not a 'Taker'.

What other people think of you is none of your business.

Time heals everything.

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

Each night before you go to bed, pray to God and be thankful for what you have accomplished today!

Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

Purpose of life

"What is my purpose in life?", I asked the Universe.

"What if I told you that you fulfilled it when you took an extra hour to talk to that child about his life?', said the Voice. "Or when you paid for that young couple in that restaurant? Or when you saved that dog in traffic? Or when you tied your father's shoes for him?"

"Your problem is that you equate your purpose with goal-based achievements. The Universe isn't interested in your achievements...just your heart. When you choose to act out of kindness, compassion and love, you are already aligned with your true purpose. No need to look any further!"

All of us are looking for some purpose in our lives. But that usually ends up being some objectives to be achieved, some milestones to be attained. What is actually important is how we behave in day-to-day life-- whether our behaviour is giving happiness to others or hurting them. When we are able to behave and act with patience, empathy and consideration of others' feelings, we are already aligned with the purpose of our life.

25/5 rule of Warren Buffet

Warren Buffet is one of the wealthiest and most successful investors in the world, and has demonstrated remarkable emotional intelligence on so many occasions. For example, have you ever heard of Buffet's 25/5 rule? Here's the story behind the rule--and how it can benefit us.

The 25/5 rule: Simple yet brilliant.

According to the story, Buffet asked one of his employees (who wanted his guidance) to make a list of his top 25 career goals. Then Buffet told him to circle the top 5 goals. Rather than brainstorming strategies to prioritize those goals in the right way, Buffet recommended using the list in a very unique way. He told him to:

1. Remain focused on accomplishing goals 1 through 5, and

2. Stay completely away from working on goals 6 through 25.

What's the lesson?
"It's all about focus." "You're not going to accomplish 25 things in your life. If you really focus long-term you can do three to five big ones, maybe. And the impediment to your not having focus is numbers 6 through 25, because those are the things you're interested in. Those are your biggest potential distractions."

This simple rule is a brilliant way to apply emotional intelligence in our everyday life. It's easy to come up with five things we really want to do. But it's even easier to get distracted from actually making progress on those five goals, because we get caught up in the excitement, the joy, the temporary pleasure of things that simply aren't as important.

And that's why it's so important to identify items 6 through 25--to help us identify the things that are holding us back.

How to make the 25-5 rule work for us?

In the story, Buffet was advising his employee on how to reach his biggest career or life goals. But we can extend this rule to help us with daily, weekly, and monthly priorities as well.

For example, every morning, we might make a task list of five to 10 things we'd really like to accomplish for the day. Then, circle only the top task (or maximum two). Don't do any of the other tasks--no meetings, no calls, nothing--until we've knocked out that top priority.

Do the same thing for the week. Identify 10 things we'd like to get done, but circle only the top two or three. Make those top tasks our ultimate priority, and don't let the others get in the way. We can repeat the same process for one month, for one year, or even for five-year strategy. Once our list is complete, we need to get in the habit of asking ourselves the following questions when faced with choices on how to spend our time:

1. Will this task help me reach my goal for the day?
2. Will this project help me reach my top goals for the year?
3. Will this strategy help me reach my ultimate career goals?
4. Or, does it fall under the second category: interesting, but a distraction?

Use the 25-5 rule and you won't just achieve relentless focus--you'll make emotions work for you, instead of against you.

Practical advice on 'modern' parenting

The word 'parenting' seems to have taken a different meaning, when I look back how we were raised by our parents about 60 years ago, then how we raised our children about 30 years ago, and how children are being raised today. The times have changed, so have the economic situations, and the overall attitude towards handling the kids. The net result seems so different, and sometimes disagreeable to me, that I cringe inside. Echoing my sentiments, I came across this piece of writing by Mr Narayan Murty, CEO Infosys, titled 'Have we failed in bringing up our ‘modern’ kids? So it is given below in his words:

A very distressed neighbour shared that he had driven home after a long day at work. As he entered, he saw his wife in bed with fever. She had laid out his dinner on a tray.

Everything was there just as he wanted it. The dal, vegetables, salad, green chutney, papad and pickles… ”How caring,” he thought, “Even when she is unwell, she finds the strength to do everything for me.”

As he sat down to eat, he realised that something was missing. He looked up at his grown up daughter who was watching TV and said, ”Beta (child), can you get me my medicine and a glass of water, please?”

She rolled up her eyeballs to show her displeasure at being disturbed, but did the favour nevertheless.

A minute later he realised that salt was missing in the dal.

He said, ”Sorry beta, can you please get me some salt?”

She said, ”Ufff!” and got the salt but her stomping shoes made it clear that she did not appreciate the disruption.

A few minutes later he said, ”Beta …”

She banged the TV remote on the table and said, ”What is it now Dad? How many times will you make me get up? I too am tired; I had a long day at work!”

The man said, ”I’m so sorry beta…”
Silence prevailed.

The man got up and placed the dishes in the kitchen sink and quietly wiped the tear escaping his eye.

My heart wept… I often wonder; "Why is it that the youngsters of the so called modern world behave like this? Have we given them too much freedom to express? Have we failed to discipline and give them the right values?"

"Is it right to treat children as friends?" Think of it this way, they have lots of friends. But they have only one set of parents. If they don’t do ‘parenting’, who will?

Today the ‘self-esteem’ of even a new born or an infant is being talked about; but what about the self-esteem of the parents? Are they supposed to just fan the egos of their children, while the children don’t care two hoots about theirs?

Often parents say, “Aajkal ke bachhe sunte kahaan hain (Where will you find obedient children in these times)?” Why?

The other day, we were at a dinner party. All the seats were occupied except for one bean bag. One of our fifty-something friends told his teenage daughter to move to the bean bag, so that he could sit on the high back chair she occupied.

She said, ”Why can’t you sit on the bean bag?”

I was zapped; we all knew that the father had a back ailment, and even otherwise… Well!

Later as everyone was taking leave of the host, the same guy realised that he had left his car keys inside. He asked his daughter to go and get them.

“Why can’t you go and get them yourself? I am not your maid!”

I looked away in disgust and disbelief. The poor guy had no option but to make light of the situation saying, ”Ya, Ya, but Daddy is your eternal servant my princess!”

He went inside to fetch the car keys. This is what our social behaviour has become! Why?

If we need to teach children about self-respect, self-esteem and self-confidence, we also need to tell them that howsoever big and rich and famous they may be, their parents shall always be their parents… children can never be their equals, let alone be their bosses!

Remember to Pay- RENT – Respect, Empathy, Niceness, and Time!

Mr Murty writes, "I always advise parents to be parents and not friends. Your kids can have n number of friends but have only ONE set of parents." "So don’t be afraid to set rules and make the children obey them".

This piece resonated with my feelings, as I have also seen and felt as parents, that in the name of being friends with our children, sometimes they don't give that basic respect, empathy, and even time and attention that they should be according to them.