Every bit of energy we spend straining to recall things is energy not spent on the thinking that only humans can do. This includes inventing new things, crafting stories, recognizing patterns, following our intuition, collaborating with others, investigating new subjects, making plans, and testing theories. It’s time to acknowledge that we can’t “use our head” to store and recall everything we need to know. We need to start outsourcing the job of remembering to intelligent machines.

For modern, professional notetaking, a note is a “knowledge building block”. It is a discrete unit of information interpreted through your unique perspective and stored outside your head. Once you digitize your notes and observations, you can search, organize, sync them across all your devices, and back them up to the cloud for safekeeping.

As this way of working with information continues over days, weeks and months, the way your mind works begins to change. Your second brain becomes like a mirror, teaching you about yourself and reflecting back to you the ideas worth keeping and acting on. Thus, your mind starts to lean on it to remember more than you ever could, resulting in more productivity and also a fulfilling life.

Creativity

Creativity is about connecting ideas together, especially ideas that don’t seem to be connected. By keeping diverse kinds of material in one place, we facilitate this connectivity and increase the likelihood that we will notice an unusual association. These diverse kinds of material include, screenshots from an interesting Youtube video and a tweet sitting next to a quote from a philosophy book. An audio memo might be saved next to a link of a helpful website etc. Digital notes are virtual tools that you can use to turn vague concepts into tangible entities, which you can observe, rearrange, edit, and combine.

During brainstorming, the chances that the most creative and innovative approaches instantly come to our mind is not high. We tend to favor the ideas, solutions and influences that occurred to us most recently, regardless of whether they are the best ones. Now imagine if you were to draw on weeks, months, or even years of accumulated imagination in the form of second brain where lots of ideas can be permanently saved for long term. This support system can benefit us by coming out with the most creative and innovative ideas.

Three stages of progress

People who make use of the second brain ,i.e, the personal knowledge management system go through the following three stages as per the author.

• Remembering
• Connecting
• Creating

The first way that people make use of their second brain is as a memory aid. They use their digital notes to save facts and ideas that they would have trouble recalling other wise.

The second way that people use their second brain is to connect ideas together. Their second brain evolves from being primarily a memory tool to becoming a thinking tool. A piece of advice from a mentor comes in handy as they encounter a similar situation on a different team or situation.

The third and final way that people use their second brain is for creating new things. They realize that they have a lot of knowledge on a subject and decide to turn it into something concrete and shareable. Having a lot of support material gives them the courage to put their ideas out there and have a positive impact on others.

CODE

Capture, Organize, Distill, and Express (CODE) is a map for navigating the endless streams of information that we come across every day.

Capture: Keep what resonates

Every time we turn on our smartphone or PC, information immediately immerses us. However, we cannot consume every bit of the information stream. The solution is to keep only what resonates in a trusted place that you control, and to leave the rest aside. Thus, we can improve our ability to take better notes by training ourselves to notice when something resonates with us. You are what you consume, and that applies just as much to information as to nutrition. You can use capture tools to capture passages from ebook, excepts from online articles, quotes from podcasts to name a few. Refer to the link to find the best capture tools as provided by the author here.

Organize: Save for Actionability

Most people tend to organize information by subject. However, when it comes to digital notes, the best way to organize your notes is to organize for action according to the active projects that you are working right now. Organizing for action gives you a sense of tremendous clarity, because everything that you are keeping actually has a purpose.

Distill: Find the Essence

As per the author, once your notes are organized based on action, you will begin to notice patterns and connections between them. Every idea has an essence, i.e, the heart and soul of what it is trying to communicate. Your notes will be useless if you cannot decipher them in the future. By highlighting the takeaways, you will be able to remind yourself what the notes is about. Thus you are giving your future self the gift of knowledge that is easy to find and understand.

Express: Show your work

All the previous steps are geared towards one ultimate purpose ,i.e, sharing your ideas, your own story and your own knowledge with others. Most of us fall into the category of continuously force feeding ourselves with information. However, we never take the next step and apply this information. The author recommends us to shift our time and effort from consuming to creating.

PARA

The author refined, simplified, and tested an action-based approach to organize files and notes with thousands of people. This system called PARA can be used to organize four main categories of information in our lives: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives.

PARA can handle it all regardless of your profession or field. It organizes information based on how actionable it is, and not what kind of information it is. Organizing by actionability counteracts our tendency to constantly procrastinate and postpone our aspirations to some far-off future. PARA pulls these distant dreams into the here and now. It helps us realize that we already have much of the information we need to get started.

Progressive summarization

This is a simple process of taking the raw notes that you have captured and organized. You then distill the notes down to their most important points.

Layer one captures a few key excerpts of the article and includes a link to the original article at the bottom. To enhance the discoverability of this note, you can add a second layer of distillation. Here, the main points that provide hints of what the text is about needs to be bolded. For the notes that are especially long, interesting or valuable, the author suggests adding a third layer of highlighting. For this, you can use the “highlighting” feature available in most of the note-taking apps. This will often amount to just one or two sentences that encapsulate the message of the original source. A helpful rule of thumb that the author provides is that each layer of highlighting should include no more than 10 to 20 percent of the previous layer.

To avoid revisiting your notes and spending extra time deciphering their contents, this method can be highly effective. Focusing only on the bolded and highlighted points, as seen in layers two and three, makes it much easier to interpret the notes than rereading the entire article.

Intermediate packets

The idea of breaking down your work into smaller chunks is nothing new. However, it’s not enough to simply divide tasks into smaller pieces, you need a system for managing the pieces as well. The author calls the small pieces of WIP (Work In Progress) items as intermediate packets. The intermediate packets are the concrete, individual building blocks that make up your whole work. You can use any note as an intermediate step in a larger project or goal. Like LEGO blocks, the more pieces you have, the easier it is to build something interesting.

The author provides information on the five types of intermediate packets that you can use to create and reuse in your work.

• Distilled notes: Books or articles that you have read and distilled.
• Outtakes: The material or ideas that did not make it into your past project.
• WIP: The documents or other materials that you produced during your past projects.
• Final deliverables: Concrete pieces of work you have delivered as part of your past projects.
• Documents created by others: Knowledge assets created by your team or other stakeholders that you can refer to and incorporate into your work.

I guess our ability to quickly tap into these creative assets and combine them into something new will make all the difference in whatever we do.

Process of retrieval

There is no single, perfectly reliable retrieval system for the ideas contained in your notes. Instead, there are four methods suggested by the author that overlap and complement one another. The methods are as follows:

• Search: You can use the search function in your notes app as a quick, iterative approach to find the necessary information. If you’re unsure what to look for or interested in images or graphics, you can start browsing.
• Browsing: The notes apps offer a variety of features that allow you to easily browse through the hierarchy of folders. This browsing can be based on date created, image only view etc. Some of the notes may end up being useful in unexpected ways, which is where the tags will be helpful.
• Tags: Tags are the labels that you apply to certain notes regardless of where they are located. The main weakness of folders is that the ideas can get siloed from each other. Here, tags help in infusing your second brain with connections. Tags make it easier to see cross-disciplinary themes and patterns that defy simple categorization.
• Serendipity: This mysterious method is about creating the environment for ideas to jump out at you. The ideal conditions for the ideas to arise is to put all sorts of different kinds of material, on many subjects and in diverse formats, all jumbled together in your second brain. While using this method don’t restrict your search to that specific folder, instead look through related category projects or resources. Because visual patterns amplify serendipity, the author recommends saving images as well. Lastly, sharing our ideas with others for feedback also introduces an element of serendipity.

Divergence and Convergence

A creative endeavor begins with an act of divergence. You open the space of possibilities and consider as many options as possible. The purpose of divergence is to generate new ideas, but if all we do is divergence, then we never arrive anywhere. However, convergence forces us to eliminate options, make trade-offs and decide what is truly essential. It is about narrowing the range of possibilities so that you can make forward progress and end up with a final result.

The model of convergence and divergence is fundamental to all creative work. It’s a pattern we can observe across any creative field. For example, writers diverge by collecting raw material for the story they want to tell. This is followed by converge by making outlines, laying out plot points, and writing a first draft. We can overlay this model with the four steps of CODE to come up with a powerful template for the creative process. The first two steps of CODE ,i.e, Capture and Organize, make up divergence, while the final two steps, Distill and Express, are about convergence.

Divergence and convergence are not a linear path, but a loop. Once you complete one round of convergence, you can take what you have learned right back into a new cycle of divergence.

