The Tortoise and the Hare, The Sequel

Picture "Master Oogway" kindly provided by  KungFuPandaWorld

For my next Toastmaster speech, I need to write an original story with a twist, this was a difficult for me to thing to do amongst the craziness and busyness of life, I managed to write a draft sequel to the "Tortoise and the Hare" in the chaos of it all.  I will probably do some further refinements as the speech comes closer.  Here it is, enjoy:

The Hare was humiliated after losing the race to the Tortoise, 10 years later the Hare was a Broken Bunny! The Hare never quite forgave himself for falling asleep at the race, he kept on revisiting that event over and over again in his mind everyday since then.

He pondered "How could I have lost that race, everyone knew I was faster...everyone thought I was better looking, everyone thought I was the one that was sure to be a success in life".  He sure was a dashing young bunny back then, with great looks and speed...

It did not stop there, the Tortoise got the promotions, everyone loved being around the Tortoise, the Tortoise always made time for everyone, even animals he did not like.  The Hare was a sorry picture of what he was before, he looked 10 years older than his age, his face showed his bitterness, and his words reflected it...he was the heaviest bunny in town...

The Hare had heard of the wizard Owl, which was the Tortoise's mentor, he decided to go visit the Owl, after all, if the Owl could help a loser like the Tortoise to become a winner, surely the Owl could help him. He arrived at the Owl's tree, to find the Owl meditating upside down...The Owl sensed him, opened his eyes, and said to him, "so its taken you ten years to come and see me, tell me how can I help you".  The Hare poured out his anger, his hatred for the Tortoise, and hatred for himself...

The Owl listened carefully, and asked, what do you think could change all this...The Hare paused and then he thought "it was that darn race, if I had won it, things would all be different..." The Owl paused, he picked up a twig, and he put a magical spell on it, he said to the Hare "take this, go home, picture in your mind the event you want to change, and break the twig...it will take you back in time to change any event you want..."

The Hare was delighted, finally he got "a second bite of the cherry", he took the twig and kissed the Owl's feathers... He went home, and he pictured the race in his mind...and broke the twig, all of the sudden he was transported back in time to the race.  He was there, the Tortoise was there, the crowd was there, all 10 years ago...The Hare said "ahh, I am going to win today! nothing will stop me, I will not sleep today no matter how tired I get"

So the siren went off, off they went, the Hare ran, and he ran, he started to feel tired, and he passed the place he slept before..."ahh I am not going to fall for that one he said..." He kept running, he went passed the carrot farm, and he felt really hungry.  He thought, since he was so far ahead, he would stop and have a quick bite, he stopped and ate the carrots, they were so delicious, he had not enjoyed such succulent carrots for ten years, then he was full, but he kept on eating....as he was eating and eating he saw the tortoise pass him by, so he jumped up  startled and started sprinting again, he felt really uncomfortable running with such a full stomach.

He ran and he ran, and then he came across a beautiful female Hare who needed some help to take a splinter out of her leg, being so far ahead again, and enjoying a youthful body again, he stopped to help her, soon he was lost in her eyes, and was captured by her beauty, he lost track of time, and soon the tortoise passed him again...He thought "Just a bit longer, I really want to get this foxy Hare's number!",  he lost track of time, from a distance he saw that the tortoise was slowly inching to the finish line....

He said to the female Hare, "Stay put babes, I will be back...", and he sprinted as hard, and as fast as he could, he ran and he ran, like he never ran before in his life.  The Tortoise was almost at the finish line, the hare lunged and landed on the Tortoise's shell with a thud, he bounced and he flew over the Tortoise and won the race...He face burst with pride. and he forgot all about the Foxy Hare he left behind, "I did it, I did it, I did it", then all of the sudden he was then suddenly teleported to the present moment.  He thought how great things would be now...when he open his eyes, he got to where he left off, nothing seemed to have changed, he went to work the Tortoise was still his boss.

He stomped back to the Owl's tree, and demanded an explanation why things had not changed.. The Owl looked at him and said "I have done all I can please go and ask the Tortoise what his secret is".  The Hare's pride kept him from approaching the Tortoise, until one day he could take it no more, he asked the Tortoise to go out for a drink of wheat juice, down near the non-alcoholic bar next to the lake.

He poured his heart out to the Tortoise and also blamed him for almost half of the things that happened to him.  The Tortoise looked at him compassionately, and said...my friend, "I have always wanted to speak to you about it, but I never thought you would want to listen to what I had to say to you, since you ask, I will tell you...

See your problems lies not in the fact that you got defeated, not just with our race but with anything, I lose in many things myself, we all have our ups and downs.  The problem lies in your attachment to your loses and the attachment you have to your wins.

For me it did not really matter if I lost or won the race, I would have just gotten on with the rest of my life, and forgotten about the race...I just was more concerned about finishing the race and moving on to my next challenge, one day at a time...I know my weaknesses, but I overcome it by just keeping myself present at the task at hand, doing that and only that, and also not getting attached to the results good or bad...I know I may be a bit simple, but I find that works for me.  I did not believe it at first too, when the Owl revealed it to me"

The Hare was struck by this, "could it really be that simple, could it really be that it is not what happens to you good or bad, but how much you are attached to it" he thought...It was a hard pill for the Hare to swallow, but he knew deep down inside that it was true...for when he reflected back to the days in his life when he felt most alive, he could not find any attachments...

The Tortoise did not give up on his friend the Hare, and taught him the Tortoise Meditation Technique, the slow Tortoise Breathing Method, the Tortoise Tai Chi Form.  This gave the Hare a practical way to build these skills, and learn to be more mindful, present and compassionate in life.  The Hare learnt much from his former nemesis who was now his closest friend and mentor and went on to truly live his life....

