Sanjay Manocha's Blog

Mr. Sunil Prashara (President & CEO – Project Management Institute – PMI) shares that Learning cooking last year has brought me closer to my family where I feel real warmth, soulful laughs. To me, Learning is Spiritual, and it connects many dots of Life.

Everythingin this Universe has a bigger and deeper meaning and by learning you realizethat everything is connected.Life-LongLearning is not only important but is a necessity – not only for our work butfor our life, which is evolving and giving us many surprises every day.Learningis unique – it is special, and no one can take whatever you have learned.Learning makes you the person you are today.

Learning is Spiritual.So, Why Stop Learning?

Let us committo Life-long Learning !!!

Watchthe complete Video and many more Insightful videos on Russell Sardar YouTubeChannel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrw6LnrC4QE

Also,visit for Authorized PMI Courses and Certification at NetCom Learning

https://www.netcomlearning.com/vendors/pmi-training.phtml

One of my ‘Good Morning’ friends sent me a quote three months back with a hashtag #MondayMotivation, and it says “Life is one so Live Life, KING Size.”

We all get a lot of such messages from good morning enthusiasts on WhatsApp, but this message particularly caught my attention since it was a tagline of a famous cigarette brand of the 1990s in India and at that time I used to wonder how smoking can help anyone live like a King.

From childhood, we all have read or heard a lot of stories on Kings and their sovereignty, and it automatically aspires us to experience such grand life. But how a middle class, a salaried person can lead a life akin to/like our stories Kings used to.

To live a grand life, we study some years; work hard in our jobs; get married; begets children, and eventually retire. But this sincere desire to live life king size buries without ever realize the ways to do so. We may be getting little happiness here and there; now and then; and get complacent with the thought that living a happy, exciting, fulfilling life is an illusion.

 

I tried finding ways to live a Kingly Life and on deep contemplation and carefully following, finally concluded with these 10. Give them a read and discover if it appeals to you too, as they did to me.

Time – Time is bigger than currency, and every living soul has 1440 time money (1440 minutes only) per day. But we unknowingly waste a lot such time currency without getting proper returns. Spend your 1440 wisely, productively.

 

Travel –Save some money on a monthly basis and spend your savings in going close to nature at least thrice a year. And if possible, go solo. Only you and the whole Nature – everything beautiful from Nature will be at your disposal to make you feel like a Prince.

Health – Good health is a blessing. We can’t work or enjoy weakened health. Never take it granted. Regular Care by doing some exercise and meditation will enable us to live our dreams.

 

Taste – Develop a good Taste for eating a variety of food and listen to Music of different genre. It will always keep your mood upbeat and make you such a lively persona that others will love to talk to or preferred to be with.

Money – Though money is not everything but everything needs money. Moreover, a pauper can’t live a grand Be frugal. Spend wherever is necessary or gives you satisfaction or a good ROI.

Read – Reading help us connect with great minds and find solutions to various problems of life. It opens our mind and brings a right paradigm shift to look favorable in every situation. Miseries, troubles, inconveniences are our partner till graveyard, but a thoughtful mindset faces them, resolves them to his best capacity.

Indeed, Reading Evolves!!!

Earn to Live – Keep on upgrading or polishing your skills. A sharpened ax will always produce more. Learning new keeps us latest with the world and help us earn better. Regular and ample gaining is a must for a King.

 

Be Social – Meet your friends and relatives on a regular basis. Make few new friends every month. Observe People around you. Watching news will update you on the world. Share on social media, whatever is worthy to be shared (of course with caution).

Write – One must write at-least for 10 minutes every day. Write whatever is coming to your mind. Your day, your plans, put your mind on paper without thinking of good or bad. This is your private writing, so don’t worry since you are not going to showcase it to the world. But it will help you discover the self.

Writing is meditative. It helps you release negativity and know your inner calling.

Dressing – Dress smartly every day. Dressing fresh and right clothes (I don’t mean expensive here) will surely boost confidence in us. Just observe how you feel, the day you wear new clothes.

