In 1994, John Elkington developed Triple Bottom Line as an accounting basis. Elkington is an entrepreneur and author. Triple Bottom Line (TBL) aims at incorporating sustainable accounting in business inclusive of social, environmental, and economic aspects. John Elkington is known as one of the founders of the global sustainability movement, he is an experienced CSR advisor in the business world.

John has addressed over 1,000 conferences around the world. He was a faculty member of the World Economic Forum from 2002-2008. He has served on over 70 company boards. He has won several awards and is the author and co-author of 20 books. John’s book titled Cannibals with Forks in 1997 popularised his ‘Triple Bottom Line’ concept triple bottom-line consists of People, Planet, Profit and has laid the foundations for sustainable business strategy.

In 2008, The Evening Standard which is a daily newspaper in London declared John among the ‘1000 Most Influential People’ in London, he is described as “true green business guru”, and as “an evangelist for corporate social responsibility” long before it was a fashionable concept in business world.

The triple bottom line (TBL) framework prepares an organization in realizing its responsibilities towards society and ecology. It is all about accountability for the overall effect of the company’s business practices and contribution towards non-profitable aspects. Triple bottom line theory expands conventional business success include its contributions to social well-being, environmental health, and a fair economy.

TBL theory focuses on the 3Ps that makes firms socially responsible:

People

Organizations are accountable for the well-being of the society and its people. Their responsibility pertains to people and behaving and conducting business ethically and with sensitivity towards social, cultural, economic, and environmental issues. Besides maximizing shareholder value, businesses should operate in a way that benefits society. People include employees working in the organization and the society at large.

Profits

It is every company’s responsibility to pay its lenders, operational creditors, and employees. Profit is capital that companies can use for maintaining the workplace buy machinery and equipment, upgrading infrastructure, buying expensive items, or investing in new products, services or employees. In a capitalist economy, a firm’s success most heavily depends on its financial performance, or the profit it generates for shareholders. Strategic planning initiatives and key business decisions are generally carefully designed to maximize profits while reducing costs and mitigating risk. It’s important to make the distinction between a firm’s shareholders and stakeholders. Stakeholders consists the entire society.

Planet

It is concerned with the geographical location, i.e., the nation, area, city, or state in which the company is located. Companies have to make sure that the neighbourhood and the location is clean. They must ensure that their operations don’t affect the environment adversely. Organizations must learn to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. We as consumers must cut down on what we keep throwing away, we must volunteer for clean-ups in our community, educate children about importance of sustainability of our planet; conserve trees, plant trees, conserve jungles, conserve water, reduce dependence on electricity etc. Corporate social responsibility is a part of every organization’s core business strategy as well as the foundation upon which its core values and culture are based. Organizations don’t exist in vacuum; they are committed to having a positive impact on society and respecting and preserving the environment.

Why Triple Bottom Line is important?

Prof. Michel Porter – strategic management guru feels why should companies turn to NGOs and governments to solve society’s major problems? It is time for business organizations to address societal needs and challenges through creating shared values, in which a company prepares a business model addressing a social cause which will augment their profits. Because when business solves an external problem, it makes a profit and in return the action lets that solution grow. The shared value concept enhances corporate policies and practices add to the competitiveness of a company while simultaneously advancing social and economic conditions in the communities in which the company sells and operates.

For example, IDE Technologies, which is considered a leader in desalination technologies, turns salt water into fresh water. The Israeli company supplies 70% of the tiny Middle Eastern country’s potable water. Its largest local plant, located just south of Tel Aviv, produces 165 million gallons of freshwater daily. Though privately held, IDE also builds and operates some of the biggest desalination plants in about 40 other countries, including Mexico, Chile and China.

When organizations make profit on the basis of shared value, they enable society to advance and companies to grow faster. When corporates include societal issues into their strategies and operations major transformations take place. Some organizations which adopt a triple bottom line approach seem principled in a world that emphasizes profit over purpose. Innovative companies, however, have shown time and again that it is possible to do well by earning great profits.  Many firms have reaped financial benefits by committing to sustainable business practices.

For example, Nike Inc. decided to weave shoes more efficiently by reducing the raw material and labour time needed to make each shoe. That has kept more than 3.5 million pounds of waste from reaching landfills since 2012. But the good news doesn’t stop with the environmental impact. The company is spending less on transportation, materials and waste disposal…this is highly appreciable.

Tech giants have spent billions of dollars on solar and wind power, cutting greenhouse-gas emissions and energy expenditures at the same time. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Amazon and Facebook Inc. are now some of the largest buyers of green power in America. The fact is that it’s not just easy being green — it also can be profitable. Google, Facebook and Amazon are among the largest energy consumers in the United States, and a lot of that power is now emission-free. Each company committed to getting 100% of their power for their data centres from renewable resources such as wind and solar.

Challenges faced by TBL

The biggest challenge TBL faces if of greenwashing which is a spin of corporate social responsibility in declaring itself to promoting environmentally friendly policies whereas in reality, the company does not live up to the commitment. Companies keep making unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of its products, services, technology and strategic practices. It’s in fact an eye wash. Greenwashing is an unsupported claim to deceive consumers into believing that a company’s products are environmentally friendly or have a greater positive environmental impact than they actually do.

