Power of Networking 

In most of the seminars I attend, I find that a lot of stress being laid stress on the Power of Networking.  Here are some of my insights, on networking.

 

In this competitive world, the speed of your growth will be determined by your capacity to network with people.  We have always been apprehensive of initiating a talk with new people. The fear of doubt, when meeting a person for the first time, far surpasses the fear of opportunity that may arise out of talking with them. We are so very cautious, that we even think twice to stretch our hands to shake hands with a stranger or greet someone with a friendly smile. We fear that a relationship with an unknown person will let us in doldrums. This is often due to the fact that some of our previous experience with unknown people have been bad. This experience has deeply encroached upon our subconscious mind, a feeling of suspicion in dealing with strangers. What is more, the news paper and magazines flashes so much news about frauds and cheats. All this in totality has made us hostile to our surrounding. We like to be insulated from all dangers.

 In doing so we have consciously let away opportunities that comes to us in the form of different people.  Day in and day out we are searching for new opportunities, but we fail to see the opportunity hidden behind each person we meet. Each person may have a hidden opportunity.

 

Just for an analogy, think of a typical situation like this: You come across a person with a brilliant idea, but he does not have the money to make it a successful venture. You take the idea and keep it with you. You then come across a millionaire in disguise, who has so much money and doesn’t know where to invest it. Now you give this idea you have got from someone, to the millionaire who gets excited about the idea and offers to fund your venture. He is willing to make you a working partner.

 

Does it sound like fiction? It can happen!!! I believe so… This is what networking is all about. The secret lies in talking with people, all that is in your mind, know matter how they judge you.

 

How many of us sincerely believe that our friend’s friend, is also our friend. If you believe so, you will start making more and more friends everyday because the chain keeps growing. This is how you can make your networking stronger.

 

What happens in real life situation is when one of your friends introduces you to his friend, you formally say hello, shake hands, and know each other’s names and that is it. You do not care to go any further. So, this unknown stranger has now become a known stranger. Nothing more… To put the power of networking to work for you, you have to be sincerely interested in people.

 

If we should make a honest introspective of how much we really know about our  friends, our relatives, our colleagues, we will be sorry to find that we just know the periphery, because we are always afraid of exploring the inner territory of others, for the same fear of exposing our true self. If you really look into people, we will see that there is so much of potential within the person which is not brought to focus. We could be the miner, who could dig out the Gold, from within the person.

 

God will never give the bread in your basket. He will just show you where the dough is. It is up to you to make the bread. God shows you opportunities through people. It is up to you to capitalize upon the opportunity hidden within them.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

The Silver Linings

There is a beautiful English phrase, “look for the silver lining in the clouds”. I am actually witnessing a number of such silver linings, recently.

 

An unfortunate road accident, in Madurai ring road highway, had left my wife’s right arm fractured. The first silver lining was that, the accident did not kill any of us, nor any one in the car in which we collided with. As my wife was whining with pain, at the moment of the accident and I was trying to reach out to my relatives  through my mobile to get her transported to the hospital, one passer-by – a young gentleman cared to stop his car and volunteered to take us to the hospital. We took his help and made a quick exit from the accident spot. Here, was one more silver lining.

 

In just a day after the accident, my wife got operated and had a steel plate fixed in her arm to reconstitute the bone structure. With many relatives and friends visiting us at the hospital, we found a lot of solace. The feeling of being cared for and being important was another silver lining.

 

We mentally got prepared for a month long rest and healing time. There were just two issues which created a lot of unrest to us. One was the Children’s Summer Camp which was had plan to organise the first week of May and the other one was the proposed family cum friends overseas trip to Thailand and Malaysia, which was in Mid May. After some contemplation, we decided to postpone the Summer Camp to the last week of May. The holiday tour we had promised our kids, was the only concern left, unaddressed. With little worry, we told the doctor about our foreign travel plan. We had no clue that the doctor would give us a green signal. He said, that she will be perfectly alright in 10 days and she can travel anywhere, provided she takes a little precaution.  It was now a matter of our own choice. It was a great mental dilemma, whether to go or not to go.  Normally, any one would opt to cancel the trip and stay back. With mixed feelings we took a bold decision, to go ahead with the tour.  The decision turned out to be good. We enjoyed a great holiday abroad and came back recharged with a great feeling of accomplishment.  If we would have stayed back, we would have undergone more mental agony and depression. The tour created a positive mindset. The focus on pleasant experience made the painful experience minor. This again was a silver lining, I should say.

 

It has always been me, telling my wife to do this and that. Now that she was unable to do many things, I not only had to do all my work by myself, but also had to assist her to do her work. However, I felt it was a great opportunity for me to serve her and pay back a little of her care. I realized how much, I have taken her for granted. We never realize the importance of electricity until there is a power cut. Similar, was my situation. This realization, I feel is one more silver lining.

