I Believe I Can Fly...

How to find your ideal work place?

2010-07-30T23:30:00.001+05:30

How many of you have felt that your work place is not the ideal one for you several months or years after joining that organization? How many of you have felt that the greater priorities of your life has been compromised because of your current employment? How many of you have started to think that your payment is not worth for the work that you do or have concluded that your happiness and satisfaction cannot be measured by the amount of money that you get?

Here are couple of my thoughts about choosing the ideal employer.

Look at the company profile. What does the company value and what is the mission of the company? Does it sound like what you want to hear about yourself in few years time?

This is important. I have met with people who have joined particular organizations and then started to question the purpose of the work they do. From the beginning you should be able to find a relevance between what the company does and what is personally meaningful to you.

Are you going to do something that you are already good at or something that you will be able to excel in?

It is OK not to be an expert in the field to undertake responsibilities but you should have the capacity and passion to take the next steps to excel in your field of responsibility.

When you look at the people who currently work for the company do you feel excited to join them and work with them?

One's personal experience is mostly associated with the other people in the organization. It is impossible to think about a satisfying experience at the work place without thinking about satisfying human relationships.

If you answer "Yes" to all, then I think you have a good chance of living a long and happy life with your ideal organization. Pitfalls will be there (as always) but as your personal adventure/ mission and values are aligned with the organization, because you value and enjoy working with your colleagues and because you are doing something you are good at doing... there is ample opportunity for you to make a win - win deal.

Live life...

2010-07-09T16:25:00.000+05:30

I met this old woman couple of days ago while I was on the travel. She must be in her 60's or 70's but it was her energy and attitude that inspired me the most.

When I first saw he, she was walking towards us climbing a rather step staircase. There was much easier way to come and she was smiling at us and said "This is like grease to my knees". That one moment took us a bit by surprise.

There is a saying that you have to plant a tree, build a house and bear a son in order to say that you have lived your life. She had done all three and more... She was talking to us about travelling, referring some places she wants to go and memorizing the times that she had been travelling in the past.

She had done pretty much everything that woman can do to be proud of her life. She had worked, got married and enjoyed a good family life, had children and raised them up, travelled and she still have enough gasoline in her tank.

"I will be six feet down in six months" she said jokingly.

And this is a woman who doesn't care whether it is six months or six days. she is going to live her life until the last day.

A Prayer...

2010-06-23T08:47:00.001+05:30

I pray to see the sunrise tomorrow

to be healthy and loved as I am today

I pray that I won't be hungry tomorrow

knowing that there are millions of people who are not as lucky as I am

I pray the cuckoo bird who sang to me yesterday will come today again

her voice resonates in my mind and lightens up my soul

I pray the gentle breeze will touch me again tomorrow

and carry my voice to far away places

I pray for strengths to take on each day

and make it better for you and me

I pray for a beautiful tomorrow

knowing that you have given me a beautiful today

Forgive me for asking you too much, Dear God

I'm just a child learning to be selfless...

How to Increase Your Energy Levels Naturally...

2010-06-18T08:36:00.001+05:30

Visit http://karmicmantra.com/health-fitness/increase-energy-levels-naturally/ for the original article

Everyday I hear the same complaints from the same people about how tired they are, how stressed they are etc. with no solution in sight! The key is to correct the situation versus standing idle and accepting it.

Forget about the energy drinks or pills. Learn to increase your energy naturally, and have a healthy steady supply to get you through each day. By adjusting your personal eating, sleeping and exercise habits, you can boost your energy the natural way and settle into a self-sustaining rhythm.

Essential Water – Keep your body hydrated throughout the day. The first sign of dehydration is fatigue. Your body can’t function at capacity without that good old H2O. A steady supply of water will naturally keep things flowing–including your energy.

Improve Sleeping Habits – Often a small adjustment of your sleeping habits can already do wonders for your energy levels.

Lying in bed is not sleeping: Don’t go to bed if your not sleepy and end up lying in bed pondering and stressing. If you are drifting off at the computer, while reading, or watching TV, it’s time to get to bed. Your bedtime should and will vary from night to night. Let your body tell you when to sleep as opposed to the following the 8-hour rule.
Rise and Shine: Put an alarm and get up at the same time everyday.
Sleepy at Noon?: Try a powernap of 20 minutes in a quiet place.

