Your Life is your Message
by philipp68
How dreams are important, but solely focusing on the fruits of your dreams will make you unhappy.
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Attitude, Bhagavad Gita, Mind, Wisdom
Tag: Bhagavad Gita
Commit to your dream
by philipp68
An evening a couple of months ago my godchild called. “I would like to quit high school and start an apprenticeship*. Do you think this is a good idea?” she asked. “Why would you want to stop studying and start working?” I asked surprised, tired of a long day at the office. “You know,” she said, “I want to experience what real life feels like. It’s not about the money. I have this dream…” “Let’s talk about your dream!” Had […]
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Attachment, Bhagavad Gita, Compassion
Finding the Being in the Doing
by philipp68
One of the secrets to our wellbeing is to find the balance between being and doing. To be ourselves, to connect to the things that make us happy, we need to learn to simply be. Cleaning out a busy schedule or taking a long vacation will help, but ultimately we will need to find the being in the doing. How we got busy The natural state of an infant is to be. There is nothing to do, no expectations to […]
Categories: Life & Work • Tags: Action, Being, Bhagavad Gita, Doing, Emotion, Karma
The Circle of Power
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
Losing and finding paradise
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
Dear Robots: It’s time to take your helmets off
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
Merit or Duty Part 2: Breaking out of the imaginary caste system at work
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
Merit or Duty Part 1: What will make us happier?
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
The Bhagavad Gita Part 3: The Art of Action
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
The Bhagavad Gita Part 2: What types of Actions exist?
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
The Bhagavad Gita Part 1: Facing a difficult Decision?
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
Balanced Action 