Routine Actions

The second brain is a practical system for enhancing your productivity and creativity. “Being organized” isn’t a personality trait that you are born with, nor is it merely about finding the right apps or tools. It is a habit of a repeated set of actions you take as you encounter, work with and put information to use. The author recommends three types of habits to incorporate into your routine. These habits help keep your second brain functional and relevant over time.

• Project checklists: Ensure you start and finish your projects in a consistent way, making use of past work.
• Weekly & Monthly reviews: Periodically review your work and life and decide if you want to change anything.
• Noticing habits: Notice small opportunities to edit, highlight or move notes to make them more discoverable for your future self.

When you turn your digital notes into a working environment rather than just a storage space, they become much more useful. As a result, you naturally start spending a lot more time there. Since this will turn out to align with your real needs, you need to use the habit of “organize as you go”.

Your second brain starts as a system to support you and your goals. You can easily leverage it to support others and their dreams. In doing so, you become a force for good in the world.

You can evaluate your current notetaking proficiency by making use of the free assessment tool provided by the author here.

Further Reading:

• Book Review : Getting Things Done
• Book Review : The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
• Mind Management Basics
• Book Review : 7 Mindsets for Success, Happiness and Fulfillment
• Vision Board : A Tool To Manifest Your Dreams

Though I cannot give any proof of my personal experience with mantras, I feel that mantra has the power to transform a person’s life, provided he/she has complete belief, dedication and discipline in chanting the mantras. The ancient sages and many present-day genuine spiritual leaders are the living proof that mantras work. Though this blog is based on my learnings from various sources, I can say that much of this blog is inspired from Om Swami‘s book “The Hidden Power of Gayatri Mantra”.

The Origin of Mantras

Sages or rishis received or experienced mantras, sacred utterances, in higher states of consciousness. The Sanskrit mantras are derived from the Vedas, a collection of ancient Hindu religious texts regarded as the oldest layer of Sanskrit language literature. People believe that ancient practitioners initially transmitted the Vedas orally from one person to another before Sage Vyas compiled them into texts.

Since there are thousands of mantras in the Vedas, I guess it would be better to take up a mantra that is considered to powerful. Gayatri mantra is considered to be one of the most powerful mantra. As mentioned earlier, this mantra has its origin from one of the vedic texts i.e, the Rig veda.

The Science of Mantras

As mentioned by me earlier, this blog will have many inputs from the book “The Hidden Power of Gayatri Mantra”. The author delves into the science of mantra when he mentions the sentence, “We become the kind of people we surround ourselves with”. The whole premise of meditation, of devotion is based on this alone. In this book, the author provides information on how to invoke a mantra (Gayatri Mantra) and benefit from it. Mantra science is like a wealth that you seek, but the spiritual wealth is already inside you. The question is how to put the already existing wealth to use.

Gayatri Mantra

The versus in Vedas are organized in meters, called chanda in Sanskrit, and Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita “Gayatri Naam Chandasaamaham” ,i.e, of all the Vedic meters I am Gayatri. The meter of Gayatri has many mantras, with Gayatri mantra being the most significant. Although the usual Om Bhur-bhuvah-svah does not start the mantra in the Rig Veda, the recommended complete mantra is as follows:

Om Bhur bhuvah Svah

Tat savitur varenyam

Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi

Dhiyo Yo Nah, Pracodayat

SAVITUR GAYATRI MANTRA

The meaning of mantra as explained by the author, forms the basis of the Gayatri mantra. The meaning is that we are now meditating upon the one who alone is fit to be worshipped. May that divine radiance, that divine energy which is full of light, guide our intellects. May it put our intellects in motion, so we have a certain wealth of wisdom to put to use.

History of Gayatri Mantra

In order to understand the true power and energy of Gayatri mantra, we have to revisit a chapter in ancient history to know the circumstances in which the first sage invoked this mantra.

The valiant king Kaushika who was returning with a large number of troops, came across the hermitage of Sage Vasishtha. They had run out of provisions and dropped into the hermitage to drink water and rest. But to the King’s surprise, Sage Vasishtha arranged a meal for the King and all of his men. It was natural for the King to question the Sage about how he prepared meal for his entire army. To which the Sage replied that he had a wish-fulfilling cow.

Kaushika got thinking. The cow would be better with a king rather than a sage who does not need all the power of the cow. The king decided to take the cow with force since the Sage did not want to give the cow to the king. However, Kaushika and his army of men could not take the cow as they became helpless in front of the Sage Vasishtha’s power of penance. King Vasishtha apologized and left the place with his army.

Kaushika returned to his palace but was burning inside for revenge since he had to apologize in front of his own men. Also, the Sage did not carry a single weapon. He chose to seek the Sage’s power instead of pursuing territorial conquests or ruling. Renouncing everything, he dedicated his life to penance. For many years, he prayed to Lord Shiva and acquired several powerful weapons. Since the Sage Vashistha could not be defeated with even those weapons, Kaushika prayed to Lord Brahma for many years for the Brahmastra, the most potent weapon. Though he received that boon from Brahma, yet he still could not defeat the Sage Vashistha.

The realization:

The king Kaushika accepted his defeat. Then, realization dawned upon him when Vashistha told him the secret. You have been doing all this penance to attain something, but you have forgotten your own attainment: you have not invoked the divinity in you. You are not defined by what you have or what you can do, but by who you are, deep inside you. Listening to this, Kaushika decided not to seek weapons or harbor animosity anymore. He started doing penance not for weapons this time but for the welfare of all sentient beings. With his unrelenting and intense penance, one by one, siddhis and greater powers came to him.

With his inner eye, he had seen the one mantra, the essence of the Vedas, the cause of creation, the one mantra that had the power to pull anyone out of any adversity, that congregation of divine sounds that could help one realize one’s wildest dreams. The only mantra he ever invoked – the Gayatri mantra. The author in his book guides on how to invoke the Gayatri mantra in this age based on his personal experience.

Power of Gayatri mantra

There are many forms of Gayatri, but this one particular form is called Savitur Gayatri , which is derived from the word Savitri , the name of Mother Divine. An important aspect of mantra science is learning its proper use. When you chant mantras, and when the grace of Mother Divine is fully bestowed upon you, you will realize when and how to use it. This wisdom comes after a long time of mantra sadhana. Ultimately, the whole sadhana of Gayatri is to purify yourself. Otherwise, chanting has little meaning at the end of the day. If we fail to purify ourselves internally, then no mantra will ever yield any siddhis or powers. And siddhis will come to you, simply if you are purified.

Ways of Chanting a Mantra

There are four kinds of chanting, which lead to four progressive stages of sound. The first kind of chanting is called vachika , which means audible, verbal; something you speak. In vachika , Gayatri japa would be you chanting out loud, others around you can hear you easily.

The second type of japa is called upanshu – your lips move, and you make only a whispering sound. So it is with upanshu : only somebody who is no more than a few feet away from you can hear you. Upanshu japa is more effective than vachika.

The third kind of chanting is called mansika where you recall the whole mantra in your mind. It can be made more effective by gentle and conscious recollection of your mantra. Imagine that each section of the mantra is falling from the crown of your head one drop at a time: Om bhur-bhuvah svah, drip etc., As per the author who himself is a spiritual leader, says that by chanting mantra this way, your mind will concentrate better and your other thoughts will not intrude. The stillness of the mind is the first requirement for experiencing the Divine in its truest sense, which is when you want to experience the divine energy.

Chanting a mantra is done to not have your prayers answered. You chant a mantra because you want to invoke the divinity within; to gain immense inner strength; to constantly purify yourself.

Forms of Mantra Sadhana

All mantra sadhanas fall into three categories. The first is called nitya karma. Nitya karma is what a seeker does on a regular basis: it is refreshing your mind, practicing what you already know, every day. That, however, does not usually give you the power you may need from mantras for certain accomplishments. For that, there is a different kind of sadhana called naimittika karma. It is something that is done with a specific purpose in mind. Doing naimittika karma entails devoting a certain time for your sadhana. For example, you could say, “I am going to chant this mantra over the next X days, Y number of times in total”. According to the author, what you do during this period of time is what you accumulate for future use.

If you are going to accumulate energy, you also have a great responsibility to not use it just for yourself. It would be ideal to use it with great mindfulness for those to whom you are not connected. Under naimittika karma is a concept called purushcharana ,i.e, invoking a mantra and saving its energy for future use. The author has focused on the namittika karma in his above book. The last and third category is kamya prayoga. When you use a mantra for a certain application that is kamya prayoga.

