Sooraj Handa

Five Fundamentals on Which I Stand Strong & Firm.

1. Proactive

Viktor Frankl said that between stimulus and response there is a gap, and within this gap lies all our freedom. Even as he was suffering immense privations in a Nazi concentration camp, he realized that he was responsible for his thoughts and
actions and was not simply a bundle of conditioned responses. Like Frankl, we should strive to be the creators of our own destiny, orchestrating our experience of life. Everything starts in the mind and ripples out, so what happens around us is a reflection of our own inner world. Whether we allow our inner world to grow wild, whether we let weeds spring up and take hold or whether we cultivate a green and pleasant garden – it is all our choice: this is what it means to be proactive.

2. Responsible

Since we have the power to choose our experience, we also need to accept
responsibility for this. Perhaps not that everything that comes our way is a
direct result of our own thinking (though some might say it is) but what we
attract into our life is, largely, a reflection of our thinking. Much of this
occurs on a subconscious level, but the subconscious takes its lead from the
thinking mind, so changing our thoughts will change our world, and we are
responsible for this.

Our behavior is a natural outcome of our mental images, and so we are
responsible for our behavior too, and also for the behavior we tolerate in
others. If we allow others to ride roughshod over us, then we have ourselves to
blame.

3. Leadership

We cannot be effective in any area of life unless we have good leadership
skills. Leadership is an art and each of us needs to find our own approach to
it. Primarily, we need to understand how to lead ourselves, and this means
having a compass, a direction which guides all our actions. This compass often
takes the form of a personal mission statement, a document spelling out the
values we live by. As we lead others, whether as parents, bosses, in families
or organizations of which we are a part, we need first and foremost to lead by
example, making it clear what our values are and that we live by them. Any
inconsistency in our professed values and our behavior will be spotted, seen
through and will ruin our effec