Srikumar Rao

“Acceptance does not mean that you placidly acquiesce to the myriad injustices that are all around you. In fact, that you are incensed about these injustices is the very reason you need to try your level best to 'right' these 'wrongs.'”

“Galileo got it wrong. The earth does not revolve around the sun. It revolves around you and has been doing so for decades. At least, this is the model you are using.”

“When you try to bring about behavioral change by an effort of will, you actually do violence to yourself, and the chances are very good that you will not succeed. This is so universally true that you can actually make money from it.”

“When you label so much of what happens to you as 'bad,' it reinforces the feeling that you are a powerless pawn at the mercy of outside forces over which you have no control. And - this is key - labeling something a bad thing almost guarantees that you'll experience it as such.”

“I have exercises that lead participants to discover for themselves that their deepest fulfillment comes when what they're doing is of benefit to larger society in some way. This really knocks some for a loop - especially those schooled in the 'take no prisoners' approach.”

“I don't believe that you have a work life and a home life. I believe that you have one life, and either it's working or it isn't working.”

“Positive thinking is so firmly enshrined in our culture that knocking it is a little like attacking motherhood or apple pie.”

“Certainly businesses the world over are facing greater competitive pressure than ever before, and this leads to executive stress which, in turn, tends to bring out authoritarian tendencies in many bosses. To balance this, we now know a lot more about how we can successfully cope with a situation that is not likely to improve in the near future.”

“Can you actually go through life without labeling what happens to you as good or bad? Sure you can. You have to train yourself to do this. You have been conditioned to think of things as bad or good. You can de-condition yourself. It is neither easy nor fast but it is possible.”

“Once you accept, truly accept, that stuff will happen to you and there is nothing you can do about it, stress miraculously leaves your life.”

“It does not matter whether I am in Hong Kong or Sao Paolo - people always want to talk about toxic bosses and what to do about them.”

“When the flower blossoms, the bee will come.”

“Stress is the demon in our society, stalking the cities and the countryside, striking down young and old and growing in strength daily.”

“The knowledge that we are responsible for living the life we have is our most powerful tool.”

“If you have an ongoing relationship with a person, think of everything positive about that person that you possibly can and enter your interaction from that space. Ignore all the crap that used to drive you up the wall before. You will be amazed at what a change this attitude shift brings about.”

“Just being aware of what you are about to do greatly diminishes the tendency to do what you don't want to. You will pull your hand back from that pizza slice, tell the waitress that you are passing on dessert, put on your gym shoes instead of going under the comforter, and take several deep breaths instead of screaming at your daughter.”

“Consciously be sensitive to others, and try to elevate their level of consciousness. Don't do this by being preachy and telling them that they 'should' do this or that. Do it by raising your own level of energy and recognizing what's best in others.”

“Unending joy is actually closer to us than our own skin, and there is nothing we have to do or get or be to experience it. All we have to do is stop driving it away.”

“When something happens to you, suffering doesn't begin. Suffering begins at the instant you label a bad thing - as something that is wrong.”

“Most of us function under the model we have to get something in order to do something, in order to be something. If this happens, then I will be happy. And I'm suggesting to you that we live our entire lives based on that model, and that model is fundamentally flawed.”