Happiness at Work - the Zappos Way

"I wake up and can't wait to come into work!" - Sounds too good to be true?

Well believe it, for according to, Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, and billionaire at 38, "For great customer experience, focus first and foremost on employee happiness." Lofty ideals made real - Halloween costumes, toys at work et al. This is one interesting video on how happiness is shaping an iconic brand - 

RT: The Beauty of Spirituality lies in its subtlety @SriSriSpeaks

Gurudev's Twitter feed is a constant source of inspiration and warmth. You can find him @SriSriSpeaks.

I had a lot of fun reading them in order and they all seemed to make so much sense, even together! Guurji's Tweets, like Him, seem individually brilliant and collectively sublime. What do you think?

Title: The Beauty of Spirituality lies in its subtlety
11/4/12, 7:22 AM

Life works on strange laws of nature (Karma). One never knows when a friend turns enemy or vice-versa. Rely on your self reliance (11/3/12 7:36 AM). Just be happy and do whatever you can to make others happy. Serve and Smile; Have Serenity and Sensitivity; Do Sadhana and Seva (11/3/12; 7:27 AM).

Don't run away from emotions. Remain strong and centred in the midst of changing emotions. (11/2/12, 7:23 AM).Consistent practice for a long period of time with a sense of honor is needed to get established in the present moment. (11/3/12 8:02 PM)

Living Fully

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catch­ing fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my liv­ing to open me, to make me less afraid, more acces­si­ble, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my sig­nif­i­cance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blos­som and that which comes to me as blos­som, goes on as fruit.” ~ Dawna Markova

I stumbled upon this precious post by Lance Ekum here

Awaken to the music within your heart, and keep singing Your song.

Happy weekend!

Dealing with Regret

In my earlier post, Dealing with Anger, I shared one of Guruji's quotes that helps protect the mind from anger. But what if anger still happens? What if, once anger has passed, the mind is entangled regret or guilt? What if you wish to 'purify' yourself?

Gurudev's path is filled with with so much love and heartwarming wisdom. Like a mother who warns a child against mistakes, but lovingly nurses it back should it still make them - Guruji reveals this beautiful sutra to deal with guilt or impurity -

"What should be done to free oneself from the feeling of guilt? We have to discover our purity. We do not have to go somewhere in order to get our purity. You should bring this awareness in your mind, 'I am pure'. For this awareness to exist deep inside you you have to increases your prana shakti or the life force energy. Sudarshan Kriya, meditation, bhajans, pranayama and everything else is done to increase the life force. Mind becomes pure and lighter. If some dirt comes and settles down on it and the mind becomes impure again, then waht should be done? We shoudl never forget:'my nature is pure'."

Picture courtesy - PrabuVijayan 

Gossip and Satsang

I am confused.

Most gossip makes no sense. Let me share a typical scenario -
Person A: "Heyyy B, hows it going??"
Person B - "Doing alright. What about you?"
A - "Been crazy busy lately. Been working long hours on blah. Its that time of the year again. The whole family is busy doing blah. And in the middle of all this, person C is giving me so much blah. Can you believe what happened yesterday with C? Blah Blah. I just don't see how..."
B (interrupting) - "My boss is being a total pain.blah.  Have been insanely busy  too. Blah. And C is a total schmuck. I can't believe he said that to you."
A - "Am so stressed out with all this crap"
B - "Totally sucks dude"

And A and B manage to replay this scenario again and again with D, E, F and G. Where's the fun in being miserable and sharing the misery? Instead why not make those precious few moments count and raise the spirit?

I loved this snippet from Guruji, "In the satsang, if each one of you begins sharing all the great experiences you have begun experiencing in your lives and share all the noble thoughts, what happens? Your self-confidence and sincerity becomes stronger. You can go forward if you have faith. The more faith you have have, the further you can progress. In order to strengthen your belief, you should keep on participating in satsangs. You should also keep participating in celebrations. Not just sit in a dull manner. Are you getting this?"

Sweet!

Dealing with Anger

So many times, in our lives, we get overwhelmed with hatred or frustration. The mind tends to cling to the negative, and our emotions slide down a slippery slope - starting with Anger, which leads to sadness, to hatred, to jealousy,to dullness/inertia.

I read a beautiful Sutra today from "Know Your Mind" by Sri Sri -

"To calm the mind be friendly and compassionate, and finally ignore if needed. Ignore the imperfections and keep your mind calm. Hating somebody is like drinking poison and do not ever hate a wise person. Patanjali says, "Awake the opposite emotion". This is Sadhana. If anger arises, awake compassion, a new chemical process will initiate."

Such a blessing to have the Sudarshan Kriya and these rarest of Sutras, that can reverse the swing of emotions and restore our natural, beautiful, joyous state.

May our minds be strong and bloom in this wisdom.

What is Brahman?