Tillitonse - A Transformational Journey Together

Five Steps to Make this Isolation Meaningful and Beneficial To You Remember Pascal’s Law in Physics??? This morning as India is in the midst of a voluntary day curfew, my thoughts went to Pascal. For those who knew me in school, this would be a surprise. I barely managed to pass the damn subject. But I was introduced to another aspect of this wise soul a few years ago….An astute student of the human mind. This is what he wrote about 400 years ago: “When I have occasionally set myself to consider the different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions, bold and often bad ventures, etc.,  I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.” Imagine that: Even four hundred years ago, a key challenge for humans was our addition to activity . Fast forward to the world we have created and li...

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK Maya* (name changed) is a hard working, dedicated and systematic senior director. Very early on in our coaching journey, it became evident to me that one of key challenges is her tendency to imagine the worst case scenario when she feels that she does not have all the facts. When I pointed this to her, she agreed without hesitation. Kudos to her self-awareness. We now moved to the next tricky part - for her to catch herself when she actually does this in real life. In one of our coaching sessions, this phrase, strongly resonated with her - "It's real (for me), but not true." In other words, we might sincerely believe something, but we can also be aware that this might not be true. A rainbow is a classic metaphor for this insight. Does it look real? You bet. But does it truly exist? Nope!!! So too are many of the 'facts' clouded by emotions that we hold in our heads. For Maya, it often revolves around the what...

  The Quiet Mechanics -  @ Home @ Work   This piece focuses on the quiet warriors in our families and work-places. The ones who keep at the ‘unsexy’ tasks that add immense value, but are not often noticed…. The Quiet Mechanics Look around your families….We have so many types there the ‘glory boys/girls – these win awards, impress us with their passion, typically are at the top of their careers. We celebrate their clear ‘wins’ and look at them with a combination of pride/envy. They seem to always know what needs to be done and seem at ease making decisions. One thing is certain – you can’t ignore these race car drivers Then there are the connectors/the influencers – through their open enthusiasm, they bring us together. They are typically the life of the party and are the creative ones. Again, the spotlight seems to follow them….the cheer-leaders And then they are the silent and dependable sorts. They are patient and see ta...

SHARING VULNERABILITY BUILDS BRIDGES A childhood friend and I spent a couple of hours together yesterday. I felt the urge to write this note triggered by a moment of vulnerability we shared. Vignesh (name not changed and used with his permission) and I came together in Grade V, when we were about 10 years old. We joined school together, our apartments were next door to each other, he too was the youngest of three sons and we both shared the traits of natural exuberance and openness. Further, Viggi, as we all called him, sang wonderfully and I was a bit of an actor/performer…and so not surprisingly, we became the best of friends.   For four years we were inseparable and spent a lot of time outside school in each other’s homes. Our school, set in the idyllic Kalakshetra School of Art and Dance campus had a laid back air where all around development of the student was nurtured amidst trees and beach sands. Suffice to say, academic rigor was not emphasized. Th...