These are straightforward steps but overlooked by us somehow. Follow these because the Most Important thing in this life is THE LIFE

Being a senior manager in a global organization, I was fulfilling more significant responsibilities as Manager – Marketing and Communication, to the best expectations of my CEO and leading a team of 35 fantastic professionals.

But still, I was feeling hollow inside. Working with full devotion, earning in six digits and having all the luxuries of life were not giving me the fulfillment. The bluebird in my heart wanted to get out. I was in search of broader purpose of my life –my innate talent; my core strengths; the job I made for, and task I can do with great ease and with intense love.

Three things pushed me towards my natural goal of writing and writing short stories:-

Visiting Sattal – Uttrakhand India

To celebrate my Birthday in the proximity of Nature, I traveled solo for three days to Sattal (Uttarakhand-India). One pleasant evening at the dining table, I met Mr. Shyam Sunder Sharma – a travel guide and bird lover. I felt privileged to hear him on the various aspect of Nature’s whole spectacular system.

“Every animal and bird – be it tiger or deer, be it vulture or squirrel – they all work in sync with their defined purpose of existence and contribute back to nature. Thus, live happily and freely.

But we humans are not aware of our most profound purpose and primarily live on our instincts – simply to eat, sleep, sex and security. The not-synchronized way of living is the prime cause of human sufferings.

His talks ignited the spark to find a predefined role and goal of my existence in this Universe.

I asked few questions about Life, which he advised, “Every one of us is unique. Never follow someone’s steps or experiences. Go, explore and experience your Life – yourself.

Hindi movie – Tamasha

This movie of my favorite Mr. Ranbir Kapoor and Mr. Imtiaz Ali convinced me that success follows those, who support the calling of their heart; those who know and work as per their defined role, to beautify this Universe. Leading a mechanic life will only add boredom, anxieties, frustrations, and miseries. I had watched this movie 13 times and still love to enjoy, whenever I start feeling low.

 

Poems from Charles Bukowski:-


Invent yourself and then reinvent yourself…
There’s a Bluebird in my heart that wants to get out…
Your life is your life – Go all the way…

I explored and entirely convinced that writing and storytelling have always enthralled me. Be it writing official e-mails or small scripts for in-house skits or writing a blog post or commenting on social sites.

Having firm believe that Universe is helping me to the fullest, I tendered my registration to give my 100% in writing stories. Every place, every person, every situation is full of stories, we only need to sit around, hear silently, and observe conscientiously. During past months, my trip to Tirthan Valley, Dehradun, Vrindavan inspired me with few stories. My meeting with my old friends gave me insights on Life. My visit to underprivileged children helped me know the significance of emotions.

“The planet desperately needs more…  storytellers, and lovers of all kind.” – Dalai Lama

I have tried quenching my thirst with this quote of HH Dalai Lama and wrote five soulful stories for my esteemed readers to experience human emotions, human life.

The five eloquent stories in my debut book titled “Honey, I am Back…” are based on the following premises:-

Good Parenting cultivates Worthiness
Love only gets strengthened by undergoing a trial by ordeals.
Adversity stimulates fulfilling Growth
Only Strength leads to Achievements  
The goal of human life is to evolve  

 

I am sure, reading these soulful stories will help you find your role and goal in this Universe. Working in sync with our goal will help us evolve and live blissfully. Indeed !!!

Honey, I Am Back…and 4 other soulful stories – can be bought from any of the following platforms:-

Amazon — https://amzn.to/2KSjRh6

Flipkart — https://bit.ly/2jQ4GZS

Notion Press —https://bit.ly/2KblFAY

Amazon Kindle — https://amzn.to/2IdylXp

Amazon US — https://amzn.to/2rBiOcO

Amazon UK — https://amzn.to/2KaExje

Like many previous years, we all will be wishing ritually – A Happy New Year 2018 – to all our friends and relatives through videos, text or catchy creatives.

Great….

“What 2018 means to me?”  This thought flashed through my mind while hosting a New Year Party for my organization on 29th Dec.

I am happy to share my next day’s contemplation with the hope it will help you too, to explore, What 2018 means to You?

