Tillitonse - A Transformational Journey Together

"HELLO, I AM SINGING AWAY THE BLUES" My 87 year old Aunt Meena taught me an important lesson in restricting negativity…. I am sure you have noticed that as we grow older, a lot of our conversations tend to focus on complaints….about other people, medical conditions, business conditions, and other pin pricks that our daily life is full off. I don’t know about you, but I often find myself avoiding these people. But Aunt Meena has always been an exception. Even at this ripe old age, with her body failing her on multiple fronts, one hardly ever hears her complaining. But what blew my mind is what she does when other start complaining. SHE SINGS Yup, that’s what she has started doing. The phone is her primary means of communication these days. She told me that sometimes people call her …and after enquiring about her for the first few minutes, they often launch into laments about their own lives. She is clear that does not wish to engage her mind with...

Cultivating Genuine Happiness - 5 Lessons Learnt We all want to be happy and minimize suffering. Here are five key lessons I have learnt about sustained happiness based on my formal learnings from the East and the West, personal reflection and engaging deeply with people across three continents as a transformational coach. (The names of the persons have been changed to maintain their privacy). 1. Each of us are whole and are simultaneously moving towards a full expression of wholeness. Maya is a talented, smart and an empathetic senior professional. During a coaching session she spelt out how unappreciated she felt at work and was particularly frustrated that her important role in jumping in to support others was simply not being seen. As we unpeeled the layers of the onion, an important insight emerged - that she too was not adequately acknowledging, let alone appreciating, her own contribution.  All too often, the clouds do indeed cover t...

"A VEGGIE SANDWICH AT BURGER KING?" I was hurt and self esteem was low... ...but in an instance, I felt the warm glow and was hooked!!! I had barely managed to complete a Master's in quantitative economics from Tufts University in Boston. The academic torture that I experienced there made the winters in Boston seem very balmy. I found my way to the Annenberg School for Communication, USC to explore a second masters. My main draw to this institution is what I had read about a certain Everett Rogers. I made an appointment to see him around noon. I walked in and was greeted with a warm smile. "Have you had lunch?". Before I could reply, I found myself almost running behind this man who was at least 30 years my senior. We entered a Burger King and he went on to order two 'veggie' burgers (aka skip the patty and add an extra layer of cheese to the tomatoes and lettuce). And then he turned his big eyes and just focussed on m...