Experiment and find out what your optimal sleep levels are.

Yoga, Exercising & Stretching – It sounds counter-intuitive, perhaps, but by expending energy on a regular basis, you will actually give yourself more of it in the end. The key is to set up a fairly regular schedule–about three times a week–and push to the point that you feel refreshed, not exhausted. Don’t overdo it. It may take a couple of weeks to get into the natural rhythm, so have patience and higher energy levels will follow.

Deep breathing exercise – Another great way to re-energize your body is with a quick deep breathing exercise. Sit on a chair with a straight back and breathe deeply while you focus on your breath going in – going out. At the same time use a powerful affirmation to invigorate your mind and body.

Eliminate Energy-Sappers From Your Diet – Have more alkaline-forming foods like fruits and vegetables. Avoid excess sugar and coffee as they lead to lower blood sugar levels–and less energy–after they give you an initial kick. Also one could pack some almonds and nuts for a quick and convenient protein snack.

God why me???

2010-06-09T20:55:00.009+05:30

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983...

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed:

"Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

"In the world over..., 50 million children start playing tennis..., 5 million learn to play tennis...,500,000 learn professional tennis..., 50,000 come to the circuit..., 5000 reach the grand slam..., 50 reach Wimbledon..., 4 to semi final..., 2 to the finals.

When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.

And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

"Happiness keeps you Sweet,

Trials keep you Strong,

Sorrow keeps you Human,

Failure keeps you humble and

Success keeps you glowing,

But only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going...”

THAT'S LIFE!!!

Farewell AIESEC...

2010-06-01T08:16:00.003+05:30

Yesterday was officially my last day with AIESEC. Once past midnight my time with AIESEC came to an end... As I was saying last night in my farewell speech, the steps that i had taken in AIESEC were colorful and they did make my life colorful in many ways.

I became one out of 110 young people who were privileged to represent the voice of youth at the Global plenary and I became one of those few who were able to meet and interact with the most amazing young individuals across the world.

Looking back at 2009/10... There are so much that we can be proud as a team. Our achievements showed 350% growth of results compared to previous 2008/09 term and 150% growth compared to any previous term of AIESEC in Sri Lanka.

For the first time we were able to extend our reach beyond Colombo city limits and provide great opportunities to the youth in other parts of the country. I believe this is one thing that we can proudly be happy about coz we always wanted to be as non - discriminating as possible.

We were able to trust in ourselves and believe that we can do greater things and we were able to take small steps to synergize the organization for creating high volume of life changing AIESEC experiences.

Neither me nor any in my team would know how many lives were we able to touch and change. It may be few or it may be large. But in the process each one of us changed ourselves.

However looking back... I'm still a person who achieved less than 40% of what I should have achieved ideally. I would have loved to tell you that for the first time in the history AIESEC in Sri Lanka was able to deliver what it promised but now I wish that honor and glory should be taken by some one and some team that is more passionate, more committed and more ambitious than what we were.

Thank you AIESEC in Sri Lanka for making my life colorful. It was an honor to be with you for all those years of happiness and tears. I will miss you!!!

Clock or the compass?

2010-05-25T09:00:00.007+05:30

Couple of days ago one of my friends found me on GTalk and mentioned that she finds it hard to continue her work with the current organization she works for. She said that she feels tired and feels that she doesn't have the faith to stay on...

This was not the first time and she was not the only one to bring such concerns to me. And every time when I hear some one speak such way, my first reaction always had been to understand whether there is conflict between the "Clock and the compass".

Derived from Stephen Covey's literature. "Clock and the compass" symbolizes two facets of how we want to lead our lives.

The Clock represents our commitments, appointments, schedules, goals, activities; what we do with and how we manage our time. The Compass represents our vision, values, principles, mission, conscience, direction; what we feel is important and how we leadour lives. ("First things first" - Stephen Covey)

Often what we find is that we invest too little time to deeply talk with ourselves to know what really are important to us, what are our real values of life but instead look at ourselves in the social mirror. The result is shown in our stress, frustrations, lack of purpose in life, lack of excitement and fulfillment. And more often than not... in order to overcome our situation we adopt more management techniques just put ourselves in more misery.