Reinventing Storytelling

I watched Adam Wade at TedXPennQuarter last week, Adam was so funny in this speech.  A glimpse of me laughing is there at 8.09 minutes into the story.  I really enjoyed it and thought it was worth sharing...

Its pretty amazing that he was able to get so much laughs just by telling a personal intimate story, notice the details he goes into to make his story interesting and engaging, and how so much of it is something we can relate to.  Notice the vulnerabilities that he exposes, no macho man here, his story is real, his emotions are real, his humility is real...I loved how he finished up the speech...great guy too! caught up with him after the speeches and exchanged several perspectives...

Toastmaster Speaking to Inform - Speech 1 - Meditation on Compassion

Picture "Zen" kindly provided by h.koppdelaney

There are 3 fundamental problems people are facing today at home and at work:
1.     Relationships
2.     Focus
3.     Leadership

What if I could tell you a way to improve your ability in all 3 of this using from just 30 minutes of your time daily?

From the mindful society seminar in New York by Omega a few weeks ago, it was shown that there were significant benefits associated with contemplation of compassion in children, novice mediators, as well as business leaders.

What is meditation?
I like the definition “Creating a space for grace” by a meditation teacher.

There are 3 types of meditation broad techniques: Meditation on Attention, Meditation on Intention, and Meditation on Inquiry...all of these make use of repetition.

Do not mistake these techniques for meditation, just like the finger point to the Moon is not the Moon.  Meditation is the outcome of patiently training yourself in these techniques day in day out.

Before we start I would ask you to try to relax and reserve 25% of your effort in doing the technique, another 25% for bring your mind back to the technique, and the last 50% (qoute from Gawler & Bedson) doing nothing but creating the space for grace.

Meditation on Compassion
Keep your attention on your hands, the sensations in your skin.
Bring your hands overhead holding heaven above...Pause
Bring your hands down opposite each other...Pause
Bring your hands together in prayer position in front of your chest (Qi Gong technique adapted from Master Li's Awakening the Soul)

Think about someone you love, repeat this contemplation (by Jack Kornfield) after me in your mind
May you be held in compassion
May you be free of pain and sorrow
May you be at peace

Direct that attention to yourself, and repeat the following in your mind
May I be held in compassion
May I be free from pain and sorrow
May I be in peace 
Pause in Silence

Bring that attention to everyone in this room, and repeat this contemplation out loud
May you be held in compassion
May you be free of pain and sorrow
May you be at peace 
Pause in Silence

To finish lets meditate on this inquiry to ourselves?
How can I be compassionate in my everyday life? Pause
How can I be compassionate in my everyday life? Pause
How can I be compassionate in my everyday life? Pause

Now it’s time to come back, how is everyone feeling? 
Did anyone see the moon?

Can we make space for grace to come into our lives every day? Or we think we can get through life without grace?

Listen to the speech and evaluation here, it did not quite go completely as planned...but that is the subject of another post :), lets just say I learnt a lot from my mistakes...:)

Reinventing Social Media...Service, Comunity, Value, Substance

Service, Community, Value, Substance...

Toastmaster Storytelling Manual - Speech 1 The Lion who thought it was a sheep...

Picture Roaring kindly provided by dynamosquito under CC

I delivered my first speech today from the Toastmaster Storytelling Manual on a story I wrote based on an old Indian spiritual fable, "The Lion that thought it was a sheep", I threw in bits of the Lion King and some last minute improvisations during the speech.

I was trying to do a lot in this speech, the intensity of my speech built up during the speech ending the speech with the climax of the moral of the story. I set myself some goals to vary the vocals, deliberate pauses, use of inflections, and adjusting the tempo. Its difficult to do that facing a roomful of 20 odd people, establishing a personal connection all at the same time.

Famous actors don't give award winning performances by reading the scripts the day before, they work hard honing in their skills on vocal training, facial expressions, acting day in day out, building these skills one at a time so that they can come together on the day that it is needed. So is it with speaking and anything else thing else really, what we are trying to do is work those skills into long term memory so they become automatic. Toastmaster is a great safe and affordable environment to practice speaking with impact...

Here is the speech to listen to, the first part is my speech the second is the evaluation.

Toastmaster Table Topic's Competition

I came second in this week's Toastmaster Table Topic's Competition, something I was not expecting.  I am not big into competitions personally, I have no interest in proving I am better than anyone else, I feel that one always need to approach things with a spirit of  humility, service and learning.

My motivation for joining to contest was to just practice speaking on the fly which is what table topics is all about.  There are many situations in work, social or family situation's where you are thrown a curve ball! Speaking, listening, writing is a skill that can be improved through practice and repetition.

We all have inherit strengths and weaknesses, I do however believe that one should push beyond one's comfort zone, so that one can build on one's strengths and overcome one's weakness, so that learning and self growth happens.

I feel that one always need to approach things with a spirit of  humility, service and learning

The random question I got was, as a child what did I get into trouble the most for.  To listen to the answer please click here.

Peace,

Kirpal

The Lion that thought it was a Sheep

We are born as lions, we die as sheep.  This is a story of one lion who rediscovered itself.

There once was a lion cub which was lost, and found some sheep.   The sheep raised the lion as one of them.  The lion forgot that it was a lion, and acted just like the sheep, until one day another lion came about.  The other lion said to "sheep lion", what are you doing?  You are just like me.

The "sheep lion" was afraid, and tried to run away.  The lion did not give up, and followed, he got hold of the sheep lion and said, ok, "lets look at our reflections in the pool of water on the other side of hukamba mountain", after that I will let you be.

The sheep lion agreed to leave the comfort of his current reality.  As they walked the Lion talked about their heritage, their ancestors, their strengths and their struggles, and their war with the Hyenas.  The sheep lion was inspired, and by the time they got to the water, the sheep lion was afraid no more.