Gayatri Sadhana

Chanting the Gayatri mantra stimulates the solar channel in your body. The author from his own experience confirms that this mantra generates heat. For, savitur also means sun. Invoking the Gayatri mantra in a structured manner will help you build a reservoir of divine energy. There are many ways to accumulate the energy of the Gayatri mantra in your consciousness. The more you gather, the more you have available for use at a later date. However, not everyone has the time or inclination to undertake a long purushcharana. Irrespective of how little or much you do, the quantity of japa should be the same everyday throughout your purushcharana.

The types of purusharana are as follows:

• Mini invocation of 3-9 days,
• Standard invocation of 40-120 days,
• Extraordinary invocation of 18-24 months
• Grand invocation of 24-32 months

As per the author, any person of any age can do this sadhana with or without initiation. You can start the sadhana on any full moon day either in the morning or at night. The main thing is to be consistent. The idea is to train your mind by doing the same thing at precisely the same time for the same amount of minutes/hours each day for a certain duration.

Please note that purification and other steps are necessary at the beginning of every session. Many mudras or japa handlocks are also used in the sadhana process. Mudras represent a powerful method to aid the flow of energy. The significance of mudras becomes evident from the fact that teachers in the olden days taught them to disciples only after years of practice. Many other mantras are chanted and offerings are also provided during the process.

One can reap the benefits of the sadhana either by following the comprehensive method of 36 steps or the brief method of only 7 steps each day as mentioned in the book. This sadhana is what differentiates an adept from an average seeker.

Further Reading :

• Profound Sayings from Ancient Scriptures for Personal Excellence
• Wisdom of Vedanta for Self Development
• Unlocking the Power Within : A Beginner’s Guide to Chakras
• Harnessing the Transformative Power of Mudras
• Meditation for self growth

Marie Kondo, the author of this book runs an acclaimed consulting business in Tokyo helping clients transform their cluttered homes into spaces of serenity and inspiration. The author began reading home and lifestyle magazines at five, inspiring her to study tidying seriously from age of fifteen. From the author’s exploration of the art of organizing, she can say with confidence that “A dramatic reorganization of the home causes correspondingly dramatic changes in lifestyle and perspective. It is life transforming.”

Changing the Thinking

The general assumption, in Japan or any other country, is that tidying doesn’t need to be taught but rather picked up naturally. Many have spent years using ineffective conventional methods, leading to cluttered homes and struggles with storage. Usually, a short time after tidying, the spaces will become a disorganized mess again. This is not due to lack of skills but rather due to lack of awareness and inability to make tidying a regular habit. In other words, the root cause of the problem lies in the mind. The method suggested in this book ,i.e, the Konmari method will help anyone to acquire the right mindset for creating order and become a tidy person.

Awareness about tidying

A person’s awareness and perspective are far more important than any skill at sorting, storing or whatever. In Japan, and I guess even in India people believe that keeping your house clean will bring good luck. Changing lifestyle habits acquired over a span of many years is generally extremely difficult. It is a known fact that people cannot change their habits without first changing their way of thinking. Tidying is just a physical act that can be broadly divided into two kinds: deciding whether or not to dispose of something and deciding where to put it. The author mentions that anyone can do this and achieve perfection.

There is a famous saying that goes as follows; “a messy room equals a messy mind.” When a room becomes cluttered the cause is more than just physical. However, when your room is clean and uncluttered, you have no choice but to examine your inner state. The author suggests that tidying must start with discarding regardless of the personality type. To avoid a negative spiral, grasping the overall volume becomes important. So the author suggests tidying by category and not by place. Once you have put your house in order, tidying will be reduced to the very simple task of putting things back where they belong, which becomes an unconscious habit.

Start with Discarding

As mentioned earlier, there are only two things involved – discarding and deciding where to keep things. Just two, but discarding must come first. Failure to follow the order is one of the reasons many people never make permanent progress. But before starting with discarding, begin by identifying your goal. Think in concrete terms so that you can vividly picture what it would be like to live in a clutter-free ideal lifestyle. Next step is to identify why you want to live like that. Ask yourself “why?” again, for each answer three to five times. As you continue to explore the reasons behind your ideal lifestyle you will come to a simple realization that the whole point in both discarding and keeping things is to be happy. When you find this or any other answer you are ready to move on to the next step of examining what you own.

Rules for discarding and keeping

Regarding the standard to use to decide what to get rid of, the author suggests the best way would be to take each item in one’s hand and ask: “Does this spark joy?” If it does keep it else dispose of it. Keep only those things that speak to your heart. Then take the plunge and discard all the rest. Before choosing what to keep, collect everything that falls within the same category at one time and lay it in one spot. Then pick each item and see if it sparks joy. Those are the only ones to keep. Dealing with just one category at a time speeds up the tidying process. The best sequence of categories suggested by the author is clothes first, then books, papers, komono (misc), and lastly, mementos. This order has proven to be the most efficient in terms of the level of difficulty for the subsequent task of storing.

The first step is to confront your own stuff. To quietly work away at disposing of your own excess is actually the best way of dealing with a family that doesn’t tidy. This may set off a chain reaction. The best time to start is early morning. To get rid of what you no longer need is neither wasteful nor shameful. When you come across something that you cannot part with, think carefully about its true purpose in your life. If the things have already fulfilled their role, acknowledge their contribution and let them go with gratitude. In the end, all that will remain are the things that you really cherish.

The author found a significant similarity between meditating under a waterfall and tidying. The clear, refreshed feeling gained after standing under a waterfall can be addictive. Similarly with tidying, once you put your space in order, you will be overcome with the urge to do it again.

Tidying by Category

The first step is to check every closet and dresser in the house and gather all your clothes in one spot. At this point, the author advises to start with off-season clothes since it is much easier to apply the simple criterion of whether or not they bring joy. Once you have gotten the knack of choosing what you love for the above category, you can move on to each subcategory of in-season clothing. It seems a waste to get rid of something that is still perfectly usable. In this situation, the author suggests breaking the habit of downgrading clothes that don’t thrill you to lounge wear. It makes far more sense to reinforce a positive self-image by wearing clothes you love.

There are two storage methods for clothes: one is to put them on hangers and hang from a rod and the other is to fold them and put them away in drawers. Just hanging can’t compete with folding for saving space. By neatly folding your clothes, you can solve almost every problem related to storage. Once the laundry is done and ready to be put away, folding seems like extra work, especially as the clothes will be worn again soon anyway. The first step would be to visualize followed by organizing the contents of drawers or cupboards so that you can see where every item is at a glance, just as you can see the spines of the books on your bookshelves.

Clothes

The key is to store things standing up rather than laid flat. However, to store clothes standing, they must be made compact, which means more folds. The number of folds should be adjusted so that the folded clothing when standing on edge, side by side, fits the height of the drawer. Each piece of clothing has its own “sweet spot” where it feels just right – a folded state that best suits that item so that it stands properly. The author shares a secret for maintaining the neatness of closets,i.e, arrange your clothes so that they rise to the right. To do so, hang heavy items ,i.e, heavyweight/lengthy/dark coloured items on the left side of the closet and light items on the right. By category it would be, coats on the far left, followed by dresses, jackets, pants, trousers. But one should not forget to reduce the wardrobe to only those clothes that you really love.

Socks

Folding socks is easier. Place one sock on top of the other and follow the same principles as those for folding clothing. You can adjust the number of folds to achieve the height that best suits the drawer. Store the socks on the edge, just as you did for clothing. It was a common practice to store and unpack seasonal clothes in a year. However, currently, this custom is behind the times. With AC and heater, our homes are less subject to the weather outside. So, the author suggests a few points to keep all our clothes ready to be used year-round, regardless of the season. The trick is not to over categorize. Divide your clothes roughly into “cotton-like” and “wool-like” materials when you put them in the drawer.

Books

In case of books, once you pile all of them, take one by one in your hand and start asking whether you need that book or not. Imagine what it would be like to have a bookshelf filled only with books that you really love. There are situations wherein you bought a book to read long back, but haven’t read it by now or you might have half read. It is far better to read a book that really grabs you right now than one that you left to gather dust for years. Get rid of them today.

Papers

Regarding papers, the author recommends you to dispose of anything that does not fall into the three categories: currently in use, needed for a limited period of time, or must be kept indefinitely. As for the papers to keep, the author suggests them to be organized into 3 categories: needs attention, should be saved (contractual documents), and should be saved(others). In other words, you need only 3 vertical organizers or containers or folders. One should aspire to keep the “needs attention” box empty.

