Harmonizing with Time and Nature
Doing things with least effort but with maximum results

In life, especially in our jobs or chosen vocations and careers, we sometimes experience sorrow, encounter problems or come under extreme pressures in our day-to-day activities because we do not realize that we are not aligning ourselves and what we do with time, nature and most especially, with God.

 

5 Essential Ingredients of Success
1. Patience
2. Detachment
3. Partnership
4. Balance
5. Time

 

1. Patience - The willingness to work with the process of growth.
Good and positive things are not always attained immediately and automatically. It requires time and process. Sometimes, we have to act fast, but there are times that we also have to wait. Waiting involves a process. What we miss sometimes are the spiritual benefits which we can get while waiting.

The act of waiting is a process that creates a space for time, ideas, good past experiences and for God to come and occupy that space. You will be amazed that what comes is sometimes much better than the one we are waiting for. So, learn to wait. Be more patient and do not become a patient of your doctor, or worst, a paying patient in one of the very expensive hospitals in the vicinity. Relax and do something productive and think of something positive while waiting. It shields you from irritation and prevents you from getting angry.

Working with force works, no doubt about it. But the results are half-baked, so our feeling of accomplishment is not complete. When we force the issue, sometimes, we hurt the person himself. It is said that if every inch of success is gained through a battle or conflict, the victory is hollow and bitter.

We may have won the argument but what is the use of winning it if we have lost a relationship in the process. It may not only our relationship with a fellow member, a business partner, a co-worker, a friend or relative but it could be the very relationship we have with our parents, spouse or children.

 

2. Detachment - Success in achieving the results comes from learning to let people and things go and to let situations be. This is achieved through detachment. Being detached means not forgetting our responsibility and accountability towards our work or job and the relationship with our co-workers too. We should always remember that in our jobs, it is very difficult to perform a task without considering our relationship with our co-workers.

We must certainly do our assigned task, but we become should not become so attached to the “doing” and we sometime forget the “being”. Our attachment or desire for the result limits the success of the end result of the work that we perform as it robs away the purity of our intention in doing the action. We can let the situation go and allow the people to be. Why do we have to hurt ourselves by attaching ourselves to people and situation?
How then do we detach and let go? When we do something and do not have the desire to be recognized, what is basically working actively is the “being” side and not the “doing” side of ourselves. If nobody recognizes us, then God will, and that is the spiritual side. We are happy. We feel good with what we did. It does not matter what other people say about us. It is between me and God anyway.

Being detached means being carefree about the outcome. But not careless, knowing that I have done my best. We still care for the person and for our assigned task but we do not allow ourselves to be affected by the person’s attitude and behavior or by any negative thing, especially, if it will distract us and eventually make us lose our focus and attention from our main purpose and objective.

 

3. Partnership - Real success in what we do is always based on:

A. Our partnership with people - Recognizing not only our roles but also those of others. We can only effectively cooperate with people and also win their cooperation if we will not only recognize their roles but most of all respect them and the tasks they are assigned to do. To respect the position held by a person in an organization is easy but to respect the person and/or his or her tasks requires extra effort. In partnership, there is respect and ownership and this brings better relationship and success in the assigned task.

B. Our partnership with nature - Understanding and aligning our self and our work with nature. This means knowing when to step in and move forward and when to wait and move backward. Some people who understand this very well make a step forward and two steps backward. This means thinking twice as much than acting out the plan.

We have the tendency to do things against nature. When I was a young hard headed boy, my parents would tell me not to go out of the house because it was raining and there is lightning and I might get sick or struck. I did not heed my mother’s call, I caught cold and fever and got sick.

C. Our partnership with God - Doing our work in full remembrance of God and offering the fruits of our labor to Him and to no one else. If we offer the fruits of our work to a human being with the purpose of pleasing the person instead God, we might be exposing ourselves to unnecessary feeling of disappointment due to possible rejection from this person. If we please God, God will certainly be pleased with us also.

If we always consider everything we do as work, then, it becomes heavy. But if we change our consciousness and consider it as service to our self, to God, to our family and to the community, then, the load becomes light. Let us do the same with our children, parents and brothers and sisters. Let us consider our parental, brotherly and sisterly responsibility as service and not a responsibility and living and relating with them with unconditional love and and I can assure you that we will all experience lightness and happiness.

 

4. Balance – It is harmony and order. It is a state and condition of peace in work and at workplace. Balance also means to be lawful but not dogmatic, to be contented but not complacent, to be determined but flexible and always balance silence with sweet words.

