The Brahma Viharas remind us that we already have what we need to live with love, compassion, joy, and balance. Practicing these qualities together during the retreat was a powerful experience, reconnecting us to our innate goodness and shared humanity.

Operationalizing pause is to build intentional pauses into daily workflows, decision-making processes, and routines to promote reflection, alignment, and wise action. It means embedding structured moments of pauses into systems—whether through specific techniques, checkpoints, or habits—so that pausing becomes part of the way the individual functions, rather than an afterthought.

I left the Everest Base Camp with a sense of accomplishment, not just for reaching the destination, but for the journey of self-discovery that unfolded along the way. It was a journey that reminded me that sometimes, the most profound changes occur when we decide to reach for new heights, both within ourselves and in the world around us.

Forgiveness is a powerful act of letting go of negative emotions, resentment, and anger toward those who have wronged us. It’s about choosing to move forward without seeking revenge or punishment, and instead, focusing on acceptance, understanding, and letting go of the emotional burden caused by the wrongdoing. By doing so, we free ourselves from pain and move toward healing and peace.

With clarity, confidence, and conviction in our choices, we can find the balance we need to navigate our personal and professional lives successfully. However, balance isn't a static state - both internal and external factors can shift it in unexpected ways. Sometimes, the choices we need to make become unavailable or present new risks that require careful consideration. In this situation, we always have one choice: not to turn this event into misery. Instead, we can choose to stay calm and present in the moment, accepting what is happening without losing our sense of inner peace. This is what we call equanimity.

Compassion is an empathetic emotional response to another person’s pain or suffering that moves people to act in a way that will either ease the person’s condition or make it more bearable.

Mark Farrer-Brown and I are coaches who share a passion to help teams realize their potential. Psychological Safety is that superpower which will help your team and company win. Mark and I are collaborating with a goal to build psychologically safe organizations and thriving cultures.

While compassion and self-compassion have existed as practices for well-being, happiness, resilience, and balance for thousands of years, the last three decades have researched them well, confirming their continued value today. Compassion and self-compassion are similar in the fact that both have two components to it: kindness and action. They are different in orientation where compassion is directed at others and self-compassion is directed at oneself. Compassion for others is the feeling that rises when you see another being’s suffering, resulting in motivation and a desire to help. Self-compassion is that feeling towards the self and helping the self. 

Life is giving us a chance to hit the brakes, pause and re-calibrate ourselves. There will be time soon to hit the throttle again. I want to bet that with the pause and the time to reflect; we will choose to drive our life differently. Maybe, not as much of a rush to the finish line! We will have more appreciation and regard for the nature that we are an integral part of! With such a close encounter with the virus, we will be closer to ourselves than we have ever dared to.

COVID-19 has  brought the world upside-down including mine. Our state has been hit particularly hard. There is a consistent stream of bad news that keeps getting worse. Given the nature of the situation, emotional well-being is extremely hard. It requires discipline and extra effort.

The affirmations (most of them as short poems) I wrote over the years, are now a part of this book.

The best improve scenes were the ones where the rapport and real-time collaboration between the performers was its finest. I learnt this first-hand from a mistake. In our scene, the cue from the audience was skate-board. As my partner pulled a chair, and pretended to put on the skates, I asked her what she was doing. She said she was putting skates on. I said, they were not skates. From then, we were in recovery mode. Luckily for us, it came out quite funny in the end. However, the cardinal rule of improve is that you don’t say NO. It is always building on ‘Yes, and…’, which builds the flow.

On the fifth day of challenge, I gave up. I took on this challenge as I thought it would be easy. There was so much stuff I had accumulated over the years, so getting rid of it will be no issue. The invitation was for a 30-day Minimalist Challenge from my friend, Barbara. I accepted the challenge.

The rewards of practicing gratitude for my own self are evident. Instead of taking things for granted, it has prepared me much better for ups and downs; which is what real life is. It has helped me find the silver lining in any situation.