Way back in 2019, the controversy about McDonald’s introduction to paper straw which turned out to be non-recyclable is a classic case of greenwash. Aside from the questionable practice of cutting down trees to make disposable straws is a classic example of how a corporate giant can pretend to be ethical while cheating on its consumers. The so-called paper straws were made out of plastic creating plastic pollution. Another mocking greenwashing move is to slap a green label on something to make it appear more sustainable or healthy, as Coca-Cola did with Coca-Cola Life with 6.6% sugar was far from a healthy drink. Consumers were taken for a ride – you would probably get less Life if you drank a lot of it.

“Actions speak louder than words,” is one of the most famous maxims. Yet whether this is true or not depends on what we understand by the word “louder.” Making a promise to someone without thinking how you will fulfil it just reflects how casual or unrehearsed you are about your own words. I think making a promise is one of the most powerful forms of communication. Yet, frankly speaking, how many times do we make vows that we can’t possibly keep? As humans we put our faith in promises made by others. So our politicians, business leaders, our teachers, parents, neighbours, friends, siblings, children so many make promises which help us negotiate peace and hope in our lives and yet how many times does a person really mean the promise made must not be broken.

I am sure most us must have heard from the seniors around us like our grandparents, our parents talk about those faraway times when honouring a promise was utmost imperative, people then never compromised with their words. It did not matter whether they promised something trivial or something very big, but people fulfilled what they promised. It shows how strong the social fabric was those days.

The history proves how most famous people have broken their promises. Woodrow Wilson won re-election in 1916 with the slogan “He kept us out of war” only to enter World War I a year later. While the loss of trust can lead to anti-incumbency, it also creates intangible cleavages in the institution of democracy.

In 2017 Donald Trump promised to lower the corporate tax rate and bring in huge tax cuts for working Americans. The Republican tax plan passed in December 2017, and it largely ticks the box for the president although its merits are hotly disputed. He has had to compromise on his pledge to bring corporation tax down from 35% to 15% (it will be 21% instead).

In India, the Indians do not take the election manifestos seriously; Indian voters are accustomed to the lure of grand promises made once every five years by the political parties….they struggle their way through the debris of broken promises.

In the recent election of 2019, the ruling political party has failed us in creating jobs for the youngsters, education and skill development for youth has featured prominently in its manifesto but hardly any noticeable steps taken. The Modi government has also been trumpeting about its flagship schemes, such as Skill India, in helping job-seekers attain skills for a 21st century job market, but, we are yet to see the youth employment fulfilled.  

We make and we break promises because some promises are very hard to keep we hear the builders, plumbers, electricians, carpenters saying “I’ll come back tomorrow.” But the truth is the other way…tomorrow comes after few days always. They won’t come back until next week, fortnight, month.

We love hearing secrets and we happily make this promise. And at the time we really mean it. ‘Don’t worry,’ we say, ‘your secret is safe with me.’ But of course it isn’t. Research shows that everybody will always tell one other person the secret. Very soon the whole street will know it!

“This won’t hurt.” Is a favourite phrase from doctors, dentists and nurses….they usually say it just before they give you an injection. But the phrase is not complete, without some ah, ooh, ouch..

We make new friends on holidays, long travels or on a train journey, we swap e-mail addresses, phone numbers and we make this promise of keeping in regular touch with them. Six months later you find a name and e-mail address on a card or an old piece of paper. ‘Oh dear!’ you think – but then you remember that they didn’t write to you either.

‘I’ll pay you back tomorrow.’ In Hamlet, Shakespeare told us never to borrow or lend money. He was right. When we lend people money they always make this promise but then they forget. If we then ask for the money back, they tag us as mean. If we don’t ask, we never get our money back.

And the worst, ‘I’ll always love you.’ Lovers must trust each other for a relationship to thrive. Their faith in each other’s promises and subsequent marriage is what sustains their faith in the relationship and in each other. Most couples agree that automatic trust is not a guarantee. It must be earned on a continuing basis. The shade of love starts fading away slowly in relationships. 

There are multiple levels of broken promises that create different reactions in different people. Some can be potential deal breakers, like repeated addictive escapes, infidelities, or anything else that is hidden from the other partner and might risk his or her consent were it to be known. When those breaches of trust are repeated, many cherished relationships just cannot survive.

Most broken promises are not intentional, motivated by meanness, or routinely repeated. Promises are confessions of intent, large and small, that mark a wide range of interpersonal events be it friendship, marriage, employment or business partnership. A specific behavior toward another is expected. Promises require us to declare a conscious objective: we will never do the thing the other person does not want us to do. But people have so many out-of-awareness thoughts and feelings, we may not “know” of our unconscious inaptness about a stated commitment. There are a number of commonly understood reasons promises are broken, including that our feelings, capacity, or circumstances keep changing over time. 

Your word is your bond. In this big fake world, today also there are individuals who keep their words; because for them keeping their word is of special significance. Remember this -every time you give your word, you are putting your honour on the line.

For developing good writing habits you need to accomplish two things; first, start writing regularly. Write in a journal, start maintaining a diary, write letters, write small passages on your social media accounts. Make a beginning by ensuring that you write regularly. You have to actually write. I suggest write with your hands that using the computer key pad. Second tip is – select minimum five topics on which you will write regularly; by writing regularly, you get plenty of writing practice, and your work improves.

You cannot write without having the knowledge on the topic; so read up as much as you can recurrently on the chosen topics by you. By reading and discussing you will gather lot of knowledge on everything related to your topics which you might want to mention in your writing. Remember lack of reading will be apparent in every sentence that you write. Therefore, for good writing skill reading as much as you can is very important. Both habits go hand in glove. For example, if you want to write on the topic of ‘present digital advertising scenario’ you might want to write the emergence of digital media – time line – it’s strengths and weakness, other media vehicles – it’s cost advantage and the strong players in digital advertising. Now you see a writer has to educate himself before writing on a topic like this. Your writing has to be realistic, lucid and stimulating. People will not read if it is dull and recurring. You need to have original ideas to make it interesting. Good writing needs intuitive mind also.