It is to know and truly understand the difference between an “effortmaker” and being just a “laborer”.

An Effortmaker A Laborer
I want to do it I Have to do it
With pleasure With pressure
Counts attainments Counts disappointments
Gives full attention Waits for recognition
I love to do it It is my duty and obligation

In performing a task, “worry” means thinking more and doing nothing; “concern” means doing more, thinking less and problem is talking more, thinking less and doing nothing. It is alright to be concerned with things and people but do not worry about them. It is said that our problems are created 3 to 4 feet below our hips and all the solutions are found 6 to 8 inches above our heads. All we have to do is just to access the spiritual powers up there, nearer to God. On a lighter side, they also say that all the problems in the world have solutions. But if you find one that has no solution, do not make it problem. Forget it.

5. Time -It is a human creation. We make and create time to suit our needs and wants. Time is not our master. We are the masters of time. We may subscribe to time management but we must also practice “mastery” of time. We all have the tendency to force things before their time and we all know that we cannot do it without facing the consequence which normally comes in the form of pressure. Time has its own seasons and there is great magic in understanding the mystery of time and its mastery too.

 

The Clock
The clock hanging on the wall is not time. It tells you the time but it is not time. Likewise, the thing wrapped on your wrist is not also time. It is a timepiece but still is not time. It is called a watch. It is there for you to watch time and we all know that we can only watch but not catch time, or hold or even stop time.

Both the clock and the watch are just there to represent and reflect the passage of events and experiences. Truly, time is life. Time is us. If time is life, then, we do not want to waste it, much more to lose it. We are all supposed to be the masters of time, not the slaves of it. We cannot and we can never go against time without suffering the consequences of our decision to go against it. The first physical manifestation of going against time is pressure.

 

Success Traps
Recorded patterns which block the opportunity for achieving success with ease and on time:

1. Following someone else’s truth - Know your own truth. Know your own true north.
We tend to live with someone else's life and identity, thus forgetting to live our own. Never lose our own identity when we idolize or admire somebody. Let us create our own identity and let everyone follow us, not us following others. Be creative, natural, original and most of all true to yourself. Again, would you rather be the good version of yourself or the best version of somebody else? His or her option, your decision.

 

2. Trying to find an atmosphere with low stress level - Let us do our best to change these patterns of constantly running away. If left unchecked, these might become bad habits. We are the only ones who can determine, design and create our own atmosphere, our very own circles of influence and comfort zones. Grass may not be always greener in other places. But the right place is always within us, not outside us. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we create our own atmosphere and environment. We always carry our own weather.

Some of us, employees, have the tendency or habit of transferring from one company to another thinking that it is always better and the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. It is not the workers and the company where we came from and where we transferring to and which will change and make our stay good. It is us and it is always within us all the good things that we want and we have been looking for in a company. We make our own reality..

3. Trying to control the uncontrollable - The past belongs to memory and it is better for it be consigned to history and memory or to the waste disposal unit of the city Government. The present is a gift of time and the future is just a mere fraction of a second of the present..

Do not attempt to change the past or the attitudes and behaviors of other people, much more, to control them. You definitely are bound to fail, get disappointed and hurt your feelings and that of the other person you are trying to control or change. The more comfortable and effective way is to just to change yourself, your attitude and perception towards the person. It's safer and not offensive. Make your own mind your business and do not mind other people's business.

 

God Centeredness
We must strive to be self conscious and God-centered, not systems, organization and or leader oriented. We can only rise with Him because He is constant, consistent, stable, immovable and unshakeable. Humans have all the weaknesses and frailties and by their impurities, they are easily tempted and fall down from their pedestals of power.

I was once an active and very committed member of one of the religious organizations in our place. I was a very obedient member. I could not help but to admire our leader, short of idolizing him and that was a very big mistake I realized later. He was an ideal and true charismatic leader. I thought he was, until one day, I saw him gambling and I lost my respect for him. With it, I also lost my membership in the organization and I resigned. I fell with my leader. Walk the talk and talk the walk as they say. My favorite leader failed in this.

 

The Real Truth
We should only choose the truth that belongs to our belief system and weed out those that do not. Once our belief system or set of principles is based on that truth and it is firmly anchored on a very strong ground, nothing can ever shake it. We must always strive to believe and have faith in ourselves so that when something happens, we only have ourselves to blame or to congratulate. The real truth is our own truth which we can always stand firm with. It is not and it cannot be the truth of other people. It must always be our own truth and that of God’s, nothing more.