We all have some plans, some wishes, and some goals to achieve on a daily/monthly/yearly basis. And to get what we want, we need many of Natural, Human and Capital Resources e.g.  Money, Health, Knowledge, conducive Environment, Skills, Support, and many more.

The quantitative and qualitative availability of such resources may vary from person to person and place to place. But there is one resource, every living entity is having in the same quantity-n-quality irrespective of academic, economic, educational or geographical background.

And this precious resource is TIME.  

Unlike other resources, we can’t produce, store, or buy Time. Also, we can’t stop its’ consumption. The total sum of Time resource is getting shrunk on every passing second without any indication of the days/hours left in our Life’s Account.

The only freedom we have is to spend Time, the way we wish.

Here comes our intelligence, our experience, and our insights to utilize – the naturally blessed and the most precious resource – TIME.

Generally, we give more importance to the resource – Money – which is quite right, but using our intelligence and guidance to utilize Time wisely – we can earn much more.

 

Lord Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita (Ch#11, Verse#32), कालोऽस्मि….I am the Time.

By giving full importance and respect to our Time and spend it wisely, we are worshiping GOD even without visiting any worship-able places in person.

I am not stating here to be fanatic and do not engage in any recreation or social or relaxing activity or a hobby. Just be relaxed and accept in full earnest that it is not possible to keep an account for every single minute or hour of our day.

I am advocating a small exercise which will help us evaluate our current day and plan the coming one.

Before going to bed, try to write a Day-Log for 5 minutes. Rate your day in terms of utilizing the Time, prioritizing the tasks to achieve your daily goal.

 

By giving full respect and importance to OUR TIME, we can make 2018 a beautiful Year – a year to be proud of.

 

 

Past one year, few movies and books have changed my perspective towards Life.

I realized that We, humans, are more connected with Having than Being. Nothing wrong with Having, but Being is truly fulfilling.

To feel fulfilled and explore interesting ideas on my passion for writing short stories, I opted for one week Solo Travel to Tirthan Valley, Kullu – Himachal Pradesh, which rewarded in experiencing few memorable days of my life.

Trekking and Camping – For the first time, I trekked 30km in 3 days and camped overnight under the stars at Rolla Pass – a notable place for camping – along with the musical sound of Tirthan river flowing nearside. Since it was Offseason in September end, there was no rush of too many tents and I happily enjoyed the mesmerizing travel stories of few passionate travelers.

On the way, I met a wise old man being addressed as Mama Ji, whose favorite punch line was, “meethe meethe chalo (मीठे मीठे चलो)” means go slow and enjoy your trek.   

I liked walking with him for a while but when I clicked with him, he smilingly asked a strange question, “How many dollars will you get by selling my pictures?” Seeing me speechless, my local friend explained him in their native language of no such intention.

I also shared my trek with four carefree but decent Delhi guys, who were happier in their own company rather than enjoying nature to its fullest. They were rushing towards our final destination (a typical Delhi habit) and reached in 3.5 hours for which I rather took 5.5 hours—sitting around waterfalls, writing my experiences, talking to local villagers on the way.

2. Explore Local Culture – During Off-Season, locals are better with time and can comfortably sit with you for long hours to share their culture, their stories, and their food – which I loved the most.

 I was surprised to see young and old females carrying big weigh of grass on their back. Out of curiosity, on asking, came to know that this is for their animals; they cut from the nearby green hills, dry it in the sun before winters start so that to feed their animals during snow time.  It was a tough life for them.

 

3. Simplicity and Gesture – During my past few travels to Europe, I observed that people there smile often while crossing one-another on the road, which we don’t in India for our own good reasons. On this trekking, I tried smiling and greeting every person passing on the way. 

I was happily giving a chocolate to every child on meeting the way. At one such time, the mother of the child also returned her greetings and thankfulness by giving me an apple from her bag full of fruits and grocery items. Touched me.

4. Better Services in economy– During Offseason, charges for stay, food and other services are comparatively lesser with more choices. You can expect more personalized services because of less crowd of tourists. Lesser jam-packed places also facilitate you to relax better in a more tranquil environment.