Komono

Unlike clothes or books, sorting and organizing komono or miscellaneous items may seem daunting. The author suggests a basic order for sorting komono to make it simple. The order being ; CDs/DVDs, skin care products, valuables like passport and credit cards, electrical equipment, household supplies, kitchen goods, others. The point here is to take stock of komono and save only those that bring joy. Regarding a komono like the boxes and manuals of electrical appliances, discard or recycle them as soon as you unpack it. Spare bedding takes a lot of room so disposing of them is suggested by the author. Similarly with expensive unused health care items that you never fully utilized.

Sort by category, in the correct order and keep only those things that inspire joy. Do this thoroughly and quickly, all in one go. As you reduce your belongings through the process of tidying, you will come to a point where you suddenly know how much is just right for you. Believe what your heart tells you when you ask, “Does this spark joy?”. If you act on that intuition you will be amazed at how things will begin to connect in your life and the dramatic changes that follow.

Storing to Make Things Shine

In this section the author writes about having a designated spot for each item. Once you choose a place for your things after you finish using them, you can keep your house in order. This results in keeping your space tidy becoming a second nature. It is surprising to see the author mention that she is yet to find a house that lacked sufficient storage space. The real problem is we have more than what we need. The point is to choose your belongings properly which results in the items to fit into your space perfectly. If you live with your family, first clearly define separate storage spaces for each family member. This is the most effective way to keep storage tidy.

Organizing and storage hacks

The author lays out a simple rule for better organizing and storing your things. When you are choosing what to keep, ask your heart; when you are choosing where to store something, ask your house. One more hack on storage is to store your items vertically as much as possible. This applies to books, clothes, papers etc. As for bags, purses and handbags, the best way to store is to first make sets according to the material, size and frequency of use and to store them one inside the other. Regarding the bag in use, the author suggests to empty daily and make a place for the things inside it. Another point for efficient storage is to move all your storage units into your closet. Also refraining from stocking up on things and buying what is needed followed by removing them from their packages immediately is suggested.

Start by removing the product seals from your storage containers. This is absolutely essential, just as you remove the tags from new clothes to welcome them as your personal belonging. By eliminating excess visual information that doesn’t inspire joy, you can make your space much more peaceful and comfortable. Expressing gratitude is an important point that needs to be inculcated towards the happenings in our everyday life. This same rule applies to possessions as well. When you treat your belongings well, they will always respond in kind. Storage, after all, is the sacred act of choosing a home for your belongings.

Tidying Transforms Life

Tidying increases the awareness of what one really likes and as a result daily life becomes more exciting. The author believes tidying is the best way to understand ourselves, more effective than self-analysis or listening to others. Tidying is a way of taking stock that shows us what we really like. The lives of those who tidy thoroughly and completely, in a single shot, are without exception dramatically altered.

Honing your decision-making skills

Tidying means taking each item in your hand, asking yourself whether it sparks joy, and deciding on this basis whether to keep it or not. By repeating this process hundreds and thousands of times, we naturally hone out decision making skills.

When we delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two : an attachment to the past or a fear for the future. These reasons guide your choices in every aspect of your life, including your relationships with people and your job. The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don’t. However, there are 3 approaches we can take towards our possessions: face them now, face them sometime, or avoid them throughout our life. With confidence and enthusiasm, we can achieve much more. In other words, if you are going to put your house in order do it now.

Opportunity to express gratitude towards your possessions

Life becomes far easier once you know that things will still work out even if you are lacking something. Selecting and discarding one’s possessions is a continuous process of making decisions based on one’s own values that hones one’s decision-making skills. It is by putting one’s own house in order that one’s mindset is changed. Also, tidying is our opportunity to express our appreciation to our home for all it does for us. The author suggests to put our house in order from the perspective of what would make it happy. This smoothens the decision-making process. Getting rid of those things that no longer spark joy, should be a parting ceremony to launch them on a new journey. According to the author, what you part with will return in the same amount when it desires to. Hence while parting it is a good practice to use words like “Thank you for finding me” or “Have a good journey. See you again soon”.

Other positive effects

When our space is clean, we can focus on other important things in our lives without thinking about tidying. We amass material things for the same reason that we eat – to satisfy our craving. The author noticed that when her clients shed excess, their tummies slim down, minds clear, and skin smoothens. The philosophy of Feng-shui is about living in accordance with the rules of nature. The purpose of tidying is also the same ,i.e, to live in the most natural state possible. Hence owning what we love and what we need is the most natural condition. By putting our house in order, we can live in our natural state.

As per the author, things that are cherished shine. True joy resides in the body and possessions of the owner and can’t be concealed. If you truly like something and are proud of it, ignore what others think. There is no greater happiness in life than to be surrounded only by the things you love. The author suggests to pour your time and passion into what brings you the most joy, your mission in life. Putting your house in order will help you find the mission that speaks to your heart.

Further Reading :

• Book Review : Getting Things Done
• Book Review : 7 Mindsets for Success, Happiness and Fulfillment
• Rules to Live By to Thrive at Life/Work
• Mind Management Basics
• Book Review : Mindfulness in Plain English

In this blog post “Numerology : Unveiling the secrets of key numbers”, I will provide information on some of the key numbers and how it can be helpful to you. Find some of the numbers as follows:

Psychic number

Your Psychic Number in numerology is what defines your character. It is also called as the Driver Number or Mulaank. This pivotal number unveils essential insights into your personal values and beliefs, fostering a deeper understanding of yourself. Thus, embracing your psychic number empowers you to cultivate heightened self-awareness.

To calculate your psychic number, you add up the individual numbers of your birth date. Find a few examples as follows :

a) 01-01-2000 : 0+1 = 1
b) 19-01-1990 : 1+9 = 10 =1

Here 1 is the psychic number for both the 2 example birth dates.

I found this calculator online that might help you with the calculations. Also, refer to the definition of all the psychic numbers here.

Destiny number

Destiny Number is also called as Life Path number or Conductor number or Bhagyaank. Both the Mulaank and Bhagyaank are concepts from Vedic/Indian numerology. It provides greater insights into your life by telling you not only who you are but also who you are meant to be. It points to the strengths that you should use and develop to lead a fulfilling life.

The Destiny number is derived by summing the numbers of your birth date, month, and year, and then reducing the total to a single digit. Find a few examples as follows :

a) 01-01-2000 : 1+1+2+0+0+0 = 4
b) 19-01-1990 : 1+9+1+1+9+9+0 = 30 = 3+0 = 3

As per the above calculation, 4 and 3 are the destiny numbers for the mentioned birth dates. You can use the calculator link to find your destiny number and its details. Also you can use the link to find quick information on all the destiny numbers.

KUA number

Many of you might be familiar with the Feng shui bagua/pakua mirror that is used as a lucky charm in front of houses. The Kua refers to the bagua/pakua or the eight-sided octagonal symbol with a trigram on each side. Pa means eight and Kua means trigram in Chinese. Knowing your Kua number allows you to take advantage of the four directions that support you and avoid the other four directions that don’t.

Your personal Kua number is your lucky number and is calculated based on your birth year and gender. To calculate the Kua number, take the last two numbers of the year in which you were born and add them together. Reduce them down to a single digit. For males, subtract the result from 10 and for females add 5 to the result.

a) 1980 : 8+0 = 5 + 8 = 13 = 1 + 3 = 4 (Female)
b) 1980 : 8+0 = 10 - 8 = 2 (Male)

For those born in or after the year 2000, you will need to subtract from 9 instead of 10 for males, and add 6 instead of 5 for females to get the KUA number.

a) 2023 : 2+3 = 6 + 5 = 11 = 1+1 = 2 (Female)
b) 2023 : 2+3 = 9 - 5 = 4 (Male)

Make use of this calculator to calculate your KUA number and the details w.r.t each number based on the results.

Lo Shu Grid

Lo shu grid is a part of Chinese Numerology. It is a 9 square grid arranged in a 3×3 pattern, also known as a magic square. The squares contain 1 to 9 numbers arranged in columns and rows. The addition of 3 numbers in each row and column, diagonally, sums up to 15. This is because the Chinese believe that the number 15 is a lucky number.

The meaning of each number explains your characteristics, traits, and personalities. Missing numbers from the Lo Shu grid impacts specific areas of life, while the repetition of a number negatively affects its associated aspects.

Using the standard Lo Shu grid, a practitioner writes the date of birth and places it in a new blank grid, aligning it with the matching standard numbers on the grid. The psychic number(*) and destiny number(*) also need to be placed with the matching standard numbers in the grid.

Example: 1-1-1980

After filling the blank grid with numbers, study the 8 planes and their importance. Refer to the link for details on each of the planes.

Also study the effect of repeat numbers and missing numbers in the embedded links.