I recommend any of you to read books written by Stephen Covey.

Reflections: National transition camp

2010-05-14T13:15:00.003+05:30

I always thought that AIESEC is "the" most amazing organization on this earth. It is run by youth who doesn't have any previous work experience but they spread their operations all over the world. Executive board of this organization changes every year but the legacy of the organization continues no matter what...

I spend 6 of my best years in AIESEC and now preparing say bye bye... and at that time if there is one thing that can inspire me more than anything else, it is to see the passion and quality of the next set of leaders who will make this organization shine even brighter.

Every day, we walk through challenges. There are many times that we ask ourselves "What is the bottom line of everything we do in AIESEC?"... We ask "Who is an AIESECer?" until that special moment comes when we (deep in our hearts) feel that "I'm an AIESECer".

It is true that AIESEC is something that one has to explore by himself. It is ones own self who is responsible for his or her own experience. AIESEC experience is what you make out of AIESEC for yourself and there is no one else who can do it for you.

AIESEC challenged me... broadened my vision and made me open minded. It opened up a whole world of opportunities in front of me and helped me to discover an essence of life that I wouldn't have noticed without AIESEC. And AIESEC gave me a direction built up on values and ethics for my life, not just for the 6 years of my stay in AIESEC.

I wish that every member who joins AIESEC shall discover something unique that they are looking for... and in the end to be able to be proud of themselves, be proud of AIESEC and proudly and authentically say that "I'm an AIESECer".

Tranquility...

2010-04-24T19:33:00.004+05:30

The first working week after new year (as expected) was busy and hectic. I felt the difference even more as I had already spend one week meditating.

This is the reality that we come across - everyday. It's busy, materialistic, competitive and we are always on the run. Virtually anything can be described in digital terms... win/ loose, profit/ loss, achieved/ failed, yes/ no...

From the time you wake up and until the time you go back to sleep if some one can make a drawing of all the emotions that you go through each one in a different color - what would it look like?

And then you come to think of something special that turns off the digital chip in your brain and make you feel the tranquility within. Those should be the most cherished moments in your life. Do you have them?

How to build a winning team?

2010-04-22T14:33:00.004+05:30

The following is an artcle by Nikos Mourkogiannis that appeared in "Business week" (http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/dec2007/ca20071219_003690.htm)

THE FOUR TYPES OF EMPLOYEE

By and large, there are four archetypes of people in companies: magicians, warriors, sovereigns, and lovers. You can easily define them using the Jungian framework introduced by psychologist Robert Moore and mythologist Douglas Gillette.

Magicians. They are the rational yet imaginative souls in your organization. They think a new idea or insight is the only thing that can move the world. In truth, they're obsessed by ideas. Their answer to feeding the troops is to pull a rabbit out of a hat. These types of people think a mere argument over an idea equals action.
Lovers. For them, everything comes down to human relations. They're pragmatic but emotional. They focus on building the winning coalition. They are obsessed not by ideas but by feelings. They consider agreement an action.
Sovereigns. They are the emotional and imaginative types. They focus on the big picture and judge everything on whether it leads to where they want to go. They redefine what people consider is possible. They are obsessed by beliefs. And they consider direction a form of action.
Warriors. They are rational and pragmatic. They're focused on the next battle and can only see clearly what's directly in front of them. They hold people accountable to systems and the fairness of those systems. They're obsessed by facts. For them, action is finding the critical factor to get something immediately accomplished.

Apple's (AAPL) Steve Jobs is clearly a magician. Watching him introduce a new product on stage (BusinessWeek.com, 7/6/07) is like watching a master magician pull a rabbit out of a hat.

Microsoft's (MSFT) Bill Gates, with all his competitive juice to dominate his industry, is a warrior. IBM's (IBM) Tom Watson, who plastered the walls of Big Blue with "Think" signs, was a magician. Could anyone think of GE's (GE) Jack Welch (BusinessWeek.com, 12/7/07) as anything other than a warrior? Indeed, one of the most fascinating campaigns in all of business is the attempt by Welch's successor to transform a warrior company like GE into a hothouse of ideas. Jeff Immelt, whose "imagination at work" vision for GE is an extreme departure from the Welch years, will have a hard time of it without more magicians on his senior team.

