Balanced Action

Thoughts on Life & Work

Main menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Life & Work
  • Bhagavad Gita
  • Sketchnotes
  • Sketches
  • Yoga
  • Buy the book

Category Archives: Life & Work

Show Grid Show List

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

The three pots

January 12, 2013 by philipp68

Early in January, while thinking about possible new years resolutions, I stumbled across the story of the three pots by Pema Chödrön. “This is it!” I thought. “An excellent reminder I can print out and stick to the wall behind my desk. Reminding me to keep a calm, open mind. Allowing me to fully experience all the good and bad things that will happen to me in this New Year.” The three pots Each of the three pots represents an […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Attitude, Buddhism, Emotion, Mind

5

Playing games to learn for life

December 20, 2012 by philipp68

Playing a game like Monopoly with a couple of friends can be all joy and laughter, as long as no one gets too attached to the outcome. The moment we become desperate to win, anger and frustration can surface and turn a simple game into an awful fight between friends. This desperate attachment to succeed is often present in our life. We think that more status, money or fame will help us to win in life. Life is not about […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Attachment, Emotion, Gamification, Meritocracy, Modern Workplace

9

The Circle of Power

December 4, 2012 by philipp68

We often think that life and work gets easier, if only we were in charge, had more control over our environment and the people around us. Power feeds the ego and for a moment it will feel great. But as soon as that feeling wears off, we will look for the next step up the career ladder, starting an endless journey for power. Power per se is nothing bad, but power alone can never be the goal. We first need to learn to […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Bhagavad Gita, Modern Workplace, Power

5

Inviting a monster for tea (or beer)

November 16, 2012 by philipp68

With tears in my eyes I finished the powerful children’s book A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Jim Kay. It tells the story of 13-year-old Conor O’Malley. His mother has cancer; he is terrified to lose her. The failure of anyone to address the reality of the situation exacerbates Conor’s bewilderment, anger, frustration, guilt and internal loneliness. Then one night, after one of his nightmares, he is visited by a terrifying monster – a yew tree in his garden […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Compassion, Emotion, Fear, Heart, Monster

8

Losing and finding paradise

November 5, 2012 by philipp68

Everything we experience triggers an emotional reaction. When something feels bad our mind tends to fabricate a complicated story, telling us what object or person to blame for the bad feeling. Emotions are important guides we should carefully listen to. What we tend to forget is that the story our mind fabricates is dependent on what we believe, our current emotional state and cultural background. In many situations it is our mind that is creating most of the drama, when […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Illusion, Mind

2

The Jar of Life: First things First

October 17, 2012 by philipp68

When life overwhelms us, when our mind is a whirlwind of thoughts and we are afraid to go under, it is important to refocus on what is truly important and dear to us. The story of the “Jar of Life” tells us that even if our life feels full, there is always room for an evening with friends or family. Why stories are important When life gets tough a simple, well told story or metaphor can help us look at […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Decision, Wisdom

302

Laugh more – Laugh wisely

October 1, 2012 by philipp68

I just came back from a 3 hour a day laughing holiday. The laughing part was completely unexpected and very welcome. A big hug to all In Sabina Yogis for this wonderful week! It made me realize how laughter creates a strong bond between complete strangers, bridges cultural differences and helps us connect to our inner kid, our true self. Let’s find out how we can bring back more laughter from our childhood to adult work and life. Your inner […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Heart, Laughter, Modern Workplace

3

To see the whole, we need to forget about the parts

September 16, 2012 by philipp68

All we hear, see, smell, taste or feel is analyzed by our mind. It makes an incredible job in creating an amazingly detailed description of everything we experience. We call this description reality. What we keep forgetting is that we only experience a fraction of the whole. Our mind tends to focus on what we already know, because the unknown gives us a fuzzy feeling. To put together the broken jewel of wisdom we have to learn how to stitch […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Intuition, Modern Workplace, Wisdom

3

Dear Robots: It’s time to take your helmets off

August 25, 2012 by philipp68

Many years ago my father gave me the book “The Star Diaries” by Stanislaw Lem. The book is a collection of the incredible voyages of space traveller Ijon Tichy. It was one of my first science fiction novels. I loved it. The eleventh voyage is a parable of living in a country, where everybody upholds the official ideology no one actually believes in. Having grown up in the “Peoples Republic of Poland” Lem knew, what he was talking about. As […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Illusion, Modern Workplace

3

A process can never teach us patience

August 12, 2012 by philipp68

Where does this fascination for processes come from? I think processes can be beneficial, but at the same time inhibit our ability to deal with the often-chaotic “reality”. By wrapping “reality” in a process we hope to stay in control, reduce the complexity of the world. We hope that the process will serve as a guide and tell us how to interact in a group. Instead of trying to stay calm, interacting freely with the people around us to solve […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Compassion, Illusion, Modern Workplace, Process

2

The meeting room: an opportunity to learn and teach

August 1, 2012 by philipp68

Participating in meetings or steering boards of a larger cooperation or committee can be a source of frustration and anger. The leaders on the board are disappointed because their expectations are not met and the experts are frustrated because the leaders don’t seem to understand most of the things they are trying to explain. Truth is, most difficult problems can only be solved with the help of both strong leaders and brilliant experts. It’s time for both sides to learn […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Experts, Leaders, Meetings, Modern Workplace, Teaching

4

Monkey Business: Did you ever get soaked, while trying to grab a Banana?