Chaldean numerology

Chaldean numerology stands as the most ancient of numerology systems, esteemed for its purported accuracy. It is believed to have originated from the ancient kingdom of Babylon. For its calculations, Chaldean numerology prioritizes the name by which an individual is most commonly recognized, whether it’s a nickname, first name, or even a familiar title.

Chaldean numerology system assigns the number value of 1 to 8 to the 26 letters of English alphabets. Since number 9 is considered as a sacred number it is not assigned to any alphabet.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A B C D E U O F
I K G M H V Z P
J R L T N W
Q   S   X
Y

As an example we will take the name as KUMAR and calculate the Chaldean number.

Chaldean number for KUMAR will be 2+6+4+1+2 = 15 = 1+5 = 6

Chaldean numerology aims to enhance a person’s journey towards becoming a better human by aligning the vibrations emitted with the soul within. This single digit also tells about the outward personality of a person. For KUMAR , 6 will be the Lucky/Chaldean number.

Refer to this article link to find the specific meaning of each number.

Further Reading :

• Wisdom of Vedanta for Self Development
• Spiritual Intelligence : The Current Corporate World Trend
• Sensing the Unseen: An Introduction to the Clair Senses
• Unlocking the Power Within : A Beginner’s Guide to Chakras
• To Think Like A Stoic

I would like to thank all the readers who have gone through my blog posts till now. It is one of the reasons for me to keep publishing my monthly blogs.

Lessons learnt

Now, blogging has become a habit for me. Blogging has taught me so much over the years. I advise everyone to start blogging because it will help us become better versions of ourselves. The following are some of the most important lessons learnt.

Consistency compounds

It is a known fact that consistency can have a profound effect in the long run. Some people start an activity and give up midway owing to multiple reasons like lack of motivation and other challenges. After completing the first year, I too contemplated discontinuing my blogging journey due to limited traffic and no financial gains. However, as I entered the second year, despite seeing no improvement in both the aspects, I decided to persist solely for the sake of enhancing my knowledge. To this day, the pursuit of knowledge remains my sole motivation for continuing my blogging. The consistency of showing up can lead to a snowball effect, where your skills and creativity compound over time.

Enjoy the process

Though I have put in focused effort on building a blogging site, the outcomes are not directly proportional to the effort. The point is that some blog posts may come out really good but the traffic to such blogs are not as expected. Hence expecting monetization too is not practical. Adopting a mindset of putting in your best efforts or enjoying the process rather than focusing on the result has kept me going.

Self-Promotion helps

Self-promotion is often seen as an uncomfortable topic, particularly in a professional setting for many. However, it is an essential skill to master if you want to succeed in your career. Being confident, being visible and being authentic are some important points to keep in mind when promoting self on the blogging journey too. Authenticity is key to building trust and credibility with your readers.

Continuous learning

Continuous learning is an ongoing journey of acquiring new knowledge and skills throughout one’s life, both personally and professionally. Blogging can be a tool to aid this process. Personally I feel that after taking up blogging seriously I have learnt a lot on various topics and the process is still going on.

Develops a structured thought process

A lot of work goes into preparing a blog for publication. First, a topic must be chosen, investigated, and understood. Once the topic has been understood, it must be outlined in a form that will appeal to the readers. After the structuring is complete, the understanding must be presented in a language that is both simple and interesting. The process of formatting the font size, ensuring adequate subheading distribution, trimming lengthy phrases, and so on must be completed before the final draft is ready.

Now that I’ve reached the 100th blog post milestone, I aim to continue blogging and score many more hundreds.

Further Reading :

• Blogging : My 3 Year Milestone
• Useful Podcasts and Blogs for Personal growth and Well-being
• Creating a blog on your hosting platform
• Techniques to Tame the Monkey Mind
• To Think Like a Stoic

This book on the topics of the Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita is based on Shri Chinmoy’s original talks at American universities and colleges in the early 1970s. Sri Chinmoy Kumar Ghose, a spiritual guru, taught meditation in the U.S. He spent almost 20 years practicing spirituality at Sri Aurobindo Ashram before moving to the United States. During his 43 years in the West, he founded numerous meditation centers around the world and mentored thousands of pupils. He is well-known for skillfully combining Eastern spirituality and Western dynamism.

The Vedas

The Vedas are the oldest surviving literature of India, and among the oldest literature anywhere in the world. Inspired seers or rishis, who saw eternal truths in experiences of enlightenment, composed it over many centuries and transmitted those truths in the form of sacred speech. This was later compiled by the seer Veda Vyas into 4 compilations.

The four Vedas are, the Rig Veda, the Yajur Veda, the Sama Veda and the Atharva Veda. The Rig Veda deals mainly with the forms of prayer. In the Rig Veda the message of human evolution begins. It tells us the meaning of existence and of man’s contribution to the world. The Yajur Veda deals with worship and rituals. The Sama Veda deals with music. The Atharva Veda deals with medicine, science and magic formulas.

The Vedas have the eternal wisdom. When we live in the mind, we cannot go beyond the judgment of destiny. Our human will is at the feet of destiny. However, when we live in the soul we have free will. This free will is the will of the supreme. The Vedic mantras, or incantations help us develop willpower in boundless measure. In Rig Veda, more emphasis is laid on mental and inner philosophy than on ritual, which is the Vedic way of life. Aspiration and meditation loom large in philosophical wisdom. In the heart of philosophy, the light can be discovered and in the body of the ritual, the light can be manifested. The characteristic of the Vedic and Upanishadic age is reflected in the below verse as well, which means, “Go forward, fear not, fight”. Progress, constant progress was the characteristic of those ages.

Prehi abhīhi dhṛṣṇuhi

Rig veda

The Vedas embody intuitive visions, divine experiences and life-illumining realities. The Rig Veda inspires us by the saying “The vessels of truth carry men of good deeds across the ocean of ignorance.”

The Upanishads

The Upanishads come from the Vedas. The Vedas lack a proper order, resembling a storehouse where everything is present. However, some sections are considered unimportant to the modern world. The Upanishads take inspiration and aspiration from the Vedas but have their own originality. The Upanishads also go by the name Vedanta, signifying “the end of the Vedas”. But the spiritual meaning of Vedanta is “the cream of the Vedas, the pick of the inner lore, the aim, the goal of the inner life”. The Upanishads tell us that there are two types of knowledge, namely; a higher knowledge, i.e., the discovery of the soul, and a lower knowledge, i.e., the fulfillment of the body’s countless demands.

The Upanishads are the obverse of the coin of which the reverse is consciousness. Inner strength dethrones the idol installed by fear and doubt. The Self cannot be won by mental brilliance but only with an aspiring heart and a dedicated life. When the inner sun shines, it destroys the darkness of millennia. The self, the transcendental self, is referred to as the inner sun. As per the scriptures, God’s grace has already dawned on us, since without the grace of God we could not have stepped onto the spiritual path in the first place. In one’s inner journey, a fundamental element is aspiration, a key factor enabling individuals to surpass the limits of ignorance. Furthermore, the spiritual ladder encompasses three crucial stages: inspiration, aspiration, and realization.

Quest for Freedom & Divinity

Each major Upanishad is a pathfinder in the forest of experience that comprises human life. It offers us the intuitive knowledge and the inner courage to find our way through the labyrinth of curves and dead ends, doubts, and subterfuges. Vivekananda, the great saint, said “Freedom – physical freedom, mental freedom, and spiritual freedom – is the watchword of Upanishads“. To achieve freedom, we need energy, power, and spirit. One verse from Katha Upanishad that Swami Vivekananda often quoted was “Arise, Awake, and learn by approaching the great ones“. It is only through inner peace that we can have true outer freedom. Existence is everywhere, but existence has its value only when divinity is visible in it.

Uthishtata, Jagrata, Prapya Varanibodhata

KATHA upanishad

We have to go beyond the domain of the physical mind with the help of philosophy, religion, spirituality, and yoga. The seeking mind operates in philosophy. The crying heart operates in religion. The illuminating soul operates in spirituality. The fulfilling goal operates in yoga. When we fulfill the demands of philosophy, religion, spirituality, and yoga, God fulfills all our demands. God himself will energize us and be our aspiration and self-control by working through us.

The Bhagavad Gita

The Gita is an episode in the book of the ancient epic, Mahabharata. It is God’s Vision immediate. The Gita is God’s reality direct. The sage Vyasa conferred upon Sanjaya the miraculous psychic power of vision ,i.e, clairvoyance to see the incidents taking place at a strikingly great distance so that he could narrate it to Dhrtarastra. There are 700 verses in the Gita, that mainly consists of the utterances of Sri Krishna, the rest of the verses are from Arjuna, Sanjaya, and Dhrtarastra. The immortal Sage Vyasa authored it around 600 B.C.

