Kamal K Soan

Roots from India

2011-08-12T16:21:00.000-05:00

India would be celebrating its 64th Independence on August 15, 2011...but here is a story I would like to share upon the significance of lessons we learn from the great land which is now suffering from corruption n cases, but I would rather choose to stay on positive front in this blog and below is a story which might inspire you about India....

A story from an interview I watched over the internet few years ago about an Indian businessman who came to States sometime in 1990's for his MS, rose to a very good position as time moved on and ended up staying back working for big company. The situation was 2009 recession, most companies were failing to cope up with financial aspects but Indians were doing well in managing their personal and professional lives...few financial issues...few management problems...

There were many questions during the interview but one question stood out from the reply the business man gave, should say amazing !!!...The question put by the interviewer and I still remember his reply (It was such a powerful and an inspiring one)....

How do you manage your company and financial conditions...you don't hold any business degree, do you, you manage things so perfect ?

The Indian replied...

that's a good question, I would like to share my roots from India....

The art of sharing and managing things with each other...thats how I learnt "Team Management",We are taught to live in a closed society and always believed in a form of work called "Team Work"...

The business continued saying..my father use to tell me about financial significance and the "art of saving" for future, with him balancing the monthly expenses and saving for future, as my mother was a house wife, thats how I learnt "Savings in Financing"..

And we are born to communicate with everybody in town for free (he laughs) and says thats how I learnt "Marketing about yourself (company)".

The inbuilt values we carry from India are priceless in us...Freedom, Knowledge, Divinity, Respect and communication art..."Share and Care" philosophy, gives us the pre-requisities to all these core business subjects of any business school.

Right Skill at the Right Time leads to Significance and Profits in Life.

Wishing everybody a Happy Independence Day....Jai Hind....

Above content is with due respects not to hurt any person's feelings nor any country's respect...it is a story to share about India....

Digital Diet

2011-06-22T18:16:00.001-05:00

Hello all,

It is a great pleasure in sharing my knowledge with you all out here reading my blog. You would be wondering what exactly is this "Digital Diet", either you must have heard of it and have no clue what exactly it is or have never heard about it. Everybody knows that one practices diet when there is too much of unhealthy fat in our body, which is known as "Body Diet" and we have a dietitian who tells us what to eat and what not, but how about our mind, did anyone reflect on the "Mental Diet" to avoid from all the information obtained digitally. Yes, now you are in the right mode to proceed ahead in reading this article. First time when I read about digital diet I was amazed by the concept and the wealth of peace it gives, I felt it makes lot of sense and so read through some very good articles, watched some knowledgeable videos and here is my post sharing all the knowledge gained through that work.

Everyone in this world these days is choked and bogged down by so much information flowing in and out daily to their email accounts ,Facebook walls, LinkedIn profiles and Twitter tweets, catching up the endless stream of information with busy schedule in replying your emails, making connections and posting stuff, never realizing how much we are into so many things right ??!!!. Welcome to the new era of technology, where we are moving ahead with so much information which is most of the times - 10% healthy and 90% unhealthy, resulting in stressing out ourselves beyond our mental limits; making us unhealthy, affecting our thinking power, decreasing our intelligence and also ruining our personal relationships without mental peace.

The best minds are of those people who actually balance things properly and such is the concept of "Digital Diet". We are all aware of the word diet - taking things proportionality upon requirement. So in this world of overflowing information, how about going on a diet with digital information by unplugging your mind from all the technology (computers, laptops, internet, phones, kindles, ipods..etc) and having a peaceful period of lets say daily 2 - 3 hours or why not a weekend of 12 hours where you can just relax yourself from that junk, without touching your computers, phones, etc spending that quality reading some book, go out for a walk with a friend, family members, etc.., talking to your loved ones and improving your relationships or reflect upon yourself on how you are progressing in your life. It makes sense right, this way not only you will be efficient in how you are progressing in life but also improving the quality of your critical thinking power. This way it helps improving the capacity of your brain to gain much more healthy information by deleting the unhealthy from your mind.

A great scholar once said that "Half filled mind with healthy content is better than mind full of unhealthy content".So, guys unplug your mental power cord daily from all the junk of information out there for couple of hours and plug yourself into this beautiful world where there are so many things to do to enrich your living.

I surely was one of them who got stressed up with such unhealthy way of taking information daily in and out and started practicing "The Art of Digital Diet" and must say I'm really enjoying my life much more than ever before with so much healthy time and content to look into. So apply this formula in your life and see how it makes a difference. I'm pretty much sure you would love to leave a comment after you enjoy the significance in your lives.

Finally, one who lives with the best practices available in life is the one who lives the healthy and long life.