MAINTAINING THE BALANCE

Obviously, this framework is a simplification, but there are logical implications for any leader assembling a team.The most effective teams maintain a balance by having a healthy variety of types in key roles because each type is good at doing different things. A mix of magicians, warriors, lovers, and sovereigns will get you the best team possible. When one type dominates, friction and conflict can occur: a fall-off of creativity, a lack of flexibility, risk aversion, and paralysis. That's why the most effective leaders know who they are and surround themselves with people who complement their strengths and offset their weaknesses. The warrior needs a magician, a sovereign, and a few lovers. What often happens in organizations is you get a group of warriors, and they don't like the magicians so you don't have any of them on your team.

Clearly, there is beauty in balance. That is the place where individual team members become more sensitive to each other's needs. Too many magicians and your team will be pondering opportunities all the time, but will lack decisive action, even though the thinking will be excellent. Why? Because magicians are more concerned with having it done "right," rather than having it done. They're especially vulnerable to pursuing superior technology at the expense of something that customers would buy. And a group of them in a room will look more like a debating society than a high performance team. Too many lovers and you have another set of problems. These employees value consensus to the detriment of results. They hold far too many meetings. They do too much talking and not enough acting. The lover excessively relies on outside advice and often appears to lack both competitiveness and edge.

THE RIGHT MIX FOR YOUR TEAM

Too many warriors, on the other hand, will experience difficulty if anything in the environment changes. They won't be proactive and will consequently miss opportunities competitors may exploit. They appear as a parade of soldiers, and they can be innovation-challenged. Too many sovereigns will often pull an organization in too many directions at once, or will radically change direction often. Sovereign-dominated teams will have no center of gravity and will keep many unresolved business issues up in the air all the time. They appear fragmented, with poor communication, and they often struggle with strategy and direction.

That said, some companies require a predominance of one type or another to effectively pursue certain strategies or values. Magicians are the best fit for innovation-based companies in which discovery is crucial to success. Warriors are ideally suited for highly competitive environments that demand a conquering-the-world mindset.

Do you have the right mix on your team?

Pray for the souls of Qinghai victims

2010-04-18T07:47:00.004+05:30

I turned on the TV this morning and this is what I saw. Western province of Qinghai is being devastated while I was away and out of touch from the real world and 1000's corpses are being unceremoniously cremated.

This was shocking for me, especially coming from a country where we are lucky not to face such natural disasters. I could only pray and hope for whatever good that is remaining there for the people who are badly affected both physically and mentally.

China encountered several natural disasters recently. A sand storm, a drought affecting several areas in the South Eastern part of China and now a powerful earth quake taking 1000's of lives.

I wish to share their sadness and emptiness in their hearts of loosing their loved ones...

Embracing the change...

2010-04-18T05:33:00.003+05:30

Dear reader,

My 7 days at "Kanduboda Vipassana meditation center" has been undoubtedly an enlightening period of my life. This gave me time and space to think deeper in to life aspects with related to the Buddhist philosophy, understand the ambiguous nature of mind, slow down from the fast moving life, relax and feel deeply about what life matters for me.

I would like to share my learning and experience - including the moments and realities that I deeply felt during meditation time to time. I have recorded almost everything in a small note book. So let this be the first sharing.

I practised Vipassnana meditation which teaches us to "be at present" (Samma Sathi). This helps us to concentrate on the changing nature of "Objects" and through that understand the Nobel three aspects of Buddhism, Anicca, dukkha and anatma.

Samma Sathi or the right mindfulness in simple words means "to be conscious" and "be at present moment". We often experience that our mind likes to either be in the past - regret about what was not done or be attached to the most cherished moments in the past; or be in the future - day dream about what the future will be etc. Also we often realize that our mind tends to work at several points at the same time. We talk while we eat, we think about tomorrow's exam or work problems while we are walking along the road...