They stood next to each other.  The sheep lion looked in the pool of water, and saw the resemblance to the other lion, they looked almost identical.  The other lion told him to drink the water, as the sheep lion drank the water, he flashed back 25 years ago, where he was in the exact same spot with the same lion next to him, only he was a cub.

He remember the lion saying "Son, I love you very much, we are very proud of you, always know that you are the king of the Jungle, don't ever forget that".  As this was happening, the lake was being ambushed by a bunch of hyenas.  Dad caught hold of me and flug me across into the water on the other side of the lake, then raced towards the advancing hyenas.   I remember being scared, running frantically until I found a place to rest.  When I woke up I was scared, and terrified, and did not know where I was, the sheeps found me and looked after me, slowly I forgot about my heritage"

He turned around and looked at his dad, tears wept down his cheeks, as he embraced him and said "Dad, I am so sorry I forgot, I just got too distracted, I got too comfortable, I got too lazy". Dad replied "I am just glad to have you back Son, you do will now value the Gift of being a Lion, as you are able to know what a lion is not, most Lions take this for granted, this is a valuable lesson, it will make you the best King there ever was".

Both lions went to the top of Mount Hakambu, and roared.  The whole jungle shook with fear, as they knew that a new King had arrived.

We find ourselves in a similar predicament with our lives.  We live our lives as "Sheeps", when we are really "Lions".

We know that there is something wrong, but we distract ourselves, until we are reminded through grace alone of the heritage we have as spiritual beings having the facility to express that spirituality on earth and exercising that infinite potential within us.  We are love, we are compassion, we are leaders, we have just forgotten it...

Somehow this journey is not wasted as only in ignorance, we can truly appreciate the gift of being Human, and rediscover who we really are, spiritual beings having a human experience, not human beings trying to have a spiritual experience.

Peace,

Kirpal

Toastmaster Speech Speech 9

Please listen to my Toastmaster Speech 9 - Invest 10% in yourself by clicking here.  Pease forward speech until the first applause (approx 1 minute in), I hit the record button on my IPAD while they were introducing.

Following my previous posts on the pregnant pause and communication.  I tried to incorporate various elements of powerful communication techniques into the speech, that I have been reading about particularly techniques used by Obama.

These techniques included:
- Relating to the audience - use of current events or a theme that the audience can identify with.
- Personalizing the speech - my direct experiences and conversations "my spiritual mentor said to me".
- Pregnant pauses - I used the pause to plant myself still, or to start of moving across the floor space, like in Qi Gong, a pause is used to change in breath and movement.
- Use of repetitions - "we were not designed too"  was repeated to emphasize the point, I used repetitions on sounds "you can enjoy your life, and others can enjoy you".
- Variation of pitch to emphasize point.
- Use of incorporating various known figures into the speech, Amy Winehouse, Dalai Lama, Iyenger
- Use of rhetorical questions - "do we pay more attention to ourselves than our cars?" to support the argument.

I used the pause to plant myself still, or to start of moving across the floor space, like in Qi Gong, a pause is used to change in breath and movement

The written speech link is here, however I tend not to use the notes in the speech, you have to allow for your personality to come out during the speeches, and select topics that are dear to your heart.  Johnny Depp only selects roles that he can relate to, that are already in him, so he can bring it out with a certain degree of honesty.  To read more about this please look at my post on the hedgehog concept.

you have to allow for your personality to come out during the speeches, and select topics that are dear to your heart

There were a couple of mistakes I made and improvements I would like to make for next time.  I tried to incorporate pausing in the speech, but I found myself looking at the ground during that time, I did not know what else to do!  Galen said, that wasn't to bad, as it showed I was thinking, however I need to have more variety.

My next speech is my final one in the Competent Communication Series, I am thinking about doing a speech on the "Latent Potential Self", basically to talk about the latent potential within all of us.

As you can see there is a lot involved in communication, and speaking is only one part of it, listening is the more  important thing!

Peace,

Kirpal

Invest 10% of time in yourself

As I prepare for my 9th speech next week on Toastmaster, I wanted to cover the subject of investing at least 10% of time on yourself.

The Opening:
I was quite saddened to hear about Amy Winehouse, I looked her up and listened to some of her music, she had a deep soulful voice, one that would rival some of the past divas. Amy Winehouse had it all but she was found dead at a young age of 27 in her bedroom.  She had a long history of self-abuse through drugs, alcohol and depression. She had wealth and talent, but what good is that without peace of mind, sobriety & health?

This is a repeating saga, look at Elvis, Michael Hutchence, Marylin Munroe as other examples.

One can only give what one has, if one does not have health and peace of mind, what can one give?

The Problem
Our physical body is very intelligent, it tries takes care of all the abuse we hurl at it, but there is only so much that it can do without breaking down.

A car is required to be serviced at least every 5K, our body is a much more complicated "machinery", and also requires servicing.

The sad thing is that we pay more attention to our cars than our own body and mind.

God did not design us to eat junk and processed foods, or sit hunched over our computers all day looking down, or wake up using coffee, or relax using alcohol, or pop pills to resolve health problems.

The Solution

One needs to invest at least 10% of your time servicing oneself.  

We are complicated "machinery", which is not just physical.  Just like a car that has 4 wheels, unpacking ourselves broadly, this servicing needs to happen in 4 broad interrelated dimensions of ourselves:
- Spiritual
- Mental
- Emotional
- Physical

Not maintaining these wheels is akin to a car running with some wheels flat, overused or underused.  

If one has 24 hours in a day, and we take 8 hours out for sleep, one has 16 hours left to fit in everything else in.  10% of this is 1.6 hours.

One needs to dedicate at least 1.6 hours daily to oneself across this 4 areas.  Assuming it is a equal split that means at least 24 minutes in each of this areas daily.

