Only those who have a Spirit of  Inquiry can keep things exciting. Else life becomes mundane and we have to seek external stimulants to ring in excitement, which is a shame as these stimulants cannot keep us excited very long and we move from listlessness to listlessness, broken by a few fleeting moments of artificially induced excitement. But be warned that the ‘Spirit of Inquiry’ is also addictive too!

Following on my post about exploring the self through November, I am very happy to be part of the journey with some like-minded individuals. Our journeys are always alone in parallel universes. In saying we are together, we only hope to learn from each other’s realizations.

So here are some simple steps we shall follow through November 2016 and record our experiences.

Step I – Sadhana (Nurture the energy within)

20 minutes of Yoga (Padma Sadhana or any other simple yoga sequence – See the Padma Sadhana sequence here if not familiar with it. It starts at 2:25 minutes of this video and will take not more than 20 minutes – https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_3k1kEW4z-I)

20 minutes of Meditation. If you haven’t meditated for a while and are unsure how to do it, use one of the meditations on the Sattva App – https://www.sattva.life/apps  (You can precede the meditation by Sudarshana Kriya if possible for a better experience overall)

Step II – Swadhyaya (Self Inquiry)

5 minutes reading an inspiring post (Here are some options from  Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s knowledge posts. You can pick up a topic a day from the hundreds of options – http://www.artofliving.org/knowledge-sheets).

Or choose some other sources hat interests you. Once you read a short post, contemplate on how you will apply it during the day. Every moment from then on is an opportunity for you to reflect on how the point of wisdom is applicable in your life.

For e.g. I read one today on ‘Mistakes’ today which is crudely summarized below – “Don’t point out mistakes when a person knows he has made a mistake. Don’t point out mistakes when a person doesn’t want you to know about his mistake. Talk about a mistake only when a person is totally unaware of the mistake. And to correct the mistake use both authority and love in the right balance, being totally centred. Talk about the mistake not because it bothers you, but for their sake so they can grow.” This is a difficult one I find because especially in our relationships whether at work or at home, we correct because we are annoyed and  it doesn’t work. The other person becomes defensive and we go nowhere in our attempt to bring change.

The idea of this exercise is to become very aware of what is happening inside of us through the day. Anchor your awareness to a simple point of wisdom  each day.

Step III – Change the world outside of you

Pick up a project for November that you think is important  to you at this point in time. It could be something that you have wanted to do at work or at home, something professional or personal. Even better if it is something that you find really challenging presently for whatever reason and don’t know how to even get it started.

Soon after Steps I and II every day, contemplate on what steps you might take that day towards this project. We will explore how our journey of awareness affects what we want to do. Become aware of expectations that come up!  During November don’t judge your progress. Go with the flow, being sincere to taking at least one step every day however big or small.

For example, my project is to explore how I can start delivering corporate workshops in Singapore, a project that I have been wanting to take on for a while, but have found immensely challenging to focus on. Today I ran into a friend who set me thinking on various ideas of networking to progress this initiative. I had no expectation I would end up talking about this project with him. It was a casual lunch. But the fact that I made a resolve to initiate this project led me to events conducive to progressing this initiative.

I am excited about where November might lead me on this journey with all you folks. I am open to possibilities!!