Such ambiguity and messiness of mind leads to lack of awareness and lack of clarity in mind thus we fail to see the realities and Nobel truths about life and nature; we fail to attain "Samadhi" which means "being able to concentrate".

Thus what Vipassana meditation does is to practise Samma sathi and lead it to Samma samadhi.

I was meditating about 5 hrs sitting and about 3 hrs walking everyday for one week. At the same time I was trying to do every thing I did (like washing, cleaning...) with awareness/ consciousness about what I was doing. There was a specific routine and guidelines that I was following that also helps to practise the self discipline and consciousness of mind.

Fear and Denial...

2010-04-10T17:51:00.007+05:30

Tomorrow morning I will be heading out of Colombo to spend one week learning and practising meditation. Finally the time came for me to realize that many things in life that I have not chosen or postponed are just an act of denial.

Too much to understand? Every time we say "I don't have time to do this or that becoz of I am busy with overwhelming work at office or at class" it might mean that I'm just denying out of fear or discomfort, something that might mean so much for myself. I have heard many of my Friends say (and as a confession I have used the same words many times) that they are too busy to travel somewhere, learn a different language or just take time to enjoy the moonlight and listen to some good music.

I was reading an interesting article about denial with respect to relationships and family lives that described and increasing trend of denying "Intimate" relationships for the sake of being independent and risk free in life. People are way too busy and they have time to do everything but one or two things that makes them really happy in life...

How many of us wait till we have a good career, money and what not before we commit to a relationship? And doesn't it make sense for the two partners to build their life together?

I admit the fact that different people might have different ideologies and paths that they want to take in their lives. But what I mean and what I'm trying to discover in my life is a way that we authentically understand what defines happiness for each of us and lead our lives in that direction. In that we face our fears and insecurities by being able to open our hearts and being able to listen deeply to ourselves.

Finally something that I extracted from Internet that makes lot of sense to me.

DENIAL = Don't Even kNow I Am Lying

Thinking aloud...

2010-04-08T00:08:00.010+05:30

On 8th April 2010 (Which is today) people of Sri Lanka shall vote to elect 225 candidates for the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka.

Elections are no big deal for us. We just had one Presidential election in January and in 2008 and 2009 we used to have provincial elections almost every two months. Though it is nice to see the excitement of the Sri Lankan government to maintain democracy in the country by giving opportunity for people to voice their opinion so often, it is high time that people should seriously question the economic, social and environmental impact of having elections in Sri Lanka.

Last Presidential election held in January estimated over 10 billion rupees of direct costs, excluding other hidden costs such as for removing campaign material.

“Election expenditure is consumption expenditure, at the cost of investment expenditure. What many people don’t realise, is the opportunity cost to the country from frequent elections. This is very significant for an emerging economy like Sri Lanka,” says management consultant and a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ranel T. Wijesinha. (Sunday Times - 2010/01/10)

These funds can be used in other areas where there is more social relevance.

At the same time diversion of attention of the Government from fulfilling much needed commitments to the country ahead of leading other political agendas and the economic instability that leads to loosing of investors can also have negative impact on the country.

Yesterday I had to wait for 3 hrs to catch a bus to return home after work. State owned buses are usually being used by the government for election related work whereas private bus owners are scared to take their buses in to streets ahead of elections. And we, the normal people has to take the brunt of the suffering.

Some one should ask why Police has to remove banners and cut outs put up by various candidates? What would be fairer is to ask people to clean their own mess and bear that cost in their own without wasting peoples money to clean up political mess.

Should I say anything about corruption and violence? Many (including myself) have not received official papers to cast franchise; not that I had any interest to use it as I'm much convinced about the uselessness and impactlessness of elections in Sri Lanka.

For me... Politics (in the way it is currently done) create divisions, clouds honesty and truth and general public willingly gets manipulated at the hands of the politicians.

Love's Philosophy

2010-04-06T17:09:00.002+05:30

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of Heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single,
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle -
Why not I with thine?

See the mountains kiss high Heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea -
What are all these kissings worth
If thou kiss not me?