 

Get out of the Box
Do not allow yourself to choke. Inhale and exhale fresh air. Customs and traditions are things of the past. They sometimes kill one’s creativity and enthusiasm. Just like morality, traditions are human creations, not God’s. We follow them out of safety and comfort. Since morality is also not God’s creation, its standard changes from one culture to another. If we are always inside the box, we can only see the four corners of the box and nobody can see us.. Tradition creates antiquity, not creativity.

The Intuition and Transformation Blocker
Tradition blocks our intuition. If we keep on sticking with our old practices, which are no longer adaptable to the present and ever changing times, we will always be lagging behind in whatever we plan to do to reach our destination. Let us all respect our traditions. They helped us and they were with us when we needed them most. But we should not become too sentimental to allow our traditions to block our paths for change and transformation.

 

Don’t be Opinionated
Opinions are our very own and not of others. Once we have given, shared and expressed them, we must let go of them or else we will be wasting our precious time and energy defending them. In the process of defending its worth, and without knowing it, we are already proving them to be half truth. In doing that, we sometimes hurt the feelings of other people. In meetings and during heated discussions on certain issues, if one of the proponents or protagonists attaches the personality of the other to the issue, this will be the cause of unnecessary rifts and conflicts between them and among their respective ranks. Again, just a friendly reminder. You may go against the issue but not the person.

Harmonize, Don’t Antagonize
Make sincere and extra effort to constantly live in the present and enjoy it as a gift from God. Savor the blessings of “Here and Now “. We cannot go against time, nature and God without suffering the consequences of our actions. Aligning and/or re-aligning ourselves with these three aspects of life is a much better alternative to take.

We can decide not to be pressured in our jobs in particular and in our lives in general. To relax and be at peace with ourselves is a decision we have to make at all times, at all costs. They are not even options in a silver platter being offered by our employers and by this pressure laden world. Pressures and pleasures are both parts of the dualities of life. It always remains to be our choice to live a longer and a more pleasurable life.

Below are firm statements I read and copied in one of the books or magazines. I forgot the author and whoever he or or she may be, I would like to recognize him or her for this great article if I may call it as one. God bless this beautiful soul To give the author justice for this beautiful gift, it is nice to ask your employees or members to recite these statements with conviction with you together. Just change the title or position if need arises to fit in.

I, the Soul
I, the soul, am an employee and a partner, one with this company. As the thought, so is the result. By becoming an employee and a partner of this company and in accepting this job and responsibility, I am fully aware that it is not merely a commitment but an act that establishes a relationship that goes far beyond recognition and/or receiving a salary in exchange for doing my job or performing my task. It implies being viewed as an individual, different and distinct from other employees of the company. It means above all, personal relationship.

I, the soul, am an employee and a partner, one with this company. As the thought, so is the result. In working and in performing my assigned task, it is not just a commitment between the company and myself but an undertaking between two loyal individuals who will give loyalty and take loyalty from one another. It is a relationship akin among family members to one another. Both can and may claim and demand loyalty, obedience, respect, trust and diligence from each other but spare all efforts to ensure that all their respective needs are adequately met. In putting forth my best efforts, I do not think and feel that I am working hard, to please my superior and owners or to build up the company and to be recognized and receive an award. The truth is, I am really working for myself while enjoying the nature of my work as I offer the fruits of my labor to God and to no one else.

I, the soul, am an employee and a partner, one with this company. As the thought, so is the result. In staying with this company, I am bound by my personal commitment to transform and create in my workplace, a stable, harmonious and humane environment that will realize my creative potential, promote great productivity and energize my co-employees to finally attain the “ good life “ that we have long been seeking for.

I, the soul, am an employee and a partner, one with this company. As the thought, so is the result. In living in this physical and material world, I envision myself to be the “head” in uplifting the company’s strongly held values and beliefs and enable me to” lead” others to regain and retain a “bead” in the spiritual rosary of life. Life in the corporate world is like a hand. My job, the company, my co-worker and the owners are the four fingers, yet it is only when I consider myself as the fifth finger that the five fingers will work as one. Whatever my hand and the hand of the institution put into SUCCEEDS LIKE MAGIC!

“As I came so I shall leave “

 

Disclaimer:
The contents of this book is based on my own interpretation and personal experiences and does not reflect the opinion of my sources of materials and information.

Sources of materials and inspirations:
Brahma Kumaris including its books, tapes, DVD’s, CD’s, etc.
Brahma Kumaris Teachers and Students
Dadi Janki
Sis. Jayanti
Self Managing Leadership
Brian Bacon
Mike George
Purity Magazine