- Spirituality could involve mediation, prayer and doing the right thing.
- Mental could involve taking a break from normal activity, and doing something interesting and also meditation, as meditation stabilizes the mind by narrowing its focus.
- Emotional could involve spending time on positive recharging emotions such as love and compassion, and spending time with friends and family.
- Physical could involve gym, yoga etc, also looking after your diet, drinking enough water and breathing deeply and uniformly.

The Closeout
Your body and mind is your best friend in life, without health of both of these, one cannot go too far in life.

Look after it, and it will serve you well, letting you enjoy the beauty of life and others to enjoy you as well.

Repeat this mantra 3 times:

My body and mind is my best friend, I will look after it well (better than my car), and it shall serve me well in return.


Until you have the inner discipline that brings calmness of mind, external facilities and conditions will never bring the joy and happiness you seek. On the other hand, if you possess this inner quality, calmness of mind, a degree of stability within, even if you lack the various external factors that you would normally require to be happy, it will still be possible to live a happy and joyful life.
Dalai Lama (Facebook 10th Aug)

Peace,

Kirpal

The following book is highly recommended, and is about the only book I have discovered that discusses these  concepts in a clear and detailed manner, even the free sample provided below is worth the reading effort.

Toastmaster Speech 8 - The 45 Minute Unified Workout

Kindly provided by http://www.flickr.com/photos/shunpikie/

I did a presentation on how to do a 45 minute "Unified" workout.  Please listen by clicking here.  I drew upon the related posts I did a while ago on my other less active blog:
I can see the strain on your face
45 Minute Lunchtime Optimal Routine

Reflections on Speech

Some good points about the speech included:
- I prepared it less than 1 hour as a last minute request
- Good use of colors and flip chart, I wanted to practice this specifically.
- Good "hook" of an opening

Improvements required:
- I needed not to talk while I was writing
- Better use of props
   - Galen should have got an applause
   - I should have prepared him earlier
   - I could have passed the props around and displayed it
- Better close required, it sort of fizzled away, more impact
- Ran out of time, could have streamlined speech more, and included more insights

Hope you get a understanding how important it is to incorporate stretching and relaxation as part of workout. All of this helps prepares a person to be more calmer, think clearer and connect to others better automatically.

Peace,

Kirpal

Toastmaster Speech 7 - The Hedgehog Concept

Picture "Moonstruck" kindly provided by h.koppdelaney, love the simplicity of this photo.

Listen to my speech here which I did this week on the Hedgehog Concept

My speech material follows, somewhat more elaborate than my 7 minute speech

The Fox and the Hedgehog

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing (Ancient Greek Proverb)

The fox is a flashy, cunning creature; the Hedge in comparison is a much simpler creature, he waddles along everyday searching for his food and taking care of this home. Day in day out the fox circles around the hedgehog waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

"Berlin extrapolated from this little parable to divide people into two basic group: foxes and hedgehogs.  

Foxes pursue many ends at the same time and see the world in all its complexity.  They are scattered or diffused moving on many levels, never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision.

Hedgehogs on the other hand simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything.  

Hedgehogs are not stupid, quite the contrary, they understand the essence of profound insight is simplicity.  What could be more simpler than Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Dawrin’s Theory of Natural Selection? 

The Hedgehog aren’t simpletons; they have a piercing insight that allows them to see complexity and discern underlying patterns, Hedgehogs see what’s  essential and ignore the rest."

Jim Collins

Another great example, in Buddhism Psychology all problems and joyed are reduced to being temporary.

The Hedgehog Concept

"Those who built the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature, to drive toward what we came to call, a Hedgehog Concept, for their companies. Those who led the comparison companies, tended to be foxes, never gaining the clarifying advantage, of a Hedgehog Concept, being instead, scattered, diffused, and inconsistent."  

Jim Collins

What is the Hedgehog Concept?  In a piece of paper in front of you I would like you to draw 3 overlapping circle, and inside this circle label the first one Passion, the second one “what we can be the best at, and what we can’t be the best at", and the last one "Economic Engine”

“If you make a lot of money doing things at which you could never be the best you only build a successful company, not a great one.

If you become the best at something you will never remain on top if you don’t have the intrinsic passion for what you are doing.

Finally, you can be passionate all you want but if you can’t be the best at it or it doesn’t make economic sense, then you might have a lot of fun, but it won’t produce great results.

The Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best.  It is an understanding of what you can be the best at.  This distinction is absolutely critical.” 

Jim Collins

Johnny Depp Example
I really like Johnny Depp’s interview here.  He indicated he was claustrophobic and felt like he was marketed as a product, so he choose roles only that he had already in him, so that he could bring out the character from a place of honesty, how awesome of a statement is that!  He had passion, he knew what he was the best in the world, and he had the economic sustainability.

Toastmaster Hedgehog Example
Lets revisit the Hedgehog using our Toastmaster the vision that Olga (our ex-president of the club) gave me as an example:

Olga’s vision statement in qoutes

"A club that members want to belong to, where they come because they like spending at least 1 hour a week."  (Passion)

"A club that was Stimulating and Safe environment."

(What we can be the best at!) 

Our diversity and intellectual firepower and supporting members bring in a stimulating and safe environment, I once said it’s like tight rope walking, with the safety of a net.  It’s exciting to watch a performance as well as do one.

"….I felt that if the members are comfortable, they would want to reach personal goals that would benefit the club in general. I have tried to make this a social space for networking and promotion of the events that our members are involved in outside of the club. (Economic Engine)"

Toastmaster also builds the communication, leadership and confidence to support your economic engine!

Personal Hedgehog


To finish with I would like to challenge you to apply the hedgehog concept with your own lives.
1. Work out what your passions are.
2. Work out what you are the best at.
3. Find the opportunities within and outside your organizations to achieve economic sustainability.

