Tillitonse - A Transformational Journey Together

Batman vs Superman – The Dawn of Awareness… Aren't these pictures cute? When I saw these two ‘funny’ pictures, I first laughed and then then something stirred…and the word AWARENESS came to the forefront. Awareness – sometimes misplaced…sometimes not ever highlighted! Let’s first start with Superman. What is he doing here? He has inadvertently torn of the costume that protects him. In fact Superman’s costume is more than a just a piece of clothing. It epitomizes the magnificence of his mother planet – Krypton. The logo is his family’s emblem. And so in a moment of ‘non-awareness” borne out of cultivated habit of removing his external clothing during a crisis, Superman accidently rips of his legacy which he holds very dear. This made me pause. In so many moments of anger, frustration, alcohol laden instances and other similar negative habits when the internal mirror has been dirty and awareness misplaced, I have done things which have resu...

“Sometimes I need to be reminded about my GREATNESS….” She laughed!!! Well, can’t say I blame her. I probably would have done the same if I heard someone make this statement seemingly out of the blue. Well, so be it. I did in fact say these words two days ago….. Flashback to the summer of 1990. I had just completed for first year of a Master’s in Economics in Boston and had come home to Madras. I had done poorly academically and the morale was low. I was discussing with my mother about suitable job options for an Economics graduate. I had heard that Citibank hired students in the US who were interested in returning to India. I disliked Economics and the thought of working in a bank was stifling. But, the traditional career opportunities for some one with this academic background seemed limited. Maybe it was something in my tone let alone the content, but my eldest brother Sridhar who was passing by, paused. All he said was ‘You seem to have some talent in communications...

Death came visiting two days ago. This post captures some three reflections related to the visit of this ‘grim reaper.’ 1. ‘Be aware of the negative mind:’ The news of my second cousin Girija passing away was posted in the family’s Whatsapp group around 7am (that’s a while separate post about social media).   Got a call from my brother around 10am asking me to join him on a drive to Valingiman (a six hour drive).       It is interesting that my first reaction was negative. Honestly, while I have known Girija for years, we were not that close. So, to make a 12 hour trek within 24 hours was not appealing.   But over the next hour as I thought more about it, I found the initial knee jerk reaction fading….’ what the heck, why not just go?’ slowly became the refrain. And I did. So glad I did. In the workshops and one on one work that I do, I communicate that the intrinsic nature of the adult mind is ‘limiting.’ Here was a classic examp...

AS I BEGIN A NEW JOURNEY IN ONE ON ONE COACHING, I JOYFULLY EXTEND AN INVITATION TO YOU.... The Invitation “It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remembe...

MIND OVER BODY....@ A BUDDHIST MEDITATION CENTER, BURMA Inspired by  Nithya Shanti  I decided to spend a few days at a Buddhist Meditation Centre in Myanmar (Burma) a few weeks ago. Some interesting lessons learnt: 1. One can survive with a lot less food that we think. Our first meal was at 5.30am and then lunch at 10.30am. No solid food after that. A glass of juice at 5pm was the only other 'meal.' 2. The sessions would begin at 4am. We would sit under an individual mosquito net with one instruction – Just watch the breath in an out. Ever so often one could do some ‘walking meditation.’ Suffice to say, my legs and back cried out in pain after a while. Lots to work on!   3. Oh how the mind can be trained and how it wanders – I got to the Centre on a Friday and was scheduled to leave on Monday morning. All through Saturday, I was focused on the reason I was there – Meditation. But on Sunday, I found my concentration wavering quite a bit as I started th...