- Percy Bysshe Shelly

96.1 Vaishakya FM

2010-04-04T15:06:00.004+05:30

"I don't know how many people will hear this but what matters more is that all of you had a wonderful day and learnt a lot from this program" I said knowing very well that none of the people outside the walls of the school ever had the opportunity to listen to what had been broadcasted throughout the day.

We, Bryan, Jananee, Sonali, Viraj and myself (The governing board of CCRC) started working on the education and well being of the girls at Vaishakya Balika Vidyalaya (a girls school in Colombo) about 3 months before. It was Bryan's idea initially which was supported by the others.

Every child is special and every child is innocent and beautiful. It is God's creation. However what we saw at this school was how social negligence and the irresponsible behaviors of adults can cost an innocent child his/ her the beauty of childhood. And how easy it is to blame the society for everything, blame the government but not do anything about it?

Vaishakya FM was the start that we wanted to get to know the students better and at the same time show them that they are better than what they think they are. Also it was an opportunity for us to get to know the parents (at least some of them).

We designed programs, trained students to operate a mini radio station with the help of many kind people who were willing to support us in the process. Slow to begin with but I think gradually students started to feel what we were doing with them deeply and by 3rd April they were in to it. With the shortest amount of time and resources we had, credit should go to the children for making our day brighter.

Although none outside the walls were able to hear their voices due to failures of us, the adults in arranging the technologies and equipment; now we are proud to say that "The children did not commit mistakes."

Astrology Vs Personality tests

2010-04-01T20:37:00.006+05:30

The times and situations have converted me to a curious explorer of astrology from being a total non believer.

For one reason it was hard for me to accept that there is something or somebody out there who can control our destiny or what happens in our lives. May be because I'm that kind of a person who would like to feel in control of the things about myself. And secondly I was seeking for a logic and astrology I saw as assumption based rather than being logical. I may be wrong in this point but that is how I saw astrology.

Personality tests on the other hand made more sense to me. They ask you some questions and if you answer honestly you will get an honest feedback.

However recently (and by pure coincidence) I happen to hear more about astrology and "good luck", "bad luck" things related to my birth sign. And it appeared that there is some sense in it. More than that the way birth sign is being used to describe personal characters seemed cool to me and again by some coincidence my MBTI results and birth sign results was a reasonable match.

Once I jokingly said that "We should use horoscope when we select people in to positions in an organization".

And why not? If it is good to use when a couple is getting married (which is the most important relationship/ bond that can be made on earth) why shouldn't it be used in companies to recruit employees?

I can give you one reason why it shouldn't be used. Coz then all Librans will be jobless as it is their character to be hesitant, indecisive, slow, flirtatious and charming. Not a good profile for an employee haha...

The Price tag

2010-03-29T07:54:00.003+05:30

I think I'm blessed to have a bunch of good friends with whom I can share a deeper sense and understanding. More often than not they lead in to intellectual conversations that often surface self realization and understanding of life.

What I share now is something that has been there in the back of my mind, something that I whispered to myself so many times but openly shared for the first time.

"Its all in the Price tag" (Or more commonly said as "No pain - No gain")

What it says is that all great achievements or gains in life comes with a price that we have to pay for it. If you want to be a good mathematician your price may be is to attend regular classes, follow the studies, do assignments etc. And you have to do it over a period of time.

Parents pay the price of carrying a womb and taking great care of it for 10 months for the achievement of having a baby. There are no short cut and no easy ways, the price has to be paid and that is nature.

There are no easy ways to develop a good relationship. It takes time - may be several years until the two hearts get to know and understand each other well. The price hast to be paid in the effort, commitment, may be face few tough times and go through couple of misunderstandings.

That's the price associated to all the joy and happiness that comes thereafter.

So next time when you go through some hardships... know that it is something written in the price tag. The greater the price that you pay, you know what you shall gain and achieve shall be great and more self fulfilling. Be prepared to pay that price with generosity and willingness.

"It's all in the Price tag!!!"

Talking about "Randomness"

2010-03-27T20:11:00.003+05:30

I was happy to see that Lila has started writing a blog. I'm sure it is going to be full of stories that I would love to read (If she writes it in English).

She has already made some intriguing notes... "I don't know whether I'm too spontaneous or too random" states Lila... Well is there any great difference? Anyway what caught my attention more was her heading - "Equilibrium = Balance".