5. Following Passion — I am following my passion for writing stories. It was perfect place and timings to be with myself and focus on getting ideas. A relaxed and a happy mind gives you surprising solutions and being close to Nature, ideas start fructifying. I managed to write few interesting plots and noted better ideas for my upcoming project.

Every beautiful travel destination is full of interesting stories. Visit there to find one which connects you with your true-Self…. or helps you to create one and live forever.

 

 

Vipassana – A Meditation Technique to Detoxify Mind…

Vipassana (विपश्यना) – means to see things as they really are, is one of India’s most ancient techniques of meditation. The entire practice is actually a mental training. Just as we use physical exercises to improve our bodily health, Vipassana can be used to develop a healthy mind. Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation.

On 3rd Oct, a mildly hot afternoon, I got off from Shatabadi at Dehradun Railway Station. After a further drive of an hour in a shared “thuk-thuk” (a locally modified autorickshaw), I reached Dhamma Salila – a meditation center, started by a world-renowned teacher Sh. S.N. Goekna Ji, — surrounded by hills and on the bank of rivulet “Noon”.

Facilities

Dehradun center is spread in 10acres of greenbelt with lots of trees and landscapes. It has two large Meditation halls for group meditation and dining halls and residential hostels for males and females to accommodate 100 students. One can also practice meditation in separate allocated small cells.

 

Vipassana Center at Dehradun

After completing my registration formalities for a 10-day Residential Meditation course and depositing my mobile and wallet, I happily checked in my 12*10 twin sharing hostel Room# M09, furnished modestly with two single beds, mattress with clean bedsheets, blankets, and pillows along with an attached bathroom.

There are no charges for this course – not even to cover the cost of food and accommodation. All the expenses are met by donations from previous students who benefitted enormously by these meditational techniques in their day-to-day life.

Group Meditation Hall at Dhamma Salila, Dehradun

Practice

We all have numerously heard … “Control your mind, Control your World”.

But I never knew how to do so. Never practiced it since my birth. We all talk and agree but No one, in general, knows how to achieve this.

What I experienced in 10days is “Vipassana is a technique to control and purify one’s mind”

Our mind does not want to be in-present. It wanders either in-past or in-future. Either in attachment or in aversion mode. It also requires something to work upon. Some activity, some thought. It never remains quite. Never stays calm. It chatters a lot. Always. So, this hyperactivity makes it restless at times — like a small, obnoxious child.

In this camp, we were 80 students (50 males and 30 females) who practiced these two meditation techniques to make our mind calm, focused, sharpened and purified from deformities.

Anna-Pan — The first three and a half days were devoted on Anna-Pan, a meditational technique to develop some mastery over the mind by learning to fix one’s attention on the flow of breath as it enters and leaves the nostrils – inhalation and exhalation. By the fourth day, my mind started getting calmer and a bit more focused.
Vipassana — From fourth to the tenth day, learning Vipassana technique, we were observing natural sensations happening in our body, understanding that these bodily sensations are not permanent in nature. They appear and disappear in due course of time. We were learning to develop equanimity and not to react to these sensations appear in our body thru our mind.

When someone insults us or makes us angry, it produces an unpleasant sensation in our body. By practicing Vipassana, we deeply train our mind in not reacting to these sensations since they are impermanence in nature. What is produced, will be expensed very soon.

Because of Attachment (राग) (what is of tasteful to our mind) and Aversion (द्वेष) (what is not of our taste), our mind attracts so many deformities (विकार) in the form of Anger, Lust, Greed, Hatred, Illusion which further create impurities in our mind and we helplessly and blindly react to various situation occurring in a day-to-day life.

We can control our mind – its impulsive reactions, its thinking and behavior patterns, by these techniques which strengthen us to take every situation equanimously.

All the students were also required to maintain “Noble Silence” during these 10days which mean No Talking, No Walking-together, No Eye-contact. The idea behind this silence is to turn inwards; to look inwards rather outwards for every answer.