What are you writing – a report, a letter, a power point presentation, a note, an introduction? And, whom are you going to present it to? Remember nobody has time to read lengthy and prolonged writing. You need to be sensitive and you need to have keen understanding of the nature of people to whom you are going to present your work. Your written communication needs to be crisp and accurately worded. It should be a thoughtful discourse.

Finish what you start. One of the worst habits is leaving your writing halfway. If you take breaks you should be smart enough to reconnect to where you have left your work. Shiny new ideas are always tempting to add. Don’t go out of the context. Your communication must be understood; therefore, concentrate of the choice of words, the grammar, spellings, punctuation, logical flow and ending of the communication. I once again stress on the point of avoiding lengthy writing, nobody has time to read. Be specific and crisp in your communication.

Read what you have written twice/thrice and correct your presentation. Show your work to some senior colleague; ask him/her to correct your work if possible. Polish your work before you make a final copy. You should be good at editing your own work. Again, it comes with regular writing practice. Format your document correctly.

Some people detest writing. All across the world people say that writing is one of the most difficult, most underestimated activities. Some people write as a profession while others write because it is required for them in their education or career. There are even some unique people who write because they enjoy writing; no matter what you are writing for, developing a daily writing habit can be extremely beneficial to different areas of your life.

You must develop writing as a daily habit because it’s a great ability to have. It is a great skill of ably and coherently getting your thoughts onto paper in an interesting and engaging manner. It is no small feat. And my dear friends, once you get the hang of it, you start to see how it helps you communicate with others in an effective way. And, when you write daily, you develop a bigger sense of self. Even when you’re not writing about yourself, you become skilled at understanding how you perceive things or what your outlook is on certain subjects.

 Another great reason why writing daily is beneficial is because it helps you develop critical thinking skills that you learn through your writing and it helps you become a better orator, thinker, and doer. It certainly heightens your outlook and perspective on any given topic. Once you begin to write your thoughts and feelings on paper, you feel compelled to write about them again the next day. Please try doing it for a month.

And last but the least reason that I have for you is that writing trains you to learn about the English language, you automatically start using a better diction while talking because of your daily writing practice. You learn more words (synonyms and antonyms), your learn punctuation, grammar and spellings, whether it’s indirectly through contextual examples or directly from a dictionary. You automatically start to develop your thoughts with best words, ideas, and phrases that you can use at any given time. In fact you can start talking extempore. This gives you more of a chance to make a real difference with your words, not only on paper but orally as well. Start writing everyday; do it for a month and see the difference.

]]> https://drvidyahattangadi.com/reasons-why-you-should-develop-a-daily-writing-habit/feed/ 0 https://drvidyahattangadi.com/attitude-and-prejudice/ https://drvidyahattangadi.com/attitude-and-prejudice/#respond Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:54:52 +0000 http://drvidyahattangadi.com/?p=2877 Attitude and Prejudice

For ages people have been finding the difference between attitude and prejudice as both these are feelings of human beings and are expressions that are easily confused.

Attitude is common in all human beings. People have both positive and negative attitudes towards different things.  Attitudes could be in favor of something or not in favor something. And, on the other hand, prejudice is a prejudgment of something without really knowing the facts or having exposed to the reality of a situation. Prejudice is always an adverse conclusion about somebody. However, the fact remains that both attitudes and prejudices can be seen in almost every person. Prominent psychologist Gordon Allport described attitudes as “the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology”. Attitude forms an important part of our personality and the way we think is a very important element in creating the kind of life we want to live.

Jane Austen’s second novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was originally titled ‘First Impression’ because the appearances of the characters created the plot of the novel. However, because the novel is also concerned with the effects of the character’s first impressions, which is the prejudice, Austen found the title Pride and Prejudice more appropriate. With five daughters to be married and an indifferent husband, Mrs. Bennet (the mother of the daughters) can think of nothing else but to marry her daughters off as quickly as possible and to anyone who asks. For her, love is not a necessity when it comes to marrying well, only money is. Her daughters, however, have different ideas. Thus begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s classic story of money, marriage, love, and deception.  The novel centers on the many blunders and mix-ups that frequently evolve in relationships. Austen’s witty and often sarcastic characters turn these potential disasters into amusing and exciting situations. The novel centers on how prejudices can create havoc in life of people.

Is the rationalist assumption sound? Certainly, there is something to be said for it. After all, many of what may reasonably be described as the achievements of human moral progress could not have happened unless somebody took the task, and often the burden, of challenging and critically scrutinizing traditionally held beliefs. Slavery and gender inequality used to be taken for granted; interracial marriage used to be considered morally repulsive and was illegal in some parts of the world. Those and other past prejudices are fortunately gone. Of course, rational scrutiny by itself has never been and will never be enough to bring about significant moral and political change. It must be balanced by campaigning, bargaining, compromise, agitation, mobilization and if nothing of this works, then we see sometimes violence. But rational scrutiny is most important because good reason must be shown to promote a cause.