Toast Master Speech 6 - 3 Raisin Zen Reflections (The Illumination Rush)

Picture "Wet" kindly provided by h.koppdelaney under CC

I look back on the speech I made this week.  It's quite amazing the rush that you get from speaking.

The Illumination Rush

I was reading "Quiet Leadership" by David Rock, and he indicated that when there is an insight into anything (illumination) the whole brain lights up at a Gamma frequency, firing at a very high speed (40 Hz oscillation), and it is an immensely powerful experience.  Imagine a room with 20 odd people all having this experience, you can imagine what it was like.

Here is the section from David's book:

"Being in the illumination phase brings on a rush of energy...Even small illuminations pack an energetic punch.  Think for a moment about the buzz you get watching a whodunit police show or a great movie, when right at the end the mystery falls into place.  This rush is being driven by nothing more than a set of new connection in our brain.  And we get the same rush when we solve a dilemma at work for ourselves, too.

Right at the moment of insight, neurotransmitters such as adrenline are released...Having an insight is one of life's most pleasant moments

The very moment an insight occur, the brain gives off strong gamma-band waves.  Gamma-band waves are the only frequency found in all parts of the brain, and are seen where the brain simultaneously process information from different regions"

On the speech itself, it was a simple mindfulness exercise using only 3 raisins, and a simple Zen story, with some definitions.  I wanted to talk about mindfulness but also wanted everyone to raise their awareness of it.  I was happy I could deliver what I planned.

Speech Reflections

Here are some of my reflections:

- I did not really think that the speech was funny, but people were laughing left right and center :), probably at the absurdity of the actions, hearing the raisin, smelling it :)

- I was able to use the floor space better this time round

- I liked that I was able to put in a small spontaneousness encouragement comment to reinforce the learning

- The following process has worked really well for this and the last speech:

   1. As soon as I finish one speech, I started planning the next one

   2. Write it out weeks before

   3. Practice it the day before at least 3 times, I find that I usually have to make some changes, and cut out at least a quarter to half of the content

   4. Sleep over it, and practice it again before your real speech, I usually make more corrections, and I find that sleeping over it helps me prepare for it in some way

   5. Once I have an updated script of about 1-2 pages, I take it along just for backup, I have found that you don't really need to read once you have done the above.  I have to thank the president of the club, who "stretched" me by indicating asking me why I needed the notes, and letting me know in one of the speeches, I lost her while I was shuffling through my notes.

Feedback is a gift

A education instructor once told me that "Feedback is a gift".  I truly believe this and I encourage my readers to give me feedback, it is a valuable learning opportunity for me, in the same vein I can also not ask for gifts :)

Here are some of the things I picked up on which  I need to improve:

- I never knew that I talked in a monotone, its actually come up a two different evaluation in different ways

- There was an instant where there was a person next too me that needed a raisin, who left it at the other side of the views, I could have given her mine, I did think about it but I didn't carry through.  A big lesson that I am  being taught is the importance of listening and acting to that small voice inside you.

- I mentioned 4 months in 12 years rather than 12 months in 1 year

I have 3 more speeches to go till I attain my Effective Communication Certificate.   

To finish, I hope you got an understanding of the relationship between illumination and energy, the value of feedback, and the value of being stretched by someone else, and something about listening to your inner voice.

Peace, 

Kirpal

Toast Master Speech 6 - 3 Raisin Zen

Picture "Monk" kindly provided by h.koppdelaney

Hear the speech here (please adjust the volume when the speech starts):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16196980/SoundNote/01E6BF86-9488-4E0B-88BC-EE152E7AAAED.soundnote/01E6BF86-9488-4E0B-88BC-EE152E7AAAED_0.m4a

Please also read my reflections on the speech here.

My original written speech follows which I used for preparation:

Introduction

A student asked his Zen Master:

"Master, how do you put enlightenment into action?  How do you practice it in everyday life?"
"By eating and sleeping," replied the master.
"But Master, everybody sleeps and everybody eats."
"But not everybody eats when they eat, and not everybody sleeps when they sleep."

Today we are going to explore what the Zen master meant, with that I would like you to eat the first raisin.

What the Zen master was referring to was mindfulness, and we are going to practice it today.

Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a state of awareness, that one embraces the current moment, and nothing else.

It is a state of being where one observes what is happening around themselves good or bad without judgment, just observing the facts as they are without trying to change anything.

Underneath all this is humility, kindness and compassion for yourself.

Without humility, kindness and compassion mindfulness is not possible.

Did you know how your number one critic is? David Rock CEO of Results Coaching indicated people judge themselves critically and negatively from anywhere between 500 to 2000 hours a day.

The first raisin you ate was done mindlessly.  We are now going to eat the second raisin mindfully with our attention fully engaged, without any judgment.

The second raisin
1. Pick up the second raisin, look at it as if you never seen a raisin, don’t judge the raisin, don’t judge the raisin, don’t judge me!
2. Bring the raisin to your ear, rub it, what do you hear
3. Bring the raisin to your nose, what do you smell
4. Bring the raisin to your mouth, don't eat it yet, notice what is happening to your mouth, is saliva forming
5. Put it in your mouth but don't chew it, feel it in your mouth
6. Take the first bite, observe what is happening
7. Start to chew slowly your attention being only on the raisin
8. Once you are done, relax, and let go

Take a step back and reflect how different the two experiences where, which one did you enjoy better, how you feel after the second raisin. Chances are you feel a lot more at ease, a lot more relaxed, a lot more at peace.

This is because you have switched of the negative filters on your mind, by bringing in focus on the present, without trying to engage thinking; you have engaged your consciousness.