Last day with Co-Meditators at Dehradun

 

 

My Experience

The course requires hard and serious work. Getting up at 4 a.m. and doing meditation practice for 12 hours every day (with breaks in-between) was certainly a big challenge physically and mentally for me (at least). Eating simple meals (Breakfast at 6.30am and Lunch at 11am) and maintaining complete silence was something I never dreamt off. But this expenditure of energy is not without a payoff…

Who should do this Course

Anyone who believes that a relaxed mind can do wonders; can help him/her focus and concentrate effectively on better and productive results. He/She must practice Anna-Pan and Vipassana – the age-old technique practiced by millions over centuries.

Life is to explore new possibilities. One must take this course at least once in a lifetime. It can give great and desired results only through persistent practice.

For more details on this course, please visit  https://www.dhamma.org/en-US/index

My take on Hindi Movie – Toilet – Ek Prem Katha

This social satire strikingly addresses one of the major and real issues of modern India. And the issue, as it seems from the title of the movie, is not just cleanliness or hygiene but our conservative approach towards life and social causes.

Traditional Indian Culture advocates Female First – their respect, their rights, and their choices should be given first priority. That’s why, in ancient India, girls were having the right to choose their husbands.  Marriage was not forced upon them. This practice was called Swayamvara (Sanskrit: स्वयंवर).

Swayam in Sanskrit means self and Vara means groom in this context.

After marriage, a bride was respected as a backbone and given all rights to govern her new home – as per her wishes, instincts, and learnings. She was given full charge of her new family and her husband’s parents used to get retired to lead a relaxed and spiritual life.

This systematic thought process and wonderful culture were hijacked by a few fearful, Orthodox and fanatic intellectuals, who were greedy for power and believed in exploitation. Their arrogance couldn’t understand the essence of our scriptures and simply manipulated to inculcate a new culture of suppression and dominance in our society which bound women to meekly adjust in every situation.

The core message of the movie doesn’t emphasize on only making Toilets in every home or village but to change this unrealistic approach which is spoiling human values and relationships in the name of tradition and culture.

This carefully written, finely directed and remarkably performed “Prem Katha” forces our mind to embrace the right perspective towards human Life, irrespective of gender.

And lastly, I loved this punch  – “No one fights until it gets personal.”

 

My inspiration to find the guiding beliefs of my life came from Koenig Ethos written beautifully by Mr. Rohit Aggarwal. He motivated me to explore the principles of my Life. I am not presenting anything new but 5 foundational beliefs which everyone will relate to.

Share your goodness

Nature has blessed everyone with few special qualities. These special strengths can be Knowledge, Money, Art, Skills, and Smiles. Touching the humanity with such empowered qualities truly fills us with sense-of-achievement and further beautifies our Universe. Every goodness can be invested in helping, supporting, and motivating others in achieving their dreams/worthy goals.

Live beautifully and help others too.

Healthy Body–Peaceful Mind–Sharpen Intelligence

Make a habit of doing Yoga (for a healthy body), Meditation (for a relaxing mind), and reading great personalities (to sharpen the intelligence). Yoga-Meditation-Reading helps us cultivate divine qualities – compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, calmness.

Only a healthy body complimented with a happy mind and practical intelligence can experience the beauties of this amazing Life.

Explore Yourself

We can’t experience the wealth of life, if we don’t know ourselves – our strengths, our tastes, our unexplored innate talent, our passion, our deep rooted goals and our role in contributing to this Universe.

Solo Travel helps us explore Nature. Being close to Nature intrinsically brings us close to our-self.

Develop at least one Hobby to Feel Good

Feeling good, feeling charged, feeling positive helps us love our life. Having one or two hobbies in the form of reading, cooking, travel, painting, writing, singing, playing a musical instrument, teaching, engaging in some social work enhances our feel-good-factor and make us vibrate the positive energy to one and all to produce what we are meant for.

Hobbies are tasks we perform simply to encourage ourselves and may not be for living.

Earn for Living

One needs to develop (and if possible, master), one skill which helps us earn reasonably well for our living or discharging our family/social responsibilities. Do save some portion to invest on exploring yourself.