Life is full of surprises... One day you meet with a total stranger who seems to have nothing flashy and the next day you fall in love with the same person for no particular reason; one day you plan a trip to visit the most beautiful sites with the person you care the most and the next day ends up "back packing" along the busy streets and concrete deserts.

Call it random or spontaneous... but that is what makes life so beautiful. That is what puts this life in its "Equilibrium".

Happy blogging Lil...

I went in to the woods because...

2010-03-27T08:16:00.004+05:30

Today is Saturday. I took Prof. Deb's advise last time and yesterday did something different; something which I liked doing.

I took a liking towards writing since my childhood. I had many short stories and poems that I wrote from those days. I think the point I took the wrong turn of giving up writing was the day that I entered University and stuck my head inside the technical jargon of electronics and electrical.

I was happy to find that little child that I was missing is still inside of me and he is happy to be able to put most cherished moments of my life and my feelings in to beautiful words and stanzas. It did feel great when I was reading what I wrote. It felt "beautiful"...

There are still so many things I want to do apart from all my work. I want to learn mandarin, learn how to dance and learn to play guitar. And I want to find time to do all these. I need to be stronger to make a decision for myself and my own goodness that I will at all times follow my passion... Talk to myself and listen to myself more often.

When I come to die, I do not want to discover that I hadn't lived at all!!!

Ask from Prof. Deb

2010-03-25T13:27:00.004+05:30

"Buddi... Don't get sick. Now is a bad time to do that...!!!"

This was my gtalk status message since last night; coz I started feeling like I'm 60% and by today it was like 40%. Luckily I found some one called Prof. Deb to guide me with some useful advises. I got to know Prof. Deb while I was in Indonesia - quite a nice person, always full of advises (some seems nonsense) but nevertheless the fact was that she wants to help people around her.

When I explained her the symptoms she instantly said "I know exactly what u mean"... Wow... that's how a professor should sound like.

"There is nothing wrong with u sometimes, when we have been wokring a lot or focusing on things a lot which is the same, it tends to get monotonous" I was relieved to know that there is nothing wrong with me. while I'm trying to be happy she was pouring down her knowledge on me...

"...that technically means we are stuck... and our brain cant think straight.. and what ever we are doing it seems as random..."

Hmmm... So what can I do about it Prof?

"Well solutions are as follows.. hehehe

Take some time to do something different, that helps u to relax - read, go spend time with nature, etc
Exercises - so u start pumping energy and feeling in your body
Just ingnore it and make and push ur self to work more"

Haha... thanx Prof. Deb (Aka AP) and I hereby solemnly share your knowledge with rest of the world... Thank you :)

Lovely Sunday...

2010-03-21T21:47:00.002+05:30

Who said Sunday is a free day? After all... who cares whether it is free or not. What matters is that at the end of the day you are smiling and you are happy that the day is "well done" in whatever the way you wanted to have it.

Saturday was MC Selections and it took way longer than it should have. So I had to cancel my plans to go out with Chamath and Archer for a pool game. But the good friend of mine invited me to visit him at his place to have dinner and a chat. And that was ideal... since the time we were first became friends at the campus we shared lot of things together. So of course, it was an automatic YES for me to spend my Saturday night in his place.

We both had stories to share... It is extremely nice to let go of work pressure and become human again. Just feel the freedom around us and see the life as if it is a fairy tale of some kind that needs to be told and heard. I felt happy and fresh after our sharing.

I was lazy to wake up in the morning. Jeez it's Sunday for God's sake!!! And I got this SMS from Faye saying that she has recorded history by doing the best recruitment in BFSU history. That's the perfect start for the beautiful day.

Me and Chamath spoke about business in the morning. This is serious talk... we are going to explore some new business opportunities. Are you sure? "Buddi... you are already working for 3 organizations. Do you seriously want to start another something?"

Hmmm... Yeah why not? "Buddi... you are still young and you have time ahead. Do experiment anything and everything now... somethings will work out and somethings will fail. And you will know sooner rather than later what works best for you."

Ok there... So we are going to be serious about this...

