Understanding Positive Attitude

(Attitude – Part 1)

An attitude, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary website, "is a mental position with regard to a fact or state; a feeling or emotion toward a fact or state."

The dictionary goes on to state that the word "positive" can be used as "having a good effect; favorable; marked by optimism."

When you demonstrate a positive attitude, therefore, you are optimistic and expect favorable outcomes. A positive attitude can impact every aspect of your life.

Benefits of a Positive Attitude:

* People who maintain a positive approach to life situations and challenges will be able to move forward more constructively than those who become stuck in a negative attitude.

* Mental and physical health can be improved by learning how to hold a positive state of mind.

* Ability to handle stress: When people have a positive attitude they do not perceive stress as intensely dangerous or as difficult as they would if they had a more negative attitude. In short, having a positive attitude provides improved coping skills when you are faced with challenges or adversity.

* Optimistic people can envision success and therefore are able to achieve goals.

People are naturally drawn to others with happy, cheerful dispositions so friendships and relationships are easier to develop.

* There are correlations between a positive attitude and the body's immune system. Optimism can play a part in helping the body fight off illness and disease.

Creating a Positive Attitude

One way is to catch yourself when you are having a negative thought and form a new positive script in response.

One can convert bad stress into good stress through your thoughts. Instead of feeling "stressed out," turn the situation into an exciting opportunity for growth and achievement. Learning the power of a positive attitude can make your life more manageable and fulfilling.

Patience - A Virtue or a Vice?

Patience – A Virtue..

Patience is not just sitting around doing nothing. Instead, the Greek word we translate as “patience” actually means “hopeful endurance.” Or, another way of defining it is “expectant waiting.”

Example One: This kind of patience is akin to waiting on tables – with God as our customer.

* In this mode, we stand by keeping a close watch on God’s table, waiting to take His order the moment that He is ready.

* In this mode, we stand by keeping a close watch on God’s table, waiting to take His order the moment that He is ready.

* And then we burst into action to ensure that His order is implemented quickly and effectively.

Example Two: Another analogy that describes this kind of expectant waiting is that of a commander of a military unit in war time waiting for the General’s orders to spring into action.

* As the troops wait, they do not sit idly by twiddling their thumbs.

* Instead, they spend their time in constant training for the upcoming action and in maintaining their equipment.

* This is called a state of readiness that takes a lot of work to maintain even as they await their marching orders.

Patience – A Vice..

Conventional wisdom holds that leaders exercise patience. It is said to be a mark of maturity and the path to lucid, maximally informed decisions.

But this is a grave misreading of an important principle. It’s meant as a caution against impulsivity, not a general rule favoring timidity of thought and action.

Patience is not a virtue in leadership. It’s a vice. An addiction fueled by risk aversion, political correctness, self-preservation, and the timeless bureaucratic preference for slow, status-quo protective, lumbering organizational behavior. When these things predominate, patience is often touted as the legitimate mask for many illegitimate pretexts.

A patient bureaucracy will never retain its best people, because it will be too satisfied with itself. This will make it disinclined to accommodate the sought-after latitude of those driven by genuine zeal to improve and advance all they touch … those who are, by their nature, innovators who want to lead their own self-constructed systems and own the results. 

Ask yourself … when’s the last time someone innovated effectively through bureaucratic means? When’s the last time someone designed a novel tactic because they were being “patient?” Now ask the opposite questions. The answers tend to reveal a lot.

One of the hardest things to do in a bureaucracy is to kill a rule … because every rule has an attached constituency that will fight to maintain it. The energy spent fighting rules — most often in vain — is not spent innovating, meaning our best people are focused internally rather than externally.  This explains how enemies are time and again able to surprise us. They make better use of their intellectual energy than we do. Patience is the vice keeping us enslaved in this cycle of entropy. We’re too patient with that which deserves to be destroyed, with prejudice, on the basis of common sense and operational necessity.

George Granville remarked that “patience is the virtue of an ass, who treads beneath his burden and complains not.” He was right. Patience is not a virtue.  It’s a vice. A vice that dampens our zeal to trample mediocrity and charge towards excellence in what we do

How to beat the Illusion of Limitations

Milind Soman participated in the three-day event held on February 17-19, 2017 and went on to win this extremely difficult physical endurance test by travelling 517.5 kilometers barefoot. Ultraman Florida is a three-day athletic endeavour guaranteed to test an athlete’s physical and mental limits.