Love Money and Make money loves you by spending wisely.

 

Please share your valuable insights on this blogpost….Happy Reading.

I was asked by my respected teacher Ms. Karishma Gaur, in one of the classes about a story behind my name Sanjay.

My father picked this name from the most profound epic Mahabharat where King’s special charioteer named Sanjay was blessed with the divine vision to watch and narrate the whole war Live, happening around 100 miles away from King’s palace.

This discussion on Mahabharat, made me remind a great Learning from the life of Arjun – a famous Worrier (of every battle), a distinguished Friend (of Lord Krishan), an adorable Husband (of Draupadi), a heroic Father (of Abhimanyu), a dependable Brother (of Yudhishthir), a profound Student (of Bhagavad Gita), and a dignified disciple (of Dronacharya).

Once, after completing a session in the art of archery, Arjun’s legendary Guru (teacher) Dronacharya had given a task to his disciples to shoot in the eye of a dummy parrot sitting on a branch of lush green Tree.

Before shooting the arrow, the teacher asked every participant, What is visible to them on that Tree?

Few students could notice objects like leafs, fruits, flowers on that mammoth Tree.

Some were able to spot the Bird itself.

Others were proudly seeing the Bird as well as various branches of that Tree full with greenery

But when asked Arjun, he replied humbly that he could Only See the Eye of that Bird, which was the given target to shoot at – and nothing else.

 

This highly focused attitude made him the only unbeatable worrier in this great epic –The Mahabharata.

Undivided Attention to our Goal – can do make us as successful and accomplished as Arjun-the unbeatable.

I have interacted with a number of successful CEOs and found this one quality in all of them – they are firmly focused on their Goal.

I will be happy to receive your valuable inputs on this….Happy Reading and Contemplating.

 

“An Idea can Change Our Life…..

We all have heard and experienced this popular yet authentic statement. A number of innovative businesses are based on one idea – an unparalleled idea that has stunned or mesmerized the world.

After duly reading and contemplating the lives of innovative businessmen – the first thing comes to my mind is – how an idea sprouts in one’s mind and not in others.

At times, even distinguished persons are not clear how a noteworthy idea has struck to them. They feel that Their-World-Changing idea came only thru divine arrangements and further supported by positive powers of this Almighty Universe.

I request you to give a thought and observe yourself. Surely like me, you will agree that an idea gets conceived when our mind is calm, clear, relaxed, happy, close to nature, interacting positive people, experiencing newness, visiting and exploring peculiar places, new cultures. And when we travel, we experience a few or all of these on different occasions.

Traveling to exotic locations is indeed very pleasing but the truth is, it is also quite hectic. Making travel arrangements is really a tedious job. Exploring new unknown places can be risky because of lack of desired facilities, lack of good company, like-minded people. Touring from one place to another really eats our energy and distracts our mind from focusing what is more important to us.

One such fascinating idea blessed to a gentleman’s prolific mind while he was facing similar issues during his passion for exploring the world and innovative ideas. He deeply realized the need for a competent team to address the pain areas of entrepreneurs/freelancers who wish to work placidly with best of facilities and incite their mind to hatch some great business ideas that can make their life – a truly fulfilling.

The man, Mr. Nishchal Dua – founder of The Remote Life, believes that every idea whose time has come to flourish, bestows from the Idea Galaxy, in the minds of those, who sincerely believe passing the benefits to every living entity in this universe.

The Remote Life is a concrete program that brings together professionals, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who wish to travel, live and work out of their traditional cubicles and in proximity to exotic and extrinsic beauties of nature.

Travel is freedom. The Remote Life is a reliable launching pad in making sure that nothing comes between us and our independence to explore the world filled with lots of exciting and rewarding ideas.

Their efforts and promptness, in filling the chasm, forgetting about traveling hassles and giving a feel of totally relaxed mind, are truly appreciating.

 

Wishing you a very Happy Journey because wonderful ideas will immerse in a happy mind, attracting them with full intensity.

Share your delightful experience to build a community of  Working Travelers Cartel…