We had the pool game that we were supposed to have last evening. Archer missed it anyway. I wore the T that King gave me, the first time I wore it. It was slightly bigger for my size but the gift never looses its value.

I was terrible at pool. I was as good as the number of times I potted the cue ball. Haha... This is when I got the sad news that the brother of one of my school friends has passed away after facing a road accident and I was expected at the board meeting for CCRC, the newly formed NGO.

Now I'm back at home after both board meeting and the funeral. I'm happy that I managed both... that I managed between responsibility and the friendship.

At the funeral I met another one of my old friends who told me that he has tried three times to start his business and all three times he had failed. My God... you are good... I didn't need another invitation to tell him that he is not going to fail in his fourth time. And I told him that if he can send a good business plan, I can help him (rather "Impact Ventures" can help him) with starting his business. "Impact Ventures" are for them... and I'm glad I found him.

So this Sunday was a good Sunday... I know every Sunday will not be like this, but what is important is to live everyday in such away that at the end you will not regret whatever you did in that day. Make everyday count, make everyday beautiful in whatever the way you want and live every moment peacefully and happily.

Time flies!!!

I believe...

2010-03-19T08:21:00.004+05:30

"All great things are simple that they are expressed in single words" said Churchill and it is true; when I ask myself what I appreciate the most about life the first things that come to my mind are very simple words like Love, respect, compassion, peace, beauty and harmony.

This exercise of talking to myself helps me to tell myself that these are what matters to me the most and that I should not fool myself chasing after things that are less important. As Covey said "I should climb the ladder knowing that it is leaning against the right wall".

This is what I believe... Inner peace and happiness comes most when you feel deep inside that your actions and your words coincide or align with your personal values. And values are what defines your character. This comes down to the point that if by social pressure or ignorance we try to follow a route that leads us to a destination away from our personal values... then we become not ourselves, we loose identity and who would want to be somebody else? There stress comes in, internally pressured and we start questioning "What the hell am I doing?".

Some may learn it there and will be brave enough to turn back but those who are too chicken - hearted will still continue to follow the masses.

Of course it is your life anyway and you choose. But when you take one end of the stick, you take the other end as well. Action follows consequence and that is nature :)

Long time no see... but life goes on...

2009-07-09T00:28:00.002+05:30

Long time no post... yeah... Malu was right. I have to do something about this.

My last post was on the 30th Nov. last year and since then so many things happened. And some I recall as true memories worth a life time.

I came back to Sri Lanka after 11 months of experience in Indonesia on 16th May 2009. Sri Lanka has changed over that 11 months and changed a lot. One (very bad) example I can give is that there were no thermal detectors at the airport 11 months ago haha... Well that is a bad example. Anyway the country had changed a lot.

2 days after arrival I heard the news that government forces took over the last pieces of land occupied by the LTTE and then declared victory over the terrorists. I could not ask for any better welcome from my country. I was fortunate enough to be here and see it happen, share the same pride and peace with our people.

'Coz when I came back I came with set of responsibilities... so much to with so little time (Isn't this the case always?). I could only imagine in my dreams how it would be to be the President of AIESEC in Sri Lanka. I spent only one day with my family, that is the day that I arrived and since then more often than not I was working at AIESEC office or elsewhere still doing AIESEC stuff.

Now finally when I decide to put a blog post after 6 months in the middle of the night, I'm in the AIESEC office and Ashan is sitting behind me hitting the keys on his laptop. Life moves on... Looking forward to share somethings more

Dreams come true...

2008-11-30T07:31:00.003+05:30

I should have written this sometime ago... but right after the conference I barely had time to think about anything else but work... Too bad... Personal reelection is not to be compromised.

When I look back at the National conference, my personal belief is that it was a success. It certainly inspired our membership and directed them to think in a new way. It made new connections and gave platform form every member to freely voice their passions and ambitions...

When I look back what inspired me the most about these 5 days was to listen to their dreams, passions and ambitions... To see them freely moving around like butterflies... It made me feel that world is such a wonderful place.

If God gives me one wish I would wish that all these dreams come true. And even without such almighty power we could still do something to make these great dreams come true. I believe it can be done... and I'm going to find out how it can be done...