Thinking is not consciousness, it stems from it, like a wave rising from the ocean, you have used the ocean. Why be a wave when you can be the ocean.

Closing - The third raisin

Can we now understand what the Zen master meant when he said “Eat when you eat, sleep when you sleep”

The last raisin, I would like to take away and reflect on it.

The raisin is a symbol of any moment that happens in your life, it can be good, it can be bad.  Try to practice the exercise with every moment that you have.

With that I would like to finish with a poem I wrote a while ago:

Just for today, practice being in the present moment
Just for today, accept it for what it is without trying to change it
Just for today, see it with the eye of your soul
Just for today, accept it whatever comes your way, good or bad
Just for today, give it you fullest attention without judgment
Just for today, embrace it with gratitude, and be kind to yourself, for you never know when it will be your last moment

Peace

Kirpal

Earth Our Mother

Picture "Earth Full South Pacific" kindly provided by FlyingSinger under CC

Today I was Toastmaster of the day.  I wanted to finish off the Toastmaster session with a quote on Earth Day.

The whole experience today was amazing, the whole session flowed from one speaker to another.  The second speech was very interesting, it talked about how there is no-one talking any more, everyone is just in their own world listening to their MP3 players, he basically said we are in the brink of catastrophic Armageddon, and we would be totally oblivious about it!

I concluded the Toastmaster session with a "Thought of the Day" with some writing I did a while ago.

Peace is in Heaven, it needs to be reflected through our actions on Earth...
Compassion is in Heaven, it needs to be reflected through our actions on Earth...
Thoughtfulness is in Heaven, it needs to be reflected  through our actions on Earth...
Purpose is in Heaven, it needs to be reflected  through our actions on Earth...
Love is in Heaven, it needs to be reflected through our actions on Earth...

Then I finished with a Native American Indian Quote:

We don't own the land, we borrow it from our children

We face difficult times ahead, cracks are starting to show in the world, the fate of the world lies in a fragile "scale of justice".  The only thing that can save us is Grace and Self and Global Compassion.  Either way anything that will happen is a Self-Balancing act.

I feel strongly about the relationship to self and its implication on the world around us, the major problems in the world is basically a lack of spirituality and self control.  We all have a part to play starting with ourselves, and gaining control of our own minds, senses and desires.  Our lives and demands can be a lot simpler than they are today.  Sharing of resources can be done a lot more evenly as it is today.  Mindfulness and sensitivity to the world around us are all qualities that we can develop today.

Earth our mother, nourishes us and sustains us, lets look after her, with the equal amount of love she bestows on us... .. .

Peace,

Kirpal

Toast Master - The Real Secret Speech

I reflect on the speech I did today.  I hit my goals of doing the speech without notes, as well as having a minute to spare.  What was very interesting was that 4 out of the 5 speeches was all about the same related topics, one of the speeches, I thought was basically talking about the same thing but based on applying the lessons learnt from running!  Talk about synchronicity!

Improvements Required:
I got some constructive feedback which I would like to capture here for next time:
- Uneven Eye Contact: Although I had eye contact, I needed to establish eye contact with everyone in the audience.
- I was using the word "So" too many times.

I asked my daughter in year 5 what connectives I could use instead, she came up with so many: Thus, Therefore, Alas, she then when on and said there are "Time Connectives" that I could use as well: Finally, Initially, Thereafter...She then explained me there is the VCOP concept she is being taught at school Vocabulary, Connectives, Openers, Punctuation...It just goes to show that the answers to the questions you need are closer than you think they are!

Listen to the Real Secret Here

The Real Secret

Picture of the Great Seal kindly provided by TW Collins under Creative Commons

The Secret
Most people would have heard or read the book "The Secret"...It basically says in not so many words you can "materialize anything you want by visualizing it repeatedly".

There is however a system of belief that the current moment holds the key to all that you need, and all that you are able to learn and assimilate from at this point in time.  

Exerting our will to materialize something implies that we always know what is best for us...well given a choice my son would eat chocolate morning, day and night, using this analogy, our awareness is too limited to see what is really the best for our own self growth...

Only in hindsight if we reflect deep enough we may be able to see what has happened that has lead us to the current moment.  Each moment, each disappointment is a chance for us to learn the real lessons in life, those of humility, love and compassion.

The Real Secret
While there is some insight on how the mind works in "The Secret", I would like to present my own very personal view of "The Real Secret".

Assuming you have the following formula:

Input + Process = Output

If we focus on just materializing the output, we will go to all ends to achieve it, the mind will do it but it will work out whatever way it can to get there sort of like a GPS in your car.

Once we get the output we desired, eventually we find out that it wasn't so great, and then we find another output, and so this goes on in a never ending cycle plummeting us into a life of misery.  My neighbour in Australia, went from relationship to relationship in this manner, he even left his wonderful wife and kids for a another woman, and did the same cycle again with her.  I am not sure how many kids he has now!

Corporations know this secret and how to manipulate people into thinking that their products (inputs) will lead to happiness in their advertisement brainwashing.  They dull a persons intelligence by clever bombarding and programming.  
Look at Coke - Open Happiness (How is happiness linked to drinking caffeinated sugar laden beverage)
Look at how MacDonald targets children and builds addiction from young
Look at the pharmaceutic companies that build drugs that have side affects that could kill you, they negate the mandatory warnings by showing happy contented people visually.
It seems everyone knows this except us.

What is the Output that Everyone Really Wants?
It is not a sense of Wholeness; a sense of Gratitude; a sense of Peace; a sense of Purpose and Meaning; a sense of Compassion; to Love and to be Loved and a sense of Contentment that we all want.  Yes, a million dollars would be nice, but my view is with an undisciplined mind (bad inputs & processes) this will still lead to nothing but suffering.