Attitudes are often the result of experience and also upbringing. They have a powerful influence over behavior. The fact is that while attitudes have lasting effect, they can be changed. Most humans make their decisions in life based on their attitudes. Attitude gets formed on some sort of beliefs as well. It also depends on parameters such as grasp, intelligence, broadmindedness, in short how a person sees and understands a certain phenomenon. Attitude can be either negative or positive. Also, a negative attitude can be turned to a positive attitude and vice versa. It has been found that there are two types of attitudes in humans. They are explicit attitudes and implicit attitudes. Explicit attitudes are deliberately formed ones. That means a person has developed an attitude towards something being really aware of that. An implicit attitude, on the other hand, is formed by an individual subconsciously. A person may not be aware of the attitude formed in him/her. However, attitudes are an important phenomenon in all individuals’ lives because attitudes control people’s behavior and thought patterns. Moreover, there are group attitudes that are shared by a particular group of people. It can be said that all the relationships that exist among humans are based on an attitude structure. Further, different individuals may share different attitudes towards a similar phenomenon. One may have a positive attitude regarding a certain thing whereas another person may perceive the same thing in a negative manner.

Prejudice is defined as forming of a negative attitude towards a person without having a full realization of facts. That is like making a prejudgment. There can be prejudices over age, social class, ethnicity, race, culture, family background, education, looks and so many other things. The evident thing about prejudice is that a person does not look deep into the phenomenon before making a conclusion. Somebody can have a prejudice over a person or a particular group of people, based on a misapprehension or misunderstandings because of ignorance. Prejudice is always a negative situation which should be avoided as far as possible by people.

In conclusion, when we take both attitude and prejudice, we can identify that both are human feelings towards something. Attitude can be aimed at a person, an object, a place or may be a situation whereas prejudice aims at a person or a group of people. Attitude can both be positive or negative but prejudice is always a negative phenomenon.  Attitudes are formed after a full investigation of a particular fact whereas prejudice is based on prejudgment. And lastly, prejudice can also be considered as an attitude that is not formed through an experience of the facts. Both attitudes as well as prejudice may change over the time and they are not permanent ideologies.

If people become aware of their biases, they can monitor and attempt to improve hidden attitudes before they are expressed through behavior. This compensation can include attention to language, body language and to the stigmatization felt by target groups. Research evidence suggests that a change in behavior can modify beliefs and attitudes. It would seem logical that a conscious decision to be open might lead one to widen one’s circle of friends and knowledge of other groups. Such efforts may, over time, reduce the strength of unconscious biases. The earlier we recognize that the problem is in ‘me’ and then others will sort out many issues and motive us to change.

Most professionals spend more of their waking hours in the office than at home; we see our office collogues more and interact more with them than our family members. Naturally, we get more drawn to our office colleagues.  While our general philosophy of friendships may be “the more, the merrier,” making friends in the office has a distinctive set of pros and cons. While regular friendships depend on sharing trust, confidence, sharing our personal secrets, and confiding little or big problems in our friends, getting this close at work place with somebody has its drawbacks.

It’s a bit tricky to get close to somebody at workplace. We cannot hide away from competition, creation of new alliances, breaking of existing alliances, dependencies, backstabbing and gossiping. We become vulnerable if we are not aware of what is going on in the office politics. Often, our nonworking selves and relationships are significantly more casual than is warranted for a professional situation. And, if we try mix the two, the result may be messy politics and dynamics that can complicate our life both at work and at home. Another common problem can arise if you get promoted and your ‘friend’ is not – or your friend gets promoted and you don’t: promotions usually change workplace friendships.  People start resenting friends once they get promoted to higher positions.

Many researches show that people get attracted to their co-workers at the place of work; it is where the mainstream of couples meet. And, there’s a reason for this: unlike online dating, newspaper ads, singles events and speed dating, the office gives you a chance to actually get to know and even bond with a person before you assert your interest. Working side by side with someone daily, seeing him or her under pressure, sympathizing over problems and congratulating over wins gives you a portrait of the person on the inside as well as the outside. It’s the core of the person that matters in love and hence workplace provides the “best infrastructure” to fall in love. It’s the most ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ place for falling in love. These relationships often last for longer time, because they’re reality based then online dating or seeing a matrimonial ad.

Unfortunately, the same ingredients can make office connections tempting even to bond in extra marital affairs; this is the disadvantage and a concern. The reason so many people date in the workplace, even though it’s often terrible, is that it’s easy. You get to know someone well by working alongside them, observing them interacting with others, seeing them under stress. A lot of these relationships do work, and several end up in mess.

Mutual dependence on each other for work, working in a team on difficult and challenging projects, facing the same challenges and knowing the same set of people with their strengths and weaknesses helps in deepening the friendship among colleagues. Also, in big cities and  metros where usually workers stay alone in PG accommodation, and they feel homesick do in their initial tenures cling on to their coworkers;  it’s easier to go out on Friday evening to chill together directly from office with colleagues than make plans with people who live in different parts of the city. It’s quite normal.

Office environment becomes lighter and much healthier during lunch and tea breaks. Workers come together to chat, share jokes, discuss news, views, personal problems, personal news etc which relieves them from stress. It’s fun to be around friends and colleagues. Friendship benefits employees as they are able to give vent to their feelings and their stress levels become low. This automatically increases their productivity. The best places to work are the organizations which have open and friendly work cultures. Having friends at work makes individuals feel at ease and being themselves.

Though politicking cannot be avoided at workplace where betrayal of trust, competition, partiality, bias, jealousy and a sense of unfairness, money and power equations keep brewing, it is observed that employees who are friends are able to handle these differences in a better manner, thus, preserving a peaceful work environment. It is important to deal with problems straight away and avoid causing further conflict.