(Excerpts from a Blog by Steve Bloom)

When you have reached your limits you:

* Do the same things over and over again

* Never see any better results

* Feel as if you’ve reached your highest level

* Struggle to push yourself past it

Definition of Limitation: They are your brain being uncomfortable with territory it’s unfamiliar with.

The truth is that limitations are an illusion.  They appear real, but fade away when you examine them more closely.

Here are some ways to break through the illusion called limitation:

* See through your limitation: It’s easier to see the illusion of limitations once you’ve passed them.  Look back on another time in your life when you did something you never thought you could do.

* Remember that doing the same things gets you nowhere: Sometimes a limitation appears to be there simply because of your approach.  Simply put: do the same things and you’ll see the same results. Change it up.  Increase the pressure and keep going past the point when you think you should stop.

* Train yourself to ignore limiting thoughts: Train your body to take over when your mind is negative.  Your body doesn’t tell you what you can’t do, it’s only there to act. That makes it perfect to overcome limiting thoughts. Want to finish running a marathon, but your mind is telling you to quit? Train your body to keep going.

P.S.: Link to the source blog: http://dosomethingcool.net/beat-illusion-limitations/

Foot Notes:

Ponder upon the following in the above context: ISRO’s Achievement, Konkan Railway Feat

Importance of Struggle

(Excerpts from an article in HT titled ‘Parents should realise importance of struggle in life of their children’)

* I drive down the same route through an urban village to my office every day. In the mornings, an old man carries a packet of grain and pours a fistful under a tree. How nice of him to leave grain for the birds, I think. Then comes an afterthought: The birds will soon be conditioned to finding grain under the tree. Then, over time, they will forget how to look for their own food. Ultimately, they will lose the desire to work for their food. What happens when one day the old man dies and there is no grain under the tree? Why does the old man give grains to the bird? Is it his need to do ‘good’? Is it his protective instincts towards something he feels is helpless?

* Many would have heard the story of the boy who helped the butterfly out of the cocoon by cutting it because he felt very concerned seeing the butterfly struggle. The butterfly emerges with a swollen body and shriveled wings and tries to fly but is unable to and crawls for the rest of its life. The struggle out of the cocoon was necessary to push the fluid to the wings and make the wings strong enough for it to fly. By helping the butterfly, the little boy made it dependent for life.

* Dr Mark D Seery, a professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo under the State University of New York, did a study in 2010 to see how low levels of adversity could impact a person’s coping skills and emotional stability as opposed to no adversity. He concluded that adversity can help people develop a “psychological immune system” to help them cope with the slings and arrows that life throws, while those with no experience of adversity may have a hard time dealing with tough times. The one thing we can be sure of in life is that there will be adversity and struggle. The nature of that adversity may change over generations, but it will be there.

* Many mothers stand in waiting while their kids study, ensuring their every need is taken care of so that they can fully concentrate on their studies. Life’s not like that. Chances are that our attention will be required in multiple areas at the time of our most busy and important working period. Most of us would be able to recall times when we have been stretched in multiple directions and everything was urgent and important. No angel turns up to take care of everything else while we take care of one thing. The only angel is our will power and emotional stability. Getting our children to do some work and take care of their own needs independently while studying for exams will prepare them better and help them learn prioritisation and multi-tasking.

* We fail to realise that it is the trek up the mountain that makes us a winner versus simply arriving at the summit. As Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher said, “What will not kill me will make me stronger”. We need to expose our children to struggle so that they become strong and when adversity strikes, which it will, they won’t need us to save them.

P.S.: Link to the HT Article: http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/parents-should-realise-importance-of-struggle-in-life-of-their-children/story J5uXrV80L2yFuJMt8vzWUL.html

Difference between Reaction, Response and Retaliation

(Excerpts from a ToI Blog titled ‘A Surgical Act!’)

When India conducted surgical strikes on Pakistan, we responded, reacted and retaliated in perfect measure.