The irony is that we cannot get the above by focusing solely on the outputs.  If we look at the above, they are all positive outputs.  To get positive outputs you must have positive inputs and have a process to generate the Positive Output.

We can't get happiness from Coke!  

We can't buy health from a pill! 

We can't really get deeper relationships from Viagra!

Positive Inputs
Positive input includes right sensory input (images, sounds, thoughts), right environment, right values, right company,  compassionate diet, right purpose and right exercise.

This is like planting the right seeds on the fertile lands.  If we plant the seed of love, compassion, and truth, we will get fruits of happiness.  Positive values lead to positive actions which results in wholeness and positive results.  We can only get suffering from seeds of negative values such as Anger, Lust, Greed, Attachment, Pride, Ignorance and Sloth etc.

The Process
While the inputs are like seeds, or seedling planted.  The process is like daily maintainence of them, weeding them, watering and nourishing them.  There are some key aspects to the Process:
- Filter out the Non-Sense
- Be Mindful of the Present
- Breathe Deeply and Uniformly
- Build Positive Rituals to Focus the Mind

Filter out the Non-Sense

A good analogy is the three monkeys - "See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil".

Stop putting crap into your system, leave it out, don't buy crap, don't watch crap, don't listen to crap, don' participate in crap, don't eat crap.

Be Mindful of the Present

The present is all that is needed of you.  Time is a artificial construct.  There is only the present moment, nothing more nothing less, you could drop dead any time without warning, so make it count.

Breathe Deeply and Uniformly

Breathing has a direct correlation to emotions, deep uniform breathing engages the frontal lobe of your brain, making thinking possible in pressure situations.  You can control your responses simply by taking timeout to focus on your breathing.

Build Positive Rituals to Focus the Mind

Unless you are a Zen Master you will need daily rituals to help focus your mind, and recharge frequently during the day.  Build in rituals that help you set intentions for the day, connect to people, recharge during the day, and reflect on the day.

Closing

The real secret is that we need to forget about the what we want (outputs), and focus only on what goes into our system (inputs) and exercising our innate intelligence and mindfulness (process), all good things comes automatically  from this.  It will also be a much more enjoyable and a less stressful experience, and others will respect you for that.

Enjoy the journey, stop to smell the roses, the results happens automatically determined by the quality of your input and process.

Peace,

Kirpal

Greatness is not a function of circumstance.  Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline.  Jim Collins

Toastmaster Speech 5 Reflections - 1000 Origami Cranes

I was happy with the speech not that I delivered a perfect speech, but that I met the goal of meeting the time constraint, and I got lots of constructive feedback, and witness some amazing things in the process all while battling a migraine and the flu.

Mistakes stick better than success in my head, the key is to find the root cause of it and learn from it, and raise your awareness of it.  Being in a room full of great speakers, learning is accelerated, because they pick up on little things straight away, and give you the feedback in a positive manner.

Migraine and the Flu 

My head was pounding in the morning, it was really hurting, I don't take pain killers.  Migraines have settled down but I think it was the change of weather and the flu that was triggering it.  An amazing thing happened, after the speech the migraine disappeared completely.  I think thats got something to do with a release of emotions through the speech, the speech was about hope, healing and compassion.  Positive messages are always healing, I witness this first hand today!

Imperfect delivery

The speech was far from perfect, I stumbled on the opening, I was fumbling around with the paper, sniffling, however it was heartfelt, I was there in the speech, and people felt it.

The audience can feel your mindfulness, and your concern about your message, regardless of your preparation, I am finding issues to date with that of the techniques, the techniques are what needs to be refined by continuously practicing, and getting further feedback until new patterns are formed.

I was really pleased with the constructive feedback:

- Get straight to the attention getter 

- No fumbling my notes, next time I will only have one sheet of paper, with some supporting slides if needed

- Open with core intent after attention getter 

- Have 3-5 core points 

- Have smooth transition between the points that supports the core intention of the speech

Body language needs to remove anything graceful 

- Paper distractions 

- Kept looking at the watch

On preparing the speech, repeat the intention, the structure, then imagine yourself going through the speech in the time, alert, focused.

Mindfulness in Delivery

Mindfulness involves opening yourself up to observe everything around you, but an anchor is required.  That anchor is the eye contact of the audience.  Keep eye contact like a magnet, and then just deliver the speech without judgement.

But when you are aware of speaking, it starts becoming art...

This is bound to happen if you speak with awareness. Then every gesture, every word has a beauty of its own. There is grace. 

Osho - Qoute taken from http://www.messagefrommasters.com

Nameste,

Kirpal

Toastmaster Speech 5 - One Thousand Origami Cranes

Picture kindly provided by Great Beyond

The story of Sadako Sasaki

Imagine a little girl 12 years old playing one day in a playground, after having recurrent spells of dizziness, she collapses.  Her parents take her to the hospital; she and her family are told she has leukemia with only one year to live.

Her name is Sadako Sasaki. Her best friend, Chizuko visits her in hospital and gives her a golden origami crane, as a symbol of good luck and hope, and tells her of a myth, that if one folds 1000 paper cranes, ones wish would come true.

Sadako is determined to live in desperation she starts folding cranes frantically, she only has the strength and the time to get to 644 cranes, before dying six months later.

Following her death, Sadako's friends and family finished 1,000 cranes for her and bury it with her.

Sadako becomes a symbol of peace, hope and a sad memory and a reminder of us to be compassionate to all living things and the environment

In 1958, a statue of Sadako is built at Hiroshima Peace Memorial, and in her hands is a golden crane. The plaque that is on the memorial states:

"This is our cry.  This is our prayer.  Peace in the world."

One Thousand Origami Cranes School Fundraiser

This weekend I am folding one thousand paper cranes at my kid’s school as a fund raiser for Japan, we are also baking vegan chocolate chip cookies for the bake sale.  I need to see if I can get an Origami cookie cutter….