 

I have read these words quite often - every experience has got something to teach us. This experience indeed taught us a lot. It helped us to realize the value of each other and the value of our own life. This I think is the greatest silver lining of all.

 

Every one experiences difficult moments in life. It is the ability to bounce back fast that really matters.  We were able to bounce back fast, not only because of the miracle of modern medicine, but also owing to the love, care, support, motivation and prayers of our family members and our close set of friends and relatives.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

 

Why Be A King, When You Can Be God

Nowadays, it is a trend among youngsters, to keep updating their whatsapp status to reflect their moods or to just express what they are feeling. A few days back, my son had updates his whatsapp status as “Why be a King when you can be God”. When I saw it, at first sight I got a feel that it was an arrogant statement to make. When I asked him, he said it is just a line from an English pop song and there was nothing in particular about him of having it as his whatsapp status. As I was contemplating the sentence, I could realise that there was a very strong message behind the words. It is quite common for someone to aspire to be a king, but to aspire to be God is something way beyond expectation. It is like asking, why do we have to settle for something small, when you can become something higher?

If we take a closer look at people and their aspirations, we can predominantly classify them into two types: One type of people are those who are material oriented, and the other type are those who are spiritual oriented.

The material oriented people are the ones who aspire to be KINGS. They are generally self-oriented. They crave for leadership positions, social recognition and public admiration. They achieve this by striving hard to be the No.1 in their chosen field. For them their dreams, their goals and their achievements are important, than anything else. In the process of achieving their goal, they hurt many people but to them that is a part of the game. To them winning is everything. We find this type of people in every field, be it business, politics, sports, cinema or any other. We hear phrases such as “King of Cricket”, “King of Bollywood” so on and so forth. The pomp and glory of being a Supremo, gives this type of people immense pride and delight. A typical example, is Lion which is called the King of the jungle. It holds its status as a King, not only by its might but also by being ruthless when coming to deal with an opponent. There is no empathy. Kill or be killed is the law of the jungle. In their world, MIGHT IS RIGHT.

Then there is the other type of people, who are spiritual oriented. These type of people are not self-oriented, whereas they are people oriented. They work hard to make others happy. They do not bother much about their own welfare, whereas they are always concerned about the welfare of those around them. They are not selfish, jealous, greedy or egoistic. Their love energy flows in the form of selfless service and touches everyone they come across. 

History has many stories of people who have transcended from KINGS to SAINTS, because at some point of time they found a divine calling which was more appealing than their worldly pleasures.

We have heard the story of Lord Buddha. He was born as a prince and lived a very luxurious life. He indulged in all the worldly pleasures and enjoyed the life of a King. However at  some point of time, as he got exposed to the realities of life he understood the futility of being a King and went in search of the eternal truth and became a Saint, and ultimately became a God.

The story of King Ashoka, also reveals of how he transformed from a ruthless warrior to a noble ruler, after seeing the bloodshed and tears of innocent people in the war of Kalinga. He realised the fallacy of war and chose to transform and govern his kingdom based on the principles of dharma. It is this period that is called as Golden era in Indian History. Even today, Ashoka is remembered for his good works, that he did in the later part of his life.

The lyrics of a Tamil song, goes like this: “Manidhan enbavan dheivam aagalam”, which means Man has the inherent capacity to become God. Does it mean, anyone can be God? Perhaps, YES, if we are willing to take the hard path of righteousness. It is difficult, but not impossible.  It is just a matter of choice. It is not a position to aspire for but just a state of mind to attain.

Think it over – “Why be a King, when you can be God.”

D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

The Spirit of Friendship

There is a far deeper meaning to friendship, than what we normally perceive. While many of us may feel the primary reason for having friends is for social interaction and entertainment, if we look more closely to what it means we will realize that the reasons go way beyond that.

Friendship is not only about spending time with like-minded people so that one doesn’t get bored on a Saturday evening; its purpose is far more meaningful.  It is about love and understanding.  It stretches beyond our family relationships and lends us a support that is different.  It is about a different kind of love.

With our families we are sometimes wary about discussing our fears or difficulties, but with friends often it is easier to discuss our feelings, as there remains a space that is personal yet with fewer expectations.  It is a space that is built on sharing – sharing of our joys and sorrows, of discussion and reasoning, and many other things that urge us to open our hearts to others.

It is in friendship that we also learn to be less judgemental and to be accepting of other people’s differences and eccentricities and to be open to loving our friends even if they don’t think like us or share our philosophies.  Friendship teaches us to be helpful.  To give support and a listening ear to our mates, to be there for them in times of need or celebration, and to be part of their lives as a person that gives them comfort and who is able to understand and accept them for who they are.

Cherish and celebrate the spirit of friendship, everyday.

D. Senthil Kannan,

Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com