Right after the Uri attack, the sharp statements and international stance our government took was our immediate reaction. Then came a studied response in the shape of diplomatic measures. What followed was retaliation – in the shape of a well-thought out, precise punishment.

What then is the difference between response, reaction and retaliation? I would say timing makes all the difference! Reaction is immediate and could be knee-jerk and cause more harm than good. As such, it is to be guarded against. Response is more thought-through and considered. You have most probably taken time and considered all angles before responding. And then comes the time to retaliate. Retaliation can be extremely effective if it is intelligently thought through and – well, surgical!

P.S.: Link to the ToI Blog: http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/O-zone/a-surgical-act/

Check out the infographics for a little more on this topic!

Honesty

Pointers on Honesty

Honesty refers to a facet of moral character and connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, and straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, etc. Furthermore, honesty means being trustworthy, loyal, fair, and sincere.

Honesty is important because it creates peace of mind and promotes relationships of trust. The benefits of honesty extend to personal health, relationships and society at large. The opposite, lying, leads to distrust, conflict, corruption and anxiety.

"Honesty is the best policy" is a proverb of Benjamin Franklin; however, the quote "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom" is attributed to Thomas Jefferson, as used in a letter to Nathaniel Macon.

A dishonest man may have some advantage for the time being. But he soon realizes his mistakes. A dishonest man is a curse to society. He ruins the whole system of society.

In a nutshell, honesty is the best policy means that it is best to be honest. This proverb can be traced to philosophical ideas. For instance in his work ‘Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals’, Immanuel Kant came up with the categorical imperative. This principle means that we should act in the way we would like all human beings to act.

Editorial Round-Up

Barriers for Disabled

26.8 million disabled in India

Physically challenged girl was made to climb two dozen stairs to reach her seat in a government exam hall

MPHRC has sought an explanation from MPPSC

Our built environment is notoriously disabled unfriendly (Exception: Delhi Metro)

ATMs, Cinema Halls, Monuments, Government Buildings – Not disabled friendly

Even though India was the first major nation to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

PM’s Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan (Accessible India Campaign): Launched 2015; at least 50% government buildings disabled friendly and the development of an index to measure the design of disabled-friendly buildings. But its implementation has been sluggish at best.

Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act 2016 has been amended to include private firms which have to ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with barrier-free access in buildings, transport systems and public infrastructure.

The revised National Building Code of India should incorporate elements of universal design to bring down barriers for the disabled.

Once the physical barriers for the disabled begin to go, prejudices against them will follow.

(177 Words)

Further Proof that Pollution Kills

New international report: The State of Global Air 2017

Prepared by two US-based health research institutes

India’s poor air quality causes nearly 1.1 million premature deaths every year, almost on par with China

India has recorded a nearly 50% increase in premature deaths linked to PM2.5; it is the most significant inhalable pollutant

Pollution in New Delhi in November reached crisis levels, with crop burning, car exhaust, dust and coal plants blamed for the record smog

India’s problem is that it is --- and will remain for years to come --- a coal-based economy

Pollution travels hundreds of kilometers: Need national, regional and city-level action plans with measurable targets

IARI proposed steps to convert agro-waste into useful products such as enriched fodder, biogas, biofuel, compost and so on, little progress has been made

Govt has not been able to supply affordable seeder machinery in sufficient numbers to eliminate the need to remove the straw

India produces 500 MT/year of crop residues; the issue needs to be addressed in mission mode

Easy access to cheap solar cookers and biogas plants will also cut open burning

India’s clean-up priorities need to shift gear urgently, covering both farm and city.

(197 Words)

EC must scrap ban on Exit Polls

Issue: Arrest of editor of the online edition of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran for publishing an exit poll for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh elections

The root of this trouble is the EC’s prohibition of exit polls. The EC believes the results of such polls influence voting behaviour during an election that plays out in multiple phases

Whether exit polls would outweigh the complex calculations voters have is debatable. But even if it is conceded that exit polls influence voting behaviour, why is that a bad thing? Leaders’ speeches and rallies influence voting behaviour. So does advertising. Should these be banned?

The EC should remove the ban.