The Bhagavad Gita is the epitome of the Vedas. It is the purest milk drawn from the udders of the most illuminating Upanishads, intended to feed and nourish the human soul. It reveals the way to achieve the victory of the higher self over the lower self by the spiritual art of transformation, i.e., physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual. Life lives the life of perfection when it lives in spirituality, i.e., in spirituality, it stands far above the commands of morality and the demands of duty.

Physical & Mental Perspective

Through the divine art of contemplation, the aspirant follows the path of knowledge. Through the dynamic urge of selfless work, the seeker follows the path of action. He who follows the path of action is by nature simple, says Sri Krishna. Action binds us only when we bind action with our likes and dislikes. In the subsequent chapter, Sri Krishna highlights the hostile enemies of man, i.e., desire and anger. Insatiable desire drives life into a bed of thorns when satisfied, and conquering desire transforms life into a bed of roses. Sri Krishna tells about pleasure and pain in a similar way. “Sense-pleasure ends in pain. Hence sense-pleasure is shunned by the wise. Constant self-control is the real and perpetual happiness“.

Next, I would like to highlight the topic of service mentioned in the book. Service can do many things for us. First of all, we should know that service done in a divine spirit is the greatest opportunity that we have in our possession to kill pride and vanity and to obliterate the stamp of ego. Sri Krishna guides us on how to control the mind when he says, “The mind is unsteady. To curb the mind is not easy. But the mind can be controlled by constant practice and renunciation“. Here, the advice is to practice meditation constantly and renounce ignorance.

Psychic & Spiritual Perspective

In the subsequent chapter, I came across a fascinating discussion about Aum. Even though books can provide knowledge about Aum, living an inner life marked by aspiration is the key to achieving the true understanding of the meaning of Aum. Such a life propels the aspirant to elevated states of consciousness, fostering accelerated progress both internally and externally.

Being God’s own instrument is the greatest pride and the ultimate achievement, as it infallibly signifies acceptance as His very own.

“Nimittamatram bhava”

Bhagavad Gita

If we approach the lord who assumes the human form and who plays his divine game in the field of his manifestation, our success will undoubtedly be easier, quicker and more convincing, to a degree which our physical minds would not believe possible.

The one endowed with spiritual qualities is more practical than anybody else. The forces divine guide, protect, and illuminate his life. Fear fears to stay with him who has perfect faith in God. The outer man is what his inner faith is. With our faith we can create, control, conquer, and transform our fate.

Further Reading :

• Importance of Karma Yoga in Today’s World
• Bhagavad Gita to be a Better You
• Meditation for self growth
• Wisdom of Vedanta for Self Development
• Profound Sayings from Ancient Scriptures for Personal Excellence

Out of the many chakras in the entire system of chakras, seven chakras are the most prominent. These main seven chakras start from the first chakra, the root chakra (base of the spine), and ends with the crown chakra (top of the head). In the following section, I’ll briefly explain about each chakra, offering essential insights to help you comprehend and balance your energy centers.

Muladhara Chakra / Root Chakra

The Root Chakra also known as the Muladhara Chakra is located at the base of the spine, between the anus and the genitals. Mula means root, adhara means foundation. It is associated with the natural element of earth. This chakra is the lowest of the 7 chakras and is linked to the unconscious mind, where it stores our karma/actions and experiences from past lives. This chakra symbolizes itself with a deep red color.

The positive attributes of the Muladhara Chakra are that you feel grounded, stable, confident, balanced, independent, and strong. When the chakras become blocked or imbalanced, the flow of energy is said to be impeded. Thus resulting in negative qualities like laziness, inertia, self-centredness and domination by one’s physical desires.

Some of the methods to activate your Muladhara chakra are as follows :

• Meditating on the Root Chakra
• Meditating with the Chin mudra (palm facing down)
• Chanting Beej Mantra “LAM” 108 times

Svadhisthana Chakra / Sacral Chakra

The Sacral Chakra is the second of the seven chakras. It is located just below the navel, right in the center of your lower belly. Svadhisthana means “where you are established”. It is associated with the natural element of water. The Muladhara Chakra is the storehouse of our Karmas, however these are activated in Svadhishthana Chakra. Awakening of the this Chakra brings clarity and development of an individual’s personality. The level of consciousness of the this Chakra is the subconscious, the sphere of consciousness that lies between sleeping and waking. This chakra is associated with the colour orange.

A person with an open and balanced Sacral Chakra has the ability to enjoy the senses with discipline and keep their emotions and relationships in balance. When the second chakra is unbalanced, it causes emotional disturbances, reduced creativity, and an obsession with sexual thoughts.

Some of the methods to activate your Muladhara chakra are as follows :

• Meditating on the Sacral Chakra
• Meditating with the Dhyana mudra
• Chanting Beej Mantra “VAM” 108 times

Manipura Chakra / Solar plexus Chakra

The Manipura Chakra is the third of the seven chakras. It is located at the navel and is associated with the natural element of fire. Manipūra means “City of Jewels” where we find the pearls of clarity, wisdom, self-awareness, self-confidence and wellbeing. The colour of this chakra is yellow.

When the mind rests in manipura it becomes still, calm, and poised. Intuition comes online, and passion and willpower are enhanced. It is the center of psychic intuition enabling a vague sense of knowing referred to sometimes as listening to the gut. The imbalance of this chakra usually manifests in the form of low self-confidence, uncontrolled anger and irritation, insecurity, doubt, lack of motivation etc.

Some of the methods to activate your Manipura chakra are as follows :

• Meditating on the Solar plexus Chakra
• Meditating with the Samana mudra
• Chanting Beej Mantra “RAM” 108 times

Anahata Chakra / Heart Chakra

The fourth energy center, driven by the principles of transformation and integration, is said to act as a bridge between the lower and upper chakras. Thus, balancing the material and spiritual aspirations and facilitating our emotional and physical well-being. Contrary to expectations, the heart chakra does not align with the physical heart but is instead positioned at the center of the chest, in line with the heart. In Sanskrit, it goes by the name Anahata, signifying ‘infinite,’ ‘unhurt,’ or ‘boundless,’ and it associates with the element of air or vayu. The color green is linked with this chakra.

When the energy of the Anahata Chakra flows upward towards spiritual consciousness, we express our feelings as Bhakti, embodying pure divine love and devotion. This allows one to experience love in its purest form without any attachment or expectation. However, if our consciousness sinks down to the spheres of worldly passion, our emotions become confused and unbalanced. It is then that desire, jealousy, sadness and despair overwhelm us.

Some of the methods to activate your Anahata chakra are as follows :

• Meditating on the Heart Chakra
• Meditating with Gyan/Jnana mudra (palm facing up)
• Chanting Beej Mantra “YAM” 108 times

Vishuddhi Chakra / Throat Chakra

The vishuddhi chakra, or throat center, governs the element of space. Associated with ‘purification’ or ‘cleansing’, it positions itself near the spine in the neck, with the activation point residing in the pit of the throat. Blue is the colour of this chakra.

Poison in the form of a wrong thought, emotion, idea, energy, or impulse can disturb your life. An active Vishuddhi saves you from all these influences, i.e., whatever happens around you will not have an impact on you anymore. You will be established within yourself. Just as Lord Shiva neither spat the poison out, nor swallowed it, we should not swallow our problems as we harm ourselves through this. However, we should also not spit them out as this can cause another type of problem.

Some of the methods to activate your Vishuddhi chakra are as follows :

• Pranayama techniques like bhramari
• Meditating with the Akasha mudra
• Chanting Beej Mantra “HAM” 108 times

Ajna Chakra / Third eye Chakra

“Ajna” means command or beyond wisdom. This chakra is associated with light, illumination and is located in the centre of the forehead, between the eyebrows. You carry wisdom within you, a “light,” that can brighten your path. When you tap into the Ajna chakra you have a greater awareness of the world around you, and your eyes are truly open. This chakra’s colour is indigo.

When the third eye chakra is in balance, you can tune into and trust your intuition and imagination. Also, you see your life with clarity, self-awareness, and emotional balance. However, when this chakra is out of balance, you may have difficulty seeing the bigger picture. Also, you may feel mentally foggy, anxious, or depressed.

