Self Development In the context of spirituality and a practical approach TCS Training Centre, Gachibowli, Hyderabad 18/July/2013 – 2/August/2013

Values – Part I

Self Reflection - 1 Who am I? Close your eyes and speak to yourself silently for 5 minutes In your diary write your observation and inference 3

What is central to Self Development? for next 3 minutes In your diary write your observations Self Reflection - 2

Values – what and how? What are values? How are our values shaped? – People – we are a product of our role models – Factors – we are a product of our circumstances Lets discover them collectively…discover

Learning about positive human values such as – respect, honesty, compassion, care, humility, responsibility etc. To improve the quality of the – Individuals, their work, their organizations, – the society, the nation, and the world! By providing life’s principles that guides right – thinking, attitude, and behavior What is Values Education?

Values affect our inner world – Encourages introspection and reflection Values affect our interaction with outer world – helps us to think more clearly, – control our behaviour and – empathize with others Repetition of value-words – reinforces the idea of values in our every day life – Builds our value vocabulary Salient Features of Values Education

Values education encourages us to develop reflective behaviour or silent sitting Silent sitting gives space and time to us to focus on our behavior in a positive way Our intrapersonal intelligence is enhanced Reflective Behaviour

Key questions Can values be taught and learnt? Are we born with them? Is there an age limit to such learning?

Values Determine Behavior “Your values are the anchor that determine how you think, make decisions, feel and ultimately behave. Changing behaviors must begin with examining your internal core values. If you value things, prestige or ideas more than people and self, your choices and behavior will be poor and bring sorrow, loss and failure to your life as well as hurt those around you”

Personal Values, Attitudes, Behaviors Towards Yourself: Honesty & Truthfulness Simple living Goal Oriented Towards Your work: Discipline, Prioritization, Hard work Towards others Humility, Fairness and Respect Empathy, Kindness and Politeness Generosity and Giving Don’t hurt others Forgive and forget Treat others equally Treat others with respect Avoid jealousy Introspect and apologize even if not wrong.

Spiritual Values Attitudes Behaviors Discipline: Wake up at dawn. Do meditation at same time & place Prayer: Begin with prayer for spiritual elevation Fix a goal – complete oneness with God Be truthful. Accept miseries as Gifts from God Be plain and simple Know all as children of God Be not revengeful for wrongs done Eat in divine thought Mould life to rouse feeling of love & piety in others Bed time, repent for wrongs committed

Exercise What are my three core values?

Self = Value + Goal Values Attitudes Behaviour GOALGOAL GOALGOAL Aligning Values, Goals with the nature of real Self

Virtuous Cycle of Self Development SELF IDEAL GOAL ATTITUDES BEHAVIOR EFFORTS SKILLS KNOWLEDGE EXPERIENCE VALUES CULTURE BELIEFS Self DevelopmentSelf FulfillmentSelf Realization Having a Goal that is consistent with the real Self Refining values, beliefs and attitudes Gaining knowledge based on experience Practicing to become perfect

Values Matter In a world where everybody is running and never walking, where we know the price of everything but have forgotten the value of life, we have decided to walk in order to celebrate and remind ourselves what we are made of: Love, Peace, Truth, Non-Violence, Right-Conduct. Let's turn anxiety into peace, fear into love, war into non-violence, exclusion into right-conduct. Let's walk hand in hand so that this world turns into our home... Walk for Values is an annual event that takes place worldwide to promote the goodness of human beings and the unlimited amount of values we posses. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. Values Matter

In closing Recommended books – O Henry’s short stories – Swami Vivekananda’s books Next class – The need to recognize and follow universal values – Relevance of Values in Personal, Family, Social and Business Life.