And, what about bosses being friendly with their subordinates – Is it good or bad? People like to work with people they like, and if you can develop a friendship with your subordinates, you’ll see more productivity. Your people will want to worker harder, and they probably might take on more challenges and cross their limitations for you. Do you tend to create such relationships? Think of your people one by one and ask, “If his performance slipped and didn’t improve, would I be able to terminate him? If she made repeated serious mistakes in spite of careful coaching, could I cut back her responsibilities or tell her she won’t get a raise?”

There are no hard-and-fast rules that govern how close a friendship should be between a boss and an employee. But there’s a general rule of thumb that boundaries must be created and respected; because the friendship can hinder the professionalism. There’s no question it can be lonely at the top, and making friends in the office when you’re the boss can be a nice solace. Just like there are pros to being friends with your employees, there is also a downside if the relationship isn’t managed properly. Managers have to be mindful of getting too close to one of his or her reports because it can make it hard to give out orders or worse appear inappropriate or unfair to the other employees in the office. That’s why experts say bosses have to set boundaries and stick to them. Yes it’s ok to go out for one or two drinks with staff after work but it’s not a good idea to stay out until 2:00 a.m. downing shots. Too much closeness with subordinates might bring in awkwardness in relationship. You might feel uncomfortable to give instructions. You might want to take a step back. Instead of being their drinking buddy, instead of hanging out with the regularly, you may use the friendship as a way to mentor them.

As a boss makes sure you are in control of the relationship. You should be in position to make tough decisions, give constructive feedback, keep sensitive information confidential, and be objectively alert. Ask yourself this question that as a leader are you effective?

Even a well-managed friendship can have some bumps along the road. Make sure that there has to be that defined line. Too often if you get friendly favors can be called in or expectations are going to be made. It can create a situation where other employees see it as favoritism. It’s ok to chat with employees and to ask about their family and weekend. It’s good to care and it’s important to show you are interested in who they are and what they are becoming as an employee and their personal growth. This doesn’t mean you don’t have great relationships with your employees. I just think you can do that best without being their ‘friend’.

All of us come across people who love to talk, talk and talk about themselves. We sometimes have to put up with someone who just won’t shut up, or someone who is too loud, or who has little to say but takes long time to say it, or someone who always talks about the same topic over and over again. It’s killing and frustrating for others who either try to be patient or good for the sake of it. At times, this “I”,”me”, “myself” is a boss whom you need to tolerate for obvious reasons; sometimes it can be somebody senior in age or relation. Why do they do this and what’s the best way to handle them? Such boring people simply lack social skill. They think they are enjoyable to be around with. But the fact is actually they make other hate them.

Do you know people who say ‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘myself’ frequently suffer with depression and anxiety? According to a new research conducted by scientists of the University of Kassel, Germany, found that the people who use first-person singular “I’ are more likely to be depressed than those who tend to use plural pronouns, such as ‘we’ and “us”. The finding suggests that these people are unable to spend time alone and are attention-seekers. By contrast, those who use ‘we’ in conversation are healthier mentally and more social. They are good at balancing their relationships, https://www.opaortho.com/valium-treatment-anxiety/.

In the age of social media everybody is busy sharing information, photographs and details about themselves on face book and tweeter; people like to update their status, their opinions on various issues. Nobody may care about their opinion except themselves, but new brain research suggests that it can make a person feel good simply by sharing his likes and dislikes. A research suggests that it provides some sort of subjective value: It feels good. Let’s get it right, science says 30 percent to 40 percent of our speech has to do with ourselves “self-disclosure.” It is a behavior that we do all of the time, day in and day out.

So, why did evolution encourage humans to feel good when they talk about themselves? People are motivated to self-disclose for the reason of bonding with someone, with a group or a circle. Dr. Paul Zak, a brain researcher and founding director of the Center for Neuro-economics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, says that human beings are social creatures; if they did not disclose information, then others might stop interacting with them. Animals do this with smells and movements, and humans do this with speech. This study reveals how our brain evolved to motivate sociality, which is quite fascinating.

Check yourself; are you the “I”, “me”, “myself” person? Do you always seem to find a way to make the conversation go about yourself? If yes, please understand that others feel very uncomfortable around people using the word ‘I’ more than three times per minute. Too much usage of the word ‘I’ can be an indication of either of two things: lack of empathy or excessively large longing for validation. As far as empathy is concerned, all of us in this world have a need to socialize with fellow human beings; socializing consists of exchanging of thoughts. Conversation is but obviously exchange of thoughts. Discussions are an endeavor that allows us to live together in this densely populated world. However, whenever the balance between giving and taking of thoughts becomes vague and distorted, we start feeling uncomfortable and we try to withdraw. By talking about ‘I’ too much, the conversation goes tangentially haywire. By talking about what ‘I believe this’ n ‘I believe that’ habitually, you totally take away the right of others with who you are in discussion. You disallow others from contributing to the conversation. And that is what is considered to be anti-social behavior.

As far as validation is concerned, if someone is using the word ‘I’ frequently it means the person has a disproportionately large need for receiving validation from social environment. This need consists of a sense of ‘wanting to be listened to.’ The question is: Why would someone keep talking about his own ideas while knowing that the listeners might not find his discussions pleasant? Well, maybe the person does not understand that his behavior is considered to be anti-social. Somebody needs to tell him to curtail the “I” in him. Or maybe the person knows the entire above but still doesn’t consider it to be anti-social; then he can only be called loathsome.