Some of the methods to activate your Ajna chakra are as follows :

• Meditation
• Meditating with Gyan mudra (palm facing up)
• Chanting Beej Mantra “AUM” or “OM” 108 times

Sahasrara Chakra / Crown Chakra

The seventh chakra plays a crucial role in our overall spiritual growth and development. Located at the top of your head, this chakra represents universal consciousness. It influences brain functions, including intelligence, focus, and memory. “Sahasrara” means “thousand-petaled” and represents a thousand-petaled lotus flower. This chakra is violet in colour. It is not associated with any physical element.

A balanced crown chakra means you are spiritually connected. Such people are wise beyond their years, show mastery in life, and broad understanding. A closed off crown chakra may cause one to find the thought of spirituality frightening or unlikely. If this crown chakra lacks energy, learning and evolving intellectually can become challenging.

Some of the methods to activate your Sahasrara chakra are as follows :

• Pranayama techniques like Kapalabhati
• Meditating with the Akasha mudra
• Chanting Beej Mantra “AUM” or “OM” 108 times

In this beginner’s guide to chakras i have just touched upon the basics of chakras. As my understanding of this topic deepens, I look forward to explore and share more insights in the upcoming blog posts.

Further Reading :

• Meditation for self growth
• Beneficial Yoga Exercises That IT Professionals Must Try
• Harnessing the Transformative Power of Mudras
• Spiritual Intelligence : The Current Corporate World Trend
• Sensing the Unseen: An Introduction to the Clair Senses

Canva’s wide array of features allow you to edit photos without extensive photo editing knowledge or experience. A drag and drop interface makes customizing thousands of templates simple and easy. Their template categories include Zoom backgrounds, posters, presentations, flyers, cards, info graphics, business cards, LinkedIn Carousel, resumes, invitations, book covers, menus, letterheads, newsletters, photo collages, tickets, bookmarks, invoices, recipe cards, and more.

Canva is available both in the free and pro version. In this blog, i will be writing about some of Canva’s powerful features that are common to the free and paid pro version.

eBook pages templates

Type in “a4 document” in the search section after logging in to your Canva account. The a4 documents option is available under the Templates > Recommended tab as well. Select the “Create blank” option to start creating the ebook. In the next window, on the left hand side there are multiple templates available with multiple pages. You can select the appropriate template as per your requirement. In another way, you can also type the words “ebook pages” in the search box and you will find a list of ebook templates listing up. Edit the selected template pictures, fonts and content to create your own ebook.

Website templates or Blog featured images

Featured images are used as thumbnails when pages or blog posts are shared on social media. Different WordPress themes can have different sizes for featured images. However, the general size is 1200 x 628 pixels. Under Template > Business > Websites you can find a variety of templates. If you want your design with a certain dimension, a new design can be created under File > Create new design > Custom size with the required size.

Customize a photo size

This feature can be particularly useful when you are customizing a picture to a certain size. Sometimes there might be a need to printout passport size, stamp size, post card size photos. In such a case, any photo can be customized using this feature by navigating to Create a design > Custom size. Input the necessary dimension here to resize the photo to the required size.

Magic Media App

Magic Media lets you create AI generated images and videos from a simple text prompt in seconds. Here, the point is to explain how you express the picture in simple direct words. Describe in as much detail as possible, be specific and clear. Also, add descriptions of elements of the scene and setting that will help make the image closer to your intended output. If you find the image or video unsatisfactory, go back and adjust your text input. After achieving satisfaction with the result, click “download” to save the image on your computer. These images can be utilized as part of photography, storytelling, social media, etc. Login to your home page on Canva and access the App section to find your AI-Powered Magic media app.

LinkedIn Carousel, Background Photo and Profile Picture templates

LinkedIn carousels are a type of interactive content featuring multiple slides. Although carousels can certainly display photos, most include a series of graphics with a mix of text, images, photos, screenshots, and info graphics. Users can swipe (on mobile) or scroll (on desktop) to view the content in full. Just type in “LinkedIn Carousel” on the Canva home page after logging in and you will find a list of Carousels to choose from. Once your Carousel editing is complete, you need to download it using the standard PDF option. This can be used on LinkedIn as it is.

Furthermore, in addition to the above information, if you wish to add a banner to your LinkedIn Profile, simply type “LinkedIn Background Photo” on your Canva home page after logging in to search for the templates. Customize any of the template from the list and download to use the same. If you type in “LinkedIn Profile Picture” in the search section, you will find a list of Profile picture templates to choose from.

Useful Hacks

Some of the useful Canva hacks that can be made use of are as follows.

• SpeedPaint App – Under Apps menu, search for this app and use it to transform any image into a speed drawing short video.
• Colour palette based on the picture – You can change the background of a picture by selecting the background followed by Background colour icon > Photo colours section. Select the appropriate colour from the options for the background.
• TypeCraft App – Type a text on your design and if you want to bend or warp or twist the text, you can do so by using this app.
• Mockups App – Add image content to existing design templates by using this mockup generator app.
• Search Image – Use the “Show all keyword” option under a picture by clicking on the three dots. Use the keywords here for better search. Furthermore, similar image patterns can be searched by clicking on the image and selecting the info or “i” button > See more like this option. Utilizing this functionality, you will be able to find many similar patterns to the existing image.

Further Reading :

• Useful Tools for IT Professionals
• Few More Useful Tools for IT Professionals
• Ideas to Inspire Your Next Professional Blog Post
• Maximize Your Potential : The AI Tools You Need to Know About
• OneNote : Basic to Advanced Guide

The author of this best-selling book is a person by the name Morgan Housel. He has been writing about finance since early 2008. According to him, when a financial crisis like the one in 2008 happens, no one can accurately explain what happened or why it happened. Unlike the engineering field, finance is guided by people’s behaviors. What appears to make sense to one person might seem crazy to the other. I guess the author is right when he mentions that in order to understand a financial crisis similar to the one of 2008 or an individual’s financial crisis, the lenses of psychology (greed, insecurity, and optimism) and history would be a better tool.

Driven By Luck & Risk

The author starts off with the first chapter explaining everyone’s unique experience with how the world works. People go through life with different beliefs, goals and forecasts. This is because people from different generations raised by different parents who earned different incomes and held different values, in different parts of the world, born into different economies, experiencing different job markets with different incentives and different degrees of luck, learn different lessons. Hence every financial decision a person makes, makes sense to them in that moment and checks the boxes they need to check. Luck and risk are both the reality that every outcome in life is guided by forces other than individual effort. The world is too complex to allow 100% of your actions to dictate 100% of your outcomes.

The Importance Of Enough

The next chapter highlights the importance of enough. If you become self-sufficient at some point in life it is important to remember a few things.

• The hardest financial skill is getting the goalpost to stop moving. If expectations rise with results, there is no logic in striving for more because you will feel the same after putting in extra effort. It gets dangerous when the taste of having more, increases ambition faster than satisfaction. But life isn’t any fun without a sense of enough.
• The game of trying to keep up with other people’s wealth needs to be avoided. The ceiling of social comparison is a battle that can never be won, or that the only way to win is to not fight to begin with. Accepting that you have enough, even if it’s less than those around you is the solution here.
• The best shot at keeping some of the invaluable things like reputation, freedom, family & friends, and happiness is knowing when it’s time to stop taking risks that might harm them.

Power Of Compounding

In the book, the author provides the analogy of ice age in-order to explain about compounding. According to the author, the big takeaway from ice ages is that you don’t need tremendous force to create tremendous results. Similarly in finance perspective, Buffet’s fortune isn’t due to just being a good investor, but being a good investor since he was literally a child. His skill is investing but his secret is time. Good investing isn’t necessarily about earning the highest returns that can be one-off hits. Its about earning pretty good returns that you can stick with and which can be repeated for the longest period of time. That’s when compounding runs wild.

Getting Wealthy & Staying Wealthy

The topic of getting wealthy is one thing but keeping it is another. The ability to stick around for a long time, without wiping out or being forced to give up, is what makes the biggest difference. This should be the cornerstone of your strategy, whether it is investing or your career or a business you own. Applying the survival mindset to the real world comes down to appreciating the following.

• More than I want big returns, I want to be financially unbreakable. And if I am unbreakable, I will be able to stick around long enough for compounding to work wonders.
• The most important part of every plan is to plan on the plan not going according to plan.
• Being optimistic about the future, but paranoid about what will prevent you from getting to the future is vital. Economies, markets and careers often follow a similar path,i.e., growth amid loss.

Tail Events

Tails drive everything. A good definition of an investing genius is the man or woman who can do the average thing when all those around them are going crazy. A lot of things in business and investing work this way. Long tails, the farthest ends of a distribution of outcomes – have tremendous influence in finance. In this, a small number of events can account for the majority of outcomes. Anything that is huge, profitable, famous, or influential is the result of a tail event – an outlying one in thousands or millions event.