July 22, 2012 by philipp68

In 1967 G. R. Stephenson conducted an experiment with a group of rhesus monkeys. The experiment shows how we acquire behavior. I think studying the way the experiment was conduced shows something else: It shows that monkeys would never have acted the way they did, if they had been left alone to live their life in peace. I believe the natural state of monkeys and humans is to be good. It’s the experiments, which drive us crazy. The experiment went […]

Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Buddhism, Compassion, Heart, Illusion

8

Merit or Duty Part 2: Breaking out of the imaginary caste system at work

July 13, 2012 by philipp68

In the last post I briefly outlined how believing in “merit” shapes the way we look at the world. How the moment we start comparing ourselves with the people around us can create a deep sense of anxiety. What if we would believe in our dharma, our duty? Would this help to look at work and life with more compassion? Be more forgiving towards us, if things don’t turn out as expected? Let’s find out. Dharma can be understood as […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Bhagavad Gita, Dharma, Heart, Meritocracy

9

Merit or Duty Part 1: What will make us happier?

July 10, 2012 by philipp68

In the next two posts I would like to compare two completely different preconceptions how we look at life and work. One is a western ideal, meritocracy. The other is one of the fundaments of Hinduism and Buddhism, dharma. I believe that understanding both these concepts in context is important, in order to benefit from both western and eastern wisdom. My hope being, that this understanding can bring you some peace of mind, when struggling at work. Let’s start with […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Bhagavad Gita, Dharma, Meritocracy

Leave a comment

The Bhagavad Gita Part 3: The Art of Action

July 4, 2012 by philipp68

The last post ended with the mental image of the “battlefield of life”. On one side the strong army of negativity, on the other the fighters for positivity. We in the middle, afraid that we might loose the battle, that things could turn out even worse than they feel at the moment. The drawing above represents the moment the battle starts. A moment on the journey of life, hesitating to take the next step. Looking back, remembering past experiences, constructing […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Body, Compassion, Decision, Heart, Wisdom

3

The Bhagavad Gita Part 2: What types of Actions exist?

June 25, 2012 by philipp68

To understand how to take difficult decisions and engage in all type of actions with a positive attitude, we first have to understand what the Gita means by action. My reflections are primarily based on notes I took during a reading of the Bhagavad Gita by Andrea Boni. I scribbled, abstracted, combined Andrea’s passionate words with my thoughts and experiences. Thank you so much, Andrea! The Gita is a poetic text. I apologize if during my attempt to apply its […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Decision

2

The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?

June 12, 2012 by philipp68

This is the first of a series of posts, where I would like to explore how an ancient text like the Bhagavad Gita can help us taking overdue decisions and engaging in action. I use the example of decision making, because in life and at work we often hesitate to take decisions, especially if a decisions leads to actions we would like to avoid. We act a little bit like Arjuna, the hero of the Gita, in the opening of […]

Categories: Bhagavad Gita, Life & Work • Tags: Action, Bhagavad Gita, Body, Decision, Dharma, Heart, Intuition, Mind, Wisdom

6

Post navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 856 other subscribers

RSS

RSS Feed RSS - Posts

RSS Feed RSS - Comments

Archives

  • March 2018 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (5)
  • August 2015 (2)
  • July 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (2)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • October 2013 (2)
  • September 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (1)
  • June 2013 (1)
  • March 2013 (3)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (1)
  • December 2012 (2)
  • November 2012 (2)
  • October 2012 (2)
  • September 2012 (1)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (4)
  • June 2012 (2)
  • May 2012 (5)

Archives

  • March 2018 (1)
  • May 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • September 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (1)
  • November 2015 (3)
  • October 2015 (2)
  • September 2015 (5)
  • August 2015 (2)
  • July 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (2)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • April 2014 (1)
  • January 2014 (2)
  • December 2013 (1)
  • October 2013 (2)
  • September 2013 (1)
  • July 2013 (1)
  • June 2013 (1)
  • March 2013 (3)
  • February 2013 (3)
  • January 2013 (1)
  • December 2012 (2)
  • November 2012 (2)
  • October 2012 (2)
  • September 2012 (1)
  • August 2012 (3)
  • July 2012 (4)
  • June 2012 (2)
  • May 2012 (5)

Search

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Jar of Life: First things First
    The Jar of Life: First things First
  • I see
    I see
  • About
    About
  • Seeing the good in the bad
    Seeing the good in the bad
  • The Pleasure Purpose Principle
    The Pleasure Purpose Principle
  • The three pots
    The three pots
  • Finding the Being in the Doing
    Finding the Being in the Doing
  • The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?
    The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 856 other subscribers
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • Balanced Action
    • Join 856 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Balanced Action
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...