STAYING IN A POSITIVE ENERGY ZONE

I was watching one of AR Rahman’s interviews and an answer he gave to a question he was asked left an indelible impact on me:

Interviewer: “When we heard the music from Roja, it was as if we were hearing a different kind of music for the first time in our lives. The freshness in the music gave us joy. How did you do it?

AR Rahman:?“I didn’t do anything here. My mind and heart were quiet, and an external force composed the music that you heard.”

Obviously, he was humble enough to attribute to the divinity of the music he composed so mesmerizingly. That’s when I was reminded of the term “being in the flow or zone”.?Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and find myself in a state of flow. The quality of work one does at this time is magical, and I feel I’m simply an instrument through which thoughts flow onto paper effortlessly. As I sit witness to this amazing state, I am neither a creator, nor a moderator, yet I simply know that I’m in the flow. Evidently, magic happens when “we are in the flow”. Here are my thoughts on this subject:

Let’s consider these 3 key points:

1.?????The cause you are going after should be much bigger than YOU

2.?????You should come from a “good place – positive emotions”.?Negative emotions kill the flow.

3.?????Hard work (mind), preparation (heart), and passion (soul) must converge to create magic. Rahman was eating, dreaming, and sleeping music all his life when he got the call to make the music for Roja.

Ready to take a deep dive?

• Positive Zone. The mind thinks approx. 98000 thoughts a day. Most of them are negative. So, to be in the positive zone, we need to quieten our minds. Meditation does help but there are other forms of activity that could work best for you.
• Get off the treadmill.?Often we get driven by others’ agenda – others are determining what you should do, not do - but this is your life and your time.?You must find time to get off this treadmill.
• Do what you like most. For me, it is when I read inspiring books or movies (a recent movie was Hidden Figures – if you have not watched it suggest you do), and when I work out, run, or trek outside. You get in the zone when you do what you like the most.
• Words are powerful. The right words touch and inspire. My favorites are the Tamil poet Bharathiyar, speaker Nellai Kannan, and Dr. Wayne Dyer. Have the right thoughts, think deeply, and want to do good to others, then the words you speak will be powerful. Mahatma Gandhi gave the clarion call for India’s independence, and Nelson Mandela after being prisoned for 27 years came out wanting to unite South Africa. People like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King are all God-like figures. They came from a good place. If they can, why can’t we?
• Be in a “positive place”. Surround yourself with people who transmit “positive energy” and unfriend those who are “energy suckers”.?
• Think BIG. We should not live and die like millions of others. We must make a positive impact on our organization, and in our life and leave the world a better place.
• Stay physically fit. A workout early in the morning makes the rest of the magic happen -- releases the chemicals and enables you to touch and inspire others.??

What we make of the life we have is in our hands. Let us be prepared to “allow flow into our lives”. There is a force that is working over and above the hard work that all of you are putting in.

Let us focus on making this the best year ever. Together let us make the magic happen. Do read my blog on my reflections from 2022. I look forward to reading your reflections as well as we step into the new year!

Yours,?

Lakshmanan Chidambaram (CTL)