However, it is often very difficult to draw a line between what is a healthy contribution to a conversation and what is a smug or an arrogant urge to express one’s ideas. The former is admirable and can function therapeutically, constructively and even emphatically. Speaking is after all the best medium we have at our disposal to make others aware of our thoughts and beliefs. Of course creative arts such as poetry, a book, a story, a painting, a musical piece says a lot about the creator and his message. Yet, social interaction in terms of the spoken word still seems to govern human expression.

Even in the age of social media, face-to-face communication allows people to absorb the often subtle gestures, facial expressions and tonality that are required in order to express our deep thoughts. These days in over usage of electronic communication, a well-intended well written frank statement is much more likely to be misinterpreted than the same message being spoken out loud. Oral communication has advantage as the intricacies present in human speech can make all the difference for interpreting a message in either the intended or unintended way.

All said and done, sometimes however it might be infuriating, we just have to let the ‘I-talkers’ realize that it’s time they listen to others tolerantly. Occasionally we just have to be ‘harsh’ and tell them that their conversation is going bizarre and haywire. And, we can learn something from it; even by mistake if we sometimes do the “I-talking” how boring it is for others.

Marathi theatre has always been regarded as one of the most culturally rich theatre traditions in the country. Right from the 18^th century the Marathi theatre has been present. It seems King Patwardhan of Sangli requested novelist Vishnu Bhave to write an evocative play for entertaining his guests and Bhave wrote ‘Sita Swayamvar’ which was performed on November 5, 1843, in that princely state. It was inspired by Karnataka’s folk theatre form of Yakshagana.

The Marathi stage has evolved in Bombay (now Mumbai) because this city has always been a business city; it had the infrastructure and money which helped the formal performers to grow. Because of the majority Maharashtrian workers community in the city who lived in the chawls the free time was used to practice dramas, keertans, pravachans and powadas. The artists used to practice in whatever space was available to them; sometimes varandahs, staircases and the open grounds. Lavanis such as “Mumbai Nagari Badi Banka, Jashi Ravanachi dusari Lanka” by Patthe Bapurao and Annabhau Sathe’s “Mazi Mumbai, Arthat Muumbai Konachi” were super duper hits those days. People flocked to the theatres to watch these lavanis.

Maharashtra has had long theatrical tradition, one of its early references is found in cave inscriptions at Nashik. Marathi theatre started flourishing in the middle of the 19th century. It includes forms like Sangeet Natak (Musical drama), Tamasha (folk dance), Ekpatri prayog etc. It continues to have a marked presence in the State of Maharashtra. Marhathi theatre is not famous outside Maharashtra; maybe because Marathi as a language is quite difficult and a lot of stress is laid on the richness of the language by the writers; the gamut of Marathi dramas ranges from humorous social plays, farces, historical plays, musical, to experimental plays and serious drama. We have seen the likes of Annabhau Kirloskar, P. L. Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, and Mahesh Elkunchwar, Bhalaji Pendharkar, Raja Paranjape, Annabhu Sathe, Vinda Karandikar, Arun Sadhu, P. K. Atre, Daya Pawar etc who were known and are known even today for their par excellence.  But, there is one big problem in staging a drama and continuing it for long time. We find Marathi dramas live a short life span, though some of them have great content. They are forgotten easily. Perhaps it is because Maharashtra faces multiculturalism and therefore the Marathi theatre takes a backset. Most importantly, Marathi theatre faces many political and social undercurrents. There is a sea change in terms of quality and context which are changing like never before. The conditions today cannot be compared to the previous decade.

Marathi Theatre can be described as never-ending energy; live moments, live interaction, superb dialogues, and great backdrops of stage, superb background music scores, and a strong tradition of 150 years which can never die. Besides, Marathi dramas are sharp, witty and very rich in content. They make you think even hours after you’ve watched a show. Marathi theatre is evolving with newer ideas, newer concepts and much more experiments. The new breed of directors is experimenting with forms of theatre. No other place in India has so much of ‘commercial theatre’ like that in Maharashtra. If you have three movie shows in Plaza, the theatre bang opposite to it, Shivaji Mandir, has three shows of plays on the same day.

The various genres of Marathi scripts are also a reason for people to watch plays. Comedy, serious depiction of the society, political satires, musicals, romantic, tragedy, rags to riches stories and mission – it has it all. Marathi theatre fascinates its viewers with its large variety.

The cultural connection of Mumbai and Pune with its regional theatre shows that the stage is not dying, it is experimenting and it has long way to go. It has managed to carve a special niche and that’s reason enough to say that there’s plenty of hope for the art in the state of Maharashtra.

Both cinema and drama are based on story. Both drama and cinema depend primarily on performers who resent and communicate the story to the audience. A stage play or a screenplay is like reading a novel. Dramas are livelier and thrilling as you see the actor’s performance right in front. The audience can clap and applaud the actors on the stage. The actors also in response give their best dialogue delivery, voice modulation, gestures thus bringing in more energy in the theater. Drama is on the spot. There are not takes and retakes; it delivers effect on the spot therefore it connects with the viewers more honestly. Drama is more difficult for an actor.

Both drama and cinema share certain common features; they both use sets, props, costumes, music and other sound effects. Communication is the essence in both drama and cinema. Even in the silent era, films relied heavily on human speech that was understood through contextual instinct; a combination of gesture, facial expression, and lip reading; and inserts of printed, projected text. If a drama is dull or boring viewers crate a commotion whereas if a cinema is boring they simply walk out of the theatre. Bothe cinema and drama have their fan following. Everybody cannot enjoy drama; an audience that has been raised on films, do not enjoy dramas.