A dream to spend an evening at Wagah Border

2011-03-25T09:28:00.001-05:00

Everyone right now is in groove for all set action between India vs Pakistan - World Cup 2011 Semi-finals to be played in Mohali, Punjab, India on Wednesday March 30, 2011. It can't get bigger than this - amazing to see the great battle on the cricket ground by god's grace rather than on a war ground - the excitement, the adrenaline pump and all the connections by the respective countries towards their players, patriotism and people. We all talk about patriotism which we associate with our own county's pride, love which we see in great volume in soldiers and something we feel after watching a patriotic movie. I feel being an Indian, same thing goes through the veins of people across the border in Pakistan, same clothing, same intensity for their country pride, politics and cricket.

All this spirit and adulation made me remind of my long cherish dream of mine when I was kid was to visit the famous "Wagah Border". The only land border which separates the two beautiful and powerful nations by decades, the two great nations which have been battling past decades either on war grounds or on cricket field and visiting such a memorial border where you can see a ceremony which fills your heart with volumes of patriotism, love and respect for one another. Ceremony at Wagah Border where the lowering of both nations flag, soldiers walk towards into each others territory, lift of the soldiers leg to a height which can tear any other normal person's limbs, would be something really exciting to watch.

An evening at the eventful "Wagah Border" in Amritsar, a border which is 30 minute drive from Amristar holds every evening an eventful ceremony across both countries. But interesting would be to see the drive through the fields of Attari to reach Wagah Border, something you must have seen in one of my favorite movies "Veer Zaara", songs and scenes shot over those paddy fields, amazing nature and sceneries, finally would be reaching Wagah Border. But keeping all aside its sad that a gate which is a man created one, which would be just few feet away from you at the site, which resulted in just blood shed and hatred towards one another, which separates the nations by long miles in approach.

Whether India or Pakistan wins on Wednesday, I wish Cricket and Countries don't lose their respect for one another, I wish they feel in unity as the beautiful line in the movie Veer Zaara goes "Sarhad ke paar ek aisa shaaks hai jo aapke liye apne jaan bhi de dhega", be ready to give everything for your country, respecting other countries too.

A long waiting dream to visit Wagah Border, hope to cherish that dream next time I visit India.

Keep the cheer on guys....Cricket Must Win !!!

How To Keep a Conversation Going

2010-12-18T04:08:00.000-06:00

Everyone in this world has something to learn and this blog of mine I felt was something I learnt when I read couple of books and feel that would be great learning for you all too.

I want you to imagine the following scenario – you are at business network function or at a social network gathering and you meet someone you would like to know them better, could be a potential client or business contact or someone you would like to date. You take turns back and forth, asking questions, telling stories and generally trying to make a good first impression on that person at some point of the conversation though you would be struggling to keep the conversation going and you are not sure what to say next or what to ask next, in the end the conversation dies and it fizzles out as you realize there is nothing left to talk about in a moment. How many of you can relate to what I am saying here…I think we all can and the good news is after reading through this blog you will learn a simple way how to keep a conversation going without constantly trying to figure out what am I going say next or what story am I going to tell him next. It is really easy, all you have to do is ask right kind of questions.

When it comes to conversations, there are usually two kinds of questions – there are closed questions and there are open-ended questions. Closed questions generally prompt people to give concise, short replies, they elicit brief facts from people like yes or no, example of a closed question would be – “Isn’t it beautiful outside today?” – to of which most of you would reply No, as it is very cold these days in US. When I happen to go to social gatherings I use to ask lot of closed questions and what happens when you do that is – it looks like you are interrogating somebody.

Here is a typical conversation how it looks like when I happen to talk with a lady –

Hello Miss, how are you today? – Very well, how about you Kamal – I am good.

Have you been in US for a while now? – yep. Really how long have you been? – couple of years.

Well do you like it ? – ya.

How many of you can see that this conversation can be forgettable at very best? and be honest how many of you feel that you have started a conversation like that in a social gathering or networking or event or a party.

You see closed questions are lot like you are riding a bicycle – when you are riding a bicycle you need two things to move forward – balance and you need forward momentum, and when you ask too many closed questions in a row, you start to slow things down in the conversation and what happens is – it is really difficult to move forward. Closed questions do not give you the push you need to keep things going, in order to do that you need to ask – open ended questions. Now open ended questions generally prompt people to give longer and more thought out answers, they stop and think, it generally elicits opinions, ideas, stories, an example for an open ended question would be – my god it is starting to get too cold lately, what do you guys think about the weather during the Christmas?, could that get you talking for a while. I want to show you how that conversation would be like – if I asked an open ended question.

Hello Miss, how are you? – Very well, how are you Kamal – pretty good.

So how long have you been attending this course? – I have been coming to this for couple of years and I am really enjoying it.

What was it about this course that originally attracted you? – Well one of my professors had initially suggested students like me to pursue this course and they have come back with great improvement.