Control Over Time

Money’s greatest intrinsic value is its ability to give you control over your time. This is what makes people happy. Control over doing what you want, when you want to, with the people you want to. People who have lived through everything say the same thing: Controlling your time is the highest dividend money pays.

Wealth As A Benchmark

The author touches upon one more important point in the book ,i.e, people using wealth as a benchmark for their desire to be liked and admired. If respect and admiration are the goals, then one needs to be careful how to seek it. Humility, kindness and empathy will bring more respect than wealth power ever will. We rely on outward appearances to gauge financial success. But the truth is that wealth is what you don’t see. The hidden nature of wealth makes it hard to imitate others and learn from their ways. The world is filled with people who look modest but are actually wealthy and people who look rich living at the razor’s edge of insolvency. This is what one needs to keep in mind when quickly judging other’s success and setting one’s own goals.

Savings Rate

Building wealth has little to do with your income or investment returns and lots to do with your savings rate. A high savings rate means having lower expenses than you otherwise could. Having lower expenses means your savings go farther than they would if you spent more. People with enduring financial success – not necessarily those with high incomes- tend to have a propensity to not give a damn what others think about them. Savings does not require a goal of purchasing something specific. Savings need to be done for savings sake. The return on this is incalculable and should not be overlooked. Having more control over your time and options is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in the world.

Being Reasonable

In the book, the author mentions the philosophy of aiming to be reasonable instead of rational, when making decisions with money. Reasonable is more realistic and you have a better chance of sticking with it for the long run. This is what matters most when managing money. Whereas a rational investor makes decisions based on numeric facts. If lacking emotions about your strategy or the stocks that your own increases the odds, you will walk away from them when they become difficult. The rational investors who love their technically imperfect strategies have an edge. This is because they are more likely to stick with those strategies.

History Can Be Misleading

The cornerstone of economics is that things change over time. This is because the invisible hand hates anything staying too good or too bad indefinitely. The author points out two dangerous possibilities when relied too much on investment history as a guide to what would happened next.

• One will most likely miss out on the outlier events, or the record breaking events that move the needle the most.
• History can be a misleading guide to the future of economy and stock market because it doesn’t account for structural changes that are relevant to today’s world.

Avoid Single Point Of Failure

The author quotes one of Nassim Taleb sentences, “You can be risk loving and yet completely averse to ruin”. The idea here is that you have to take risk to get ahead, but no risk that can wipe you out is ever worth taking. However, avoiding unknown risks is almost impossible. If there is one way to guard against their damage, its avoiding single point of failure/a single source of income. It is important to save for things that you can’t possibly comprehend. The most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan.

Points To Note About Long Term Financial Decisions

Charlie Munger says the first rule of compounding is to never interrupt it unnecessarily. Part of the reason some of the people in the world became successful is that they kept doing the same thing for decades on end, letting compounding run wild. However, the author points out 2 things to be kept in mind when making long term decisions.

• We should avoid the extreme ends of financial planning. Assuming that you will be happy with a low income or choosing to work endless hours in pursuit of a higher one.
• We should also come to accept the reality of changing our minds. Embracing the idea that financial goals made when you were a different person should be abandoned or dragged on can be a good strategy to minimize future regret.

Price Of Success

Like everything else worthwhile, successful investing demands a price. Its volatility, fear, doubt, uncertainty, and regret – all which are easy to overlook until you are dealing with in real time. The price of investing success is not immediately obvious. The trick in convincing yourself that the market’s fee for volatility is worth it. That’s the only way to properly deal with volatility and uncertainty – not just putting up with it but realizing that it’s a fee worth paying.

Different Goals And Time Horizons

When investors have different goals and time horizons – prices that look ridiculous to one person can make sense to another. This is because the factors those investors pay attention to are different. For example, bubbles affect the long-term investors playing one game, start taking cues from the short-term traders. A takeaway here is understanding your own time horizon and not being persuaded by the actions and behaviors of people playing different ball games than you are.

Financial Pessimism

Optimism is the best bet for most people because the world tends to get better for most people most of the time. But, pessimism just sounds smarter and more plausible than optimism to most. Tell someone that they are in danger, and you have their undivided attention. This is the same with financial pessimism.

• Since money is ubiquitous, something bad happening tends to affect everyone and captures everyone’s attention.
• Pessimists often extrapolate present trends without accounting for how markets adapt.
• Progress happens too slowly to notice, but setbacks happen too quickly to ignore.

Points To Note In The Story Driven World

This is a story driven world and there are two things to keep in mind when managing your money.

• The stronger your desire for something to be true, the more likely you are to believe an exaggerated story that aligns with your wish. If you offer the prospect of investing alongside ‘the next Warren Buffet,’ you will see people wholeheartedly believing, risking their life savings in the process.
• Everyone has an incomplete view of the world. But we form a complete narrative to fill in the gaps. The illusion of control is more persuasive than the reality of uncertainty. So we cling to stories about outcomes being in our control. This is true about market forecasts in which we are very bad at. Forecasts can create an illusion of predictability in a world. These unforeseen events largely dictate outcomes, potentially doing more harm than good.

Beware Of The Curve Balls

As per the author’s insights on personal finance, everyone without exception will face a huge expense that they did not expect and plan for. It is a good practice to save in a world where curve balls are more common than we expect. Avoiding the need to sell stocks for expenses increases the likelihood of allowing owned stocks to compound for an extended period.

The author’s investment strategy relies on a high savings rate, patience and optimism. This is what the global economy will create value over the next several decades.

References :

• Minimalism : The COVID-19 lockdown takeaways for work and life
• Book Review : The Art of Thinking Clearly
• Book Review : IKIGAI
• Meditation for self growth
• Rules to Live By to Thrive at Life/Work

There are a variety of beings, both good and bad residing in the spiritual realms. Here we will be focusing only on the good. They use varying means and methods to communicate with you called clair channels. This might seem odd to someone new to the topic. However almost all of us might have come across a situation wherein we say something without our knowledge and start thinking how we could say such a thing. To provide another example, sometimes we go by intuition and find that our intuition was correct. Whether it is a gut reaction, instinct, foresight or a certain knowingness about events that haven’t yet taken place, everyone has the gift of intuition.

All these fall under the category of psychic ability to gain information about an object, person, location or physical event through extra sensory perception. The clair senses are types of psychic abilities that correspond with the five senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting. In the following section, I will be detailing about four of the main clairs.

Clairvoyance

This word has a French origin that means, special power of “clear-sightedness”,i.e., one can see persons or events that are ‘distant’, perhaps in time (past or present) or even in space. Clairvoyant messages, which arrive as an image or scene in your mind, usually come as a metaphor.

Clairaudience

This is also a French word that means “clear-hearing”. Clairaudient messages sound like someone talking in your mind. This voice will never be harsh or tormenting. The tone of this voice is almost always the same: even and calm.

As per psychics, the source of the voices heard can be either external or internal or a combination of both. The clairaudient people are capable of hearing words, names or phrases, music or unintelligible sounds from the higher beings or spirits.

Claircognizance

Claircognizance is the gift to know something, instinctively, intuitively, and without solely relying on the 5 physical senses. So, claircognizants have the ability of clear thinking or knowledge. In this case we just ‘know’ something, we don’t know how we know, or why we know, we can’t explain it, but we just do.

Psychics claim that, if you have ever felt that information just suddenly springs into your head from nowhere, and you receive guidance or knowledge that you know in your heart is true, you might be claircognizant.

Clairsentience

Clairsentience is the ability to sense other people’s emotions. It is the most common of the four clairs. Gut instincts, being able to read the emotions of others, or sensing the collective energy of a room, all fall under this umbrella.

Being clairsentience gives people crystal-clear access to feelings and energies — whether that relates to something happening right in front of them or something from another place or time.

Intuition is a gift, but one that we all possess. When you can identify one or more of your dominant clair, then you can develop your own intuitive abilities, work on it and strengthen it. Practice tuning in and trusting for better results. But the most important point is not to get intimidated. When doing the practice to strengthen your clair, focus on the hits not the misses. Practice makes perfect.

This was just an introduction to the clair senses that might have provided you with some idea of what the topic is about. I hope to detail more on the topic in the future blogs.

Further Reading :

• Meditation for self growth
• Harnessing the Transformative Power of Mudras
• Spiritual Intelligence : The Current Corporate World Trend
• Mind Management Basics
• Beneficial Yoga Exercises That IT Professionals Must Try