Such polls will create one additional source of information, remove a gag on media and create a market for opinion.

Democracy gives us choices: let the EC not curb one of them.

(140 Words)

Using municipal bonds to bolster city finances

The news that Pune is getting ready to launch the biggest Indian municipal bond issue needs to be welcomed—but with caution.

The Isher Judge Ahluwalia committee on urban infrastructure had estimated in its 2011 report that Indian cities would collectively need to invest around Rs40 trillion in the two decades to 2031. Some 600 million Indians will be living in cities by then.

Extant Finance Options:

City revenue is less than 1% of GDP. And the share of own revenue in city budgets has been declining consistently.

The net result is that cities do not have adequate financial autonomy

Cities depend heavily on money passed to them from either the national or the state governments.

A robust municipal bond market could be part of the answer.

Need for Caution:

First, bonds are merely a way to collect money today based on revenue to be generated tomorrow. They are not a substitute for city revenue.

Second, India has had a dark history of sub-national governments raising money from bond investors for specific projects but then diverting the money for other uses.

The new municipal bond regulations released by the SEBI in 2016 do deal with many of the problems that we have discussed. (Implementation Required)

India may need to create an agency that is ready to take some of the risk out of municipal bonds—through market making, credit enhancement and underwriting.

Other Measures:

Cities need to generate more revenue as well as get more untied funds from the money collected through the new GST tax.

And to pull this all together will require city administrations that are empowered. Having directly elected mayors is an idea whose time has arrived.

(280 Words)

Sasikala Convicted. Now Focus on Governance

General Studies: II & IV

Topic: Electoral Reforms & Political Propriety

Publication: The Hindu; HT; IE; TT 

Sasikala Convicted. Now Focus on Governance

Why are we discussing this Issue?

Recently the Supreme Court of India brought an end to a two-decade-old disproportionate assets case filed against the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, her aide VK Sasikala, Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi. The two-judge apex court bench convicted Sasikala and the two to four years in prison and Rs 10 crore each.

Main Message from this Issue:

The Supreme Court verdict is good news on many counts:

As Justice Amitava Roy wrote in his concurring order, “corruption is a vice of insatiable avarice for self-aggrandisement by the unscrupulous, taking unfair advantage of their power and authority.”

The most important is that it sends the message that the law will catch up with those who indulge in financial irregularities, no matter how powerful and politically well connected they are.

Questions raised by this judgement:

While there is no denying that the judgment has strengthened confidence in the justice delivery system, it is mystifying that the ruling has come more than eight months after the two-member Bench concluded hearing arguments in the case.

Suggestions for Improvement:

For AIADMK and Tamil Politics:

The crisis in the AIADMK presents itself as an opportunity for the party to shed its inheritance of leader-centric politics for a leadership that is more plural and decentralised.

The party’s founder, M.G. Ramachandran, and his successor, Jayalalithaa, built the party as an extension of their persona. They refused to groom a second line of leadership, which has contributed to the crisis the party has had to face after the death of MGR in 1987 and, Jayalalithaa in December last year. The present power struggle in the party could, in its best version, help push leaders from the grassroots to centrestage.

Until the emergence of the MGR phenomenon, electoral politics in Tamil Nadu was more a battle of ideas and ideologies and less a confrontation of leaders. But from the 1980s, state politics became a polarised battle between Jayalalithaa and DMK patriarch, M. Karunanidhi.

Political parties must look outside the tropes and leadership models of the past decades and embrace a more modern idiom capable of addressing new social and economic challenges facing the state.

Way Ahead

Now that the Supreme Court has given its order, it is time to focus on governance. But for that to happen, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao must end the political stalemate and administrative uncertainty in the state. He must appoint the leader of AIADMK’s legislature party as chief minister and ask him to face a floor test in the assembly.

Alternative View Point:

The democratically most apposite course is to hold fresh elections straight away, rather than to inflict on the people of Tamil Nadu the straggling legacy of a mandate whose legitimacy has been drained out of it by the Supreme Court ruling.

While that would be the right thing to do, it would fall foul of technical propriety, which demands, in the face of a live, elected House, to choose a chief minister from among the legislators. The governor should let the legislators do precisely that, without batting for the Centre.