These sort of catastrophic events bring the world together, and remind us of the frailty of life and the need to support each other.  Our shallow worlds are given a shock, and we are humbled. Diverse people show genuine concern, empathy and compassion towards the suffering of others regardless of country, caste or creed.

I was at a donation collection table last week, when a Japanese colleague dropped by and asked me, “do you have family in Japan?” as I was the only non-Japanese at the collection table, I said

"Yes, I have the brotherhood of man there in Japan..."

My wish if I could have it...

I ponder what I would wish for if I it was magically granted to me after folding 1,000 paper origami cranes.

This is a very difficult question to answer, from a spiritual perspective, there is no such thing as a random event, and everything is precise like clockwork, even the darkest of days, has an underlying cause and reason.  It’s difficult to comprehend this with our limited view of the world.  Saying this, witnessing the suffering is also too hard to swallow...I quote his holiness the Dalai Lama:

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe...Dalai Lama

After pondering this, I know the answer; I have known the answer all along.

Like the thousands of people that go to Sodaka's monument and that pray for world peace, instead I pray silently for inner peace, for myself and everyone in the world.

At the bottom my heart I know that:

If people are in tune with themselves, they will be in tune with the environment and sensitive to their demands on it, and so will others around them including corporations and government.

Disasters could be minimized; shortcuts would not be taken at the expense of saving money or self gratification:

The spent fuel rods of six years would not have been left in Fukushima reactor, the radioactivity would have been six times less damaging if care was taken.

Millions of animals would not be slaughtered ever year for the sake of high protein foods which places an enormous tax on our environment, in terms of competing land, food, water requirements and production of methane.  Methane is 21 times stronger as a greenhouse gas than CO2.  100 million tons of methane is produced every year 85% of this comes from livestock.

If people are in tune with themselves, this would automatically flow through to Order, Love and Harmony in the world and the environment.

We would realize our real needs are a lot smaller than our desires and that underneath our superficialities and egos, we are all but one single, living, breathing entity...Planet Earth!

Peace,

Kirpal

Note: Please read the reflections after the speech

Toastmaster Speech 3 - Self Alignment

Picture kindly provided by beret claire under Creative Commons

My Third Toastmaster Speech is about getting to the point. I need to have a general goal, a specific goal, and a clear message I want the audience to walk away with it.

My general goal is to inspire the audience, my specific goal is to get the audience to walk away thinking that they can align themselves in all 4 dimensions (Spiritual, Mental, Emotional & Physical) of their life and this will give them a much more meaningful and more effective experience in whatever they do. I hope to share with them some basic methods of doing this which I found useful, and basically try to make an impact to their lives or at least get them thinking about it in the 7 minutes I have their attention.

They say you learn from your mistakes more than your success, I could not agree more.  I ran out of time, I know what I need to do the next time:

- Simplify the speech next time, reduce, reduce, reduce, better to be get in, deliver and get out, giving yourself plenty of time to pause, reflect, gauge reactions, and focus on being in the present moment.  Looking back I could have probably taken at least two slides out.
- I did not have a timer on me, by the time it got to the red light, it was already too late, one must be mindful of  the time to make the fine adjustments, and be in tune with the environment
- Its interesting I really do need to approach things from the audience's point of view, rather than my own, who may have difficulty getting the concepts.

Apart from this, the positives was that I was comfortable in my skin, I know thats coming from Qi Gong and Yoga.   Qi Gong and Yoga, teaches you to be mindful of your breath.  Its very interesting I  can hear my own heartbeat when I get nervous, but I can't seem to slow that down until I actually start.

The next speech I shall learn from my mistakes, and have a better delivery.

Here is the recording, the second one is the evaluator which is a bit softer:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16196980/SoundNote/C2B20872-AA67-4EEF-9B8E-182F05AAFA75.soundnote/C2B20872-AA67-4EEF-9B8E-182F05AAFA75_0.m4a

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16196980/SoundNote/C2B20872-AA67-4EEF-9B8E-182F05AAFA75.soundnote/C2B20872-AA67-4EEF-9B8E-182F05AAFA75_1.m4a

Self Alignment on Prezi

This work by Kirpal Chauhan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Toastmaster Speech 2 - Acceptance

Here is my second Toastmaster Speech about Acceptance. I could not record it as I had to use my IPAD to do the speech, Murphy's Law always strikes at the right time, the projector did not work even after it seemed to work before the club started.

Besides some technical points the speech was well received, I need to work more on the transitions between points for the next one. I was happy that I was able to create a talk which invoked an emotional response! The Toastmaster said, "One thing you never know is what you end up getting in the Toastmaster club, I did not expect a great Ozzie accent!"

Acceptance is a Core quality, the last story (in the closing slide), was about the cracked jar taken from Paul Coelho blog here, which created beautiful flowers and food, which others enjoyed very much despite its limitations. This is the same with our current circumstances and limitations which we can't change, are there for a reason, for true self spiritual growth for us, and those around us, to benefit the entire planet...

Picture by familymwr under Creative Commons

When I was younger, I could not understand why God would sit by and let so much suffering take place without doing anything. Being a bit more older now, it is quite clear to me why that suffering exists (Karma), and how we can transcend it (Eightfold path of Yoga).

I feel the whole idea of this journey of is re-discovery of oneself, emerging from the darkness of the Body into the light of the Spirit.  If we were just light or Spirit, we would not know we were the light. God realizes his awesomeness through this Self Discovery.  Acceptance is central to this mindset...

Make molehills out of Mountains through Acceptance, show gratitude for all the blessings that have been given to you, even what is not given to you is a blessing in disguise...

Regards

Kirpal

Acceptance on Prezi

This work by Kirpal Chauhan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License