Why do you think that your professor has suggested you to this course? – Well I was initially having some fear and difficulty with the higher level courses but after joining this basic course, I am feeling great and excelling in every other course…

Can you see the difference it is much easier for her to talk to me, as I am giving her more of an opportunity to participate. I always use to feel like conversations are like spinning those merigorounds. When we were kids, we use to go to park and get onto those merigorounds,somebody use to spin it and we hold on to it. Open ended questions are those which give that push which keeps the conversation going.

So far we have talked about closed questions which are lot like riding bicycle and applying brakes, which makes it very difficult to maintain balance and move forward, open ended questions are lot like giving a push on the merigoround to keep things going and one thing we haven’t talked about is why is this subject important to me in the first place.

Most of you must have felt how this blog would help you out personally, but to me learning this art has helped keep my conversations going and build up in networking. Believe it or not I asked an open ended question to the right person at the right time. When I asked a professor of mine about how to proceed my career ahead, his one line in my conversation with him marked my future, that line was - “Do something in your life that would bring a smile on your face every morning as you wake up and lead your career towards that direction which would make you love the path you chose and not feel as work load” and for sure I decided my mind thats how I chose and always feel happy about day to day life, I am much happier now that I am doing something I love to do.

You see when you develop to keep a conversation going with someone you automatically develop a relationship with someone, you make friends, you make business acquaintances and by doing these your life becomes much richer. I think by learning these distinctions and applying in your own life you move one step closer to the kind of relationships you want and having the life you most want.

Good luck to you all

Kamal Soan

How to keep your mind cool and improve your intuition

2010-12-06T21:51:00.000-06:00

Problems, Stress and Worry...people are always oriented with these words in day to day life. But as Swami Sukhabodhanandhaji says "Worry is like a rocking chair, it does not go anywhere but just sips off your energy", so think about it.

It is always interesting that there so many techniques to solve a problem in this world, but most of us have no idea what is the real mechanism of it, how these techniques work inside our body and outside in this world. For example, there are many techniques to control anger and manage stress like breathing exercises, yoga, sports activities, etc but how about if we can understand the logic behind these techniques and do those activities - isn't it much more interesting and practical to follow, an exciting feeling to do those exercises with much more excitement and enthusiasm. So, one of the things I felt would be good to present today was - how to maintain a cool mind and how it helps you improve gaining knowledge.

We all know that there are several ways to maintain our mind cool, some of them are by doing meditation and yoga, but what if we know the mechanism of how meditation works in our body - isn't this exciting because "Many of us think that they think, but really they are not thinking and most of us who think they know the real cause, really they do not know much about what they think" and this blog of mine is to provide knowledge which most of us have no idea about, as many feel meditation is all related to philosophy and holds no practicality, thats where many of us misinterpret things wrong way.

Recently I listened to these two great spiritual gurus (Swami Sukhabodhanandaji and Swami Bodhanandhaji) explaining about the mechanisms how meditation works in our body, which not only gave me a practical reason and great excitement which fueled me further to do meditation on much regular basis, something which gave a much needed boost, surely thought of spreading the wealth of knowledge I gained which would help others too.

The two basic ways how meditation works are:
a) The first mechanism that happens in our body is - when meditation is done it increases the size of areas related to emotions in our brain (like Hypothalamus) and people who meditate show much difference in the way they handle their emotions and how they respond with other people during stress and anger.

b) The other mechanism that happens in our body is - when meditation is done it increases the level of an excitatory neurotransmitter known as "Dopamine" (released from Hypothalamus) and commonly associated with the reward system, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate a person. People who meditate are always excited, vibrant and always ready to learn new things, on the contrary side when a person is depressed - Dopamine tablets are given to increase dopamine levels to make the person feel normal.

These ways meditation not only helps us improve intuition but also gain focus and improves our body immune system. So the best way to be in a great shape and maintain life balanced way is to do meditation and yoga to keep our mind cool and improve our intuition power to excel in this beautiful life because life now is very challenging and always tensed, person who keeps his mind cool and takes the wisest decision excels in life, reaching great heights possible, so thats the reason why oftenly we hear in USA is "Chillax dude!!!" (when someone gets excited), so all one needs to do is be calm and cool in mind and work to the best abilities to attain excellence in life.

Perception Matters !!!

2010-11-09T23:29:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time.......

Dad took his son to a village to show poverty…..

After the trip he asked his son about poverty.

Son replied: We have 1 dog they had 4,

We have small pool; they have Long River…..

We have lamps, they have stars….

We have small piece of land, they have large fields…

We buy 2 Liter Milk pack they have Buffaloes,

We buy mangoes they have trees….

We Buy Food and Vegetables and they grow theirs….

The Boy’s Dad was Speechless….

Then Boy said, “Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are…’ Life is all about how we see, Interpret & accepts things!!!!

So guys...perception matters alot...and so does life goes on how you perceive :)

Keep reading

Kamal Soan