Marathi theatre has come a long way. While Gujarati, Hindi or English theatre is ‘merely weekend theatre’, catering to the thinking and upper class, Marathi theatre is all about the masses mainly because of the way it gets people to relate to the script. Mumbai and Pune are hubs of Marathi plays. In Mumbai and Pune, there are these niche classes of people who usually do not miss watching a play every week. Mumbai is the economic capital and Pune is the cultural capital of Maharashtra state. There are at least 15-20 theatres in Mumbai which host only Marathi plays right from Prabhadevi to Thane: Rabindra Natya Mandir, Shivaji Natya Mandir, Ranga Sharda, Dinanath, Gadkari Rangayatan and many more theatres are witness to the love Mumbaikars have for this art form. And in Pune: Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir, Bharat Natya Mandir, Sudarshan Hall, Moreshwar Hall, Yashwantrao Chavan Natya Mandir etc are famous for Mrathi drama lovers. Mumbai and Pune showcase the love for performing art relatively much more, compared to other cities like Bangalore or New Delhi which relatively have fewer auditoriums.

The amount of theatre that is being done on the commercial as well as parallel stage in Marathi cannot be compared to any other regional theatre today. It is facing some technical, political and financial problems today, which I am sure, will be sorted out sooner or later. The Marathi theatre scene is the most happening in the whole of India.

Giri and Hari were neighbors; Giri was a poor farmer and Hari a rich landlord. Giri used to live a very relaxed and happy life and he thanked God for fulfilling his bare necessities. He was always in a happy state of mind. He was relaxed. He never bothered to close the doors and windows of his house at night. He used to have deep sound sleep. Although he had no money he was peaceful. His daily requirements were fulfilled from his small piece of land.

On the other hand, Hari used to be very anxious and stressed always. He used to close all windows and doors of his house every night, due to worry and stress that nobody should steal his wealth; thus, he could hardly sleep. He was always troubled that someone might break open his safe deposit box and steal away his money. Deep in his heart, he envied peaceful and carefree Giri.

One day, Hari called Giri to his house and gave him a boxful of cash saying, “Giri, my dear friend. I am blessed with affluence. I always feel that I should share some of my prosperity with you, kindly take this cash and live in prosperity.” Giri was tremendously happy. He was joyful throughout the day. As night fell, he went to bed as usual. But, that night, he could not sleep. He went and closed all doors and windows of the house. He could not sleep because he started feeling claustrophobic. He got up many times just to see if the money box was safe. Thus, the whole night he was disturbed.

As soon as the next day dawned, Giri took the box of cash to Hari. He gave away the box saying, “Dear friend, I am poor but I enjoy my life and most importantly my good night’s sleep. Your money disturbed me so much; it took away my peace of mind. Please don’t misunderstand me, take back your money.”

Moral of the story is: Prosperity is in mind. 

Most of us connect prosperity to money and affluence. But the fact is we can either be financially wealthy, or mentally fulfilled. We don’t believe there is an inconsistency between different forms of “wealth.” The saddening part is we see them all working together. What good is financial wealth if we don’t use that to seek our own fulfillment as well as the good of others around us? How many times does the feeling cross your mind that you have to do good for your family, your friends and the society? And, what purpose would spiritual and emotional fulfillment serve if it only went hand-in-hand with poverty and struggle? Children of affluent people are generally supposed to be at low risk in most areas of life. People think that the rich and affluent can safeguard their kids from most seen and unseen problems. However, recent studies have suggested problems in several domains; particularly drug abuse, substance use, anxiety, and depression because of two main causes: pressures to achieve and isolation from parents.

To feel prosperous the first thing to realize is that everything around us is a product of our mind.  All that happens in our life is also is a result of our own mind. This has been proven scientifically over and over again……….we don’t need tons of money to attract prosperity. We however need to feel prosperous in order to attract prosperity. Joyfulness attracts more joy. Happiness attracts more happiness. Peace attracts more peace. Gratitude attracts more gratitude. Kindness attracts more kindness. Love attracts more love. You need to work inside in your psyche. So, keep working within your heart to change your world, all you have to do is change the way you feel inside. All said and done, it is not at all easy.  Your feeling will determine whether you become poorer or richer.

The size of the house, its locality, how it is furnished etc does not matter; what matters is people who live in it, how happy they are together. Often, you find yourself lost in a mix of contradictions: beautiful, shattered; refreshing, frustrating; friendly, bitter; inspirational, small-minded; jealous, compassionate. As far as the ending feeling is positive, it should not bother you much. When you are surrounded with happy, cooperative and loving family and friends, the cheap housing, old vehicle, lesser known school from where you studied, unbranded clothes and accessories really don’t matter.

‘Prosper’ means living according to one’s hope. While wishing someone prosperity we are saying that we wish they will achieve the future they are hoping for. Abundance in life is not about what we have and how much we have. It’s not about what we get. It’s not about what we claim. Ultimately, abundant life is about what we receive as a gift from the Lord. Abundance is manifestation. It’s not a sin to be rich. And we should not forget that while dying we are neither rich nor poor. Furthermore, it’s not important to only count how much we have received, but it’s equally important how much we have given. At the end of the day, perhaps that is how we know we have an abundant life; when we have shared our life with others. When we have enough of the blessings of God when we have forgiveness, peace, love, grace, wisdom, etc. to share with our others, and then actually do it; that’s when we truly have prosperity in life.

In our life, we often feel intimidated by others. Many people make us nervous. This covers a whole gamut of personalities ranging from some rich and famous, higher ups at work, love interests, some highly qualified people, politicians, people we don’t know at parties, popular people from society, our professors, some renowned professionals and celebrities. It’s very natural to feel intimidated occasionally. It pushes us to become better person. It happens often due to our imaginative gap we see between people we look up to and self. Some such people can bring up feelings we harbor about ourselves that we are not good enough, striking enough, interesting enough, intelligent enough or many more deficiencies.

Have you ever thought that many people must be getting intimidated by you? Your behavior, your mannerism might be misunderstood by many. Shyness is misunderstood as aloofness all the time. Silence is misunderstood as snobbishness; similarly chattiness is misunderstood as gossiping, getting emotional everyone and then is misunderstood as drama queen/king. A very successful doctor – an acquaintance of mine who appears aloof confided in me in one of the parties over a drink that he somehow can’t liberate from his shyness and he thoroughly enjoys when people interact with him. When I told him that he comes across as an aloof person he was astonished as it is just the opposite of his intent; in fact he looks forward to chat and interact with people. Sometimes, if we make the first social move and say hello, we might be wiping out two people’s nerves.

I think everyone feels a little uneasy and off-balanced when they’re around that handful of people who just seem to have everything going for them. They may be really outgoing as well, which can add in all the problems from the point above. You will find their intimidating impression shrinks when you just have more experience with them. When you get used to them, start seeing them as normal people, you will learn firsthand that they too have flaws and quirks and insecurities like everyone else. And, this might improve your own confidence and social skills. You then see these people as closer to your level, rather than them being on a pedestal and your feeling you’re a walking example of lame, awkward unworthiness that’s lucky to even be talking to them.

I would add here a very well managed movie ‘English Vinglish’ which is the story of Shashi, a woman who doesn’t know English and is intimidated by her family and society at large. The film though light-hearted is about the touching and transformational journey of Shashi. Circumstances make her resolute to overcome this insecurity, master English language, teach the world a lesson on the way to becoming a self assured and confident woman.

And, don’t we all believe in stereotypes about looks, styles, mannerisms, eating, drinking, about certain subgroups positive as well as negative. Many times we group religion, races or individuals together and make a judgment about them without knowing them; this is a pattern of a stereotype. Racial remarks, sexual remarks, and gender remarks are the biggest stereotypes. A common stereotype about Asians is that they are good at math and that all Asians like to eat rice and drive slow. Another example is that Irish like to get drunk and they love eating potatoes. And commonest of all is that all boys and men mess up their surroundings and girls are not good at sports. Most stereotypes probably tend to convey a negative impression.

We all want to consider ourselves as liberal, progressive, open-minded citizens of the world while we sometimes subtly act on negative stereotypes about certain groups without giving much importance to it. At University, someone who comes from rural area may feel nervous around young stylish men and women speaking fluently and without any hesitation. Someone may feel a little hesitant to try to be friendly to the Chinese students, because of a negative stereotype going around campus that they’re all selfish and aloof and only associate with each other. I know many people who feel very insecure about their educational qualifications. It is either because their love of education and not having so many degrees.

When someone is intimidated by really outgoing people it’s that they’re worried about having to talk to them and feeling really besieged about feeling that they won’t be able to keep up or know what to say. Let me tell you the moment we think that we won’t be able to converse freely and we might fall short of words trust me that’s what happens. If we’re inhibited, we may assume everyone is constantly looking for a reason to review our flaws. Some people come across as snobby and judgmental without intending to as well.

I think we need to face our fear and just get more used to talking to people we feel intimidated by. We must try to analyze our intimidation. The first time might be tough, but once we get used to talking to them asking question, conversing with them freely the fear evaporates.

I have seen sometimes more of a problem for young adults when they’re still in high school, where all kinds of students are mixed together and they run into some very intelligent, dull, whacky, flamboyant, argumentative, foul mouthed, cheater, sober all sorts of students. It sometimes becomes difficult for peace loving and sober students to fit in a class of tough guys. Once someone has moved on to college or the work world they usually don’t run across as many tough guys. The fear in the work world is that these people are dangerous loose cannons who may kick your ass at any second. This world is more political and full of bias where you face sweet tongued people who say something and do something in contrast.

Some men don’t feel comfortable hanging out with other guys. They find them to be too macho, destructive, cutting in their humor, or impulsive. They may feel that way because they got picked on as a kid, or because they never really felt like they fit the male stereotype. Some women feel the same way and see other females as being too catty, girly, backstabbing, or dramatic, among other things. This is another area where some childhood experience can take the intimidating edge.

We all are product of our subconscious mind; we are what we think. If we think we are unsafe, we are going to remain unsafe till end. If we see someone as threat, the person will surely turn out be a threat. You can take back your power by just changing the way you see yourself. When you learn to see yourself perfectly, you will feel safe in any condition. Don’t care too much what others think of you. Other people can think you are a terrible, stupid, poor, ugly person. But,   does this change what you actually are? You are born with a purpose; understand that purpose, there is no reason to feel threatened by anyone, because in reality they can’t hurt you. Occasionally spend time on yourself – deep down you are an amazing, complete, secured, beautiful and good enough. Off and on you might experience some storms they will come and go. You are matchless, one-of-a-kind soul on a journey of learning and growth. Your value cannot be questioned – your value is infinite and absolute.