There are two kinds of intelligence: one acquired,
as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts
from books and from what the teacher says,
collecting information from the traditional sciences
as well as from the new sciences.

With such intelligence you rise in the world.
You get ranked ahead or behind others
in regard to your competence in retaining
information. You stroll with this intelligence
in and out of fields of knowledge, getting always more
marks on your preserving tablets.

There is another kind of tablet, one
already completed and preserved inside you.
A spring overflowing its springbox. A freshness
in the center of the chest. This other intelligence
does not turn yellow or stagnate. It’s fluid,
and it doesn’t move from outside to inside
through conduits of plumbing-learning.

This second knowing is a fountainhead
from within you, moving out.

From Essential Rumi
By Coleman Barks

Most people agree – It is vital for organisations to work with authenticity.

However people do disagree on why organisations need to work with authenticity.

Subconsciously we all know that authenticity is imperative in our dealings with each other. However trying to convey why our organisation needs to consider being more authentic and endeavouring to persuade others to be authentic, our discussions can become somewhat confusing.

We need to clarify our own way of thinking if we really wish to understand how being unauthentic hampers the effectiveness of our work. How it impedes the flow of energy that is so important in conversations and establishing trust amongst the people involved. Without trust there is little point in even attempting to work together as a group as the energy then has a tendency to undermine each other and destroy any real long lasting work that might be done.

So we can look at a couple of arguments for authenticity in organisations. One is based on trust, and the other is based on the unique nature of those involved.

1. Trust Comes from Authenticity

Authenticity is valuable because authenticity invites the participants or members’ trust.

Member do feel safe trusting an authentic organisation because when the participants are authentic, it makes an organisation’s behaviours more reliable, predictable, and trustworthy. Therefore authenticity is valuable because it makes it possible for stakeholders to trust the organisation.

2. Real Authenticity Evolves into Unique Contribution

Authenticity is essential because organisations who act authentically create a more abundant and accurate expression of their unique capabilities, values and purpose.

When we are authentic it affects the type and quality of the services and experiences that the organisation has to offer. Acting in an authentic way draws out the cultural qualities inside the organisation, and creates behaviours, and services that are specific and unique to that organisation.

What authentic organisations make, in terms of services and experiences for their members are something that is valuable and not easily to replicate elsewhere. It is for this reason that authenticity is so valuable. It creates a uniqueness that, relative to other organisations, makes relationships with the authentic organisation much more significant to its members.

Trust and the Unique Contribution.

Trust and the Unique Contribution make good sense and work well in an Authentic environment.

Bluntly speaking, authenticity creates trust. We know that there is honesty. But why do we not consider this mission-critical? In contrast, the unique contribution of each participant has a ‘bottom-line impact’ because authenticity is the only way to generate sustainable long term goals. Thus, for an organisation that wants to maximise its impact and achieve its purpose, being authentic is critical to success.

Exploring Authenticity

A few weeks ago I met with some of the members of one of the organisations I am involved in. We talked about strategies for sustaining authenticity in our organisation. It starts by asking each member of the group or council to share his or her definition of authenticity and their understanding of why being authentic would be good for an organisation.

Most organisations that have explored this believed that being authentic is valuable because it leads to trust. Each of these organisations is striving for a more trusting and trustworthy organisational culture.

Trust and uniqueness are both arguments for organisational authenticity.

Trust is vital and something that every organisation should pursue. But trust alone is not the central reason for being authentic. The central reason for being authentic is to sustain the organisation’s uniqueness and to put that uniqueness to work to achieve the organisation’s purpose. Without it the organisations long term survival is not positive.

As organisations we do need to talk much more about how authenticity leads to sustainable uniqueness and why authenticity is critical to an organisation’s success. We need to talk more about why authentic is critical to an organisation success.

It all has made me wonder:

• Have we been under valuing the importance of organisational authenticity leading to unique valued contributions?
• Have we been under appreciating organisational authenticity not only as a virtue in and of itself, but as an engine for creating member value?
• Are there other reasons for pursuing organisational authenticity that we’ve also overlooked?

I’d love your thoughts.

In the checkout queue at the Tesco,
the young girl cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The old woman apologized to her and explained,
“We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”

That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles,
pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop.
The shop sent them back to the plant
to be washed and sterilized and refilled,
using the same bottles over and over.
So they really were recycled.
But they didn’t have the green thing back her day.

In her day, they walked up stairs,
because they didn’t have an escalator
in every shop and office building.
They walked to the grocers shop and
didn’t climb into a 150-horsepower machine
every time they had to go fifty yards.
But she’s right.
They didn’t have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby’s nappies
because they didn’t have the throw-away kind.
They dried clothes on a line,
not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 40 volts –
wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters,
not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right,
they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house –
not a TV in every room.
And the TV had a small screen the size of a dinner plate,
not a screen the size of a barn door .
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand
because they didn’t have electric machines
to do everything for you.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the post,
they used wadded up newspaper to cushion it,
not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine
and burn petrol just to cut the lawn.
They used a push mower that ran on human power.
They exercised by working so they didn’t need
to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right,
they didn’t have the green thing back then.

They drank from a water fountain when they were thirsty,
instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle
every time they had a drink of water.
They refilled pens with ink,
instead of buying a new pen,
and they replaced the blade in a razor
instead of throwing away the whole razor
just because the blade got dull.
But they didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus or train
and kids rode their bikes to school
instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.
They had one electrical outlet in a room,
not an entire bank of sockets
to power a dozen appliances.
And they didn’t need a computerized gadget
to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in
space in order to find the nearest pizza parlour.

But that old lady is right.
They didn’t have the green thing back in her day.

If you are interested in learning more about some of the serious question in life then this could be for you. Come and join me. Running at the HPB Theosophical Society, Auckland from 2 May 2011.

Life, the Universe and Everything!

Every wonder about the BIG questions in life? Who am I really? Were do I come from? Where am I heading? Where do I go after death? Join us for the upcoming interactive sessions where we will explore these questions and much more. We have two study sessions planned as follows:

1) Exploring the Foundations of Theosophy Mondays 2nd May to 30th May. 7:30 to 9:00pm
This is focused on setting the foundations of our Theosophical studies. We will explore the reasons why the mysterious adepts of Tibet and Egypt wished to see the principles of the Ageless Wisdom, (which had remained hidden for many millennia),onceagainpresentedtohumanity. Thesefoundationsareimportanttoknowinordertofullyunderstandthe Ageless Wisdom. This Course includes an understanding of the law of cycles, consciousness and a look at who we really are.

(This course is particularly recommended for those who are interested in further studies in Theosophy or have recently joined the Society.)

2) The Human Journey Mondays 13th June to 11th July 7.30 – 9.00pm.
These sessions build upon the foundation principles of the first series and take a deeper look at our personal journey through life. Here we will learn more about our originality according to the Ageless Wisdom and the reasons why we all seem so different from each other today. We will learn how to discover our true nature, how to waken our consciousness so we have the awareness to see life as it truly is. To be human we must embrace every aspect of our being, from the physical and emotional, to the divine. We will explore conditioning, our personal and universal values, learning the importance of open mind questioning and universal values in our everyday life at home and work.

(To get the most out of this session it is recommended that all participants should have attended the Exploring the Foundation of Theosophy sessions first.)

Each session will include a short presentation by the facilitator, followed by an interactive, explorative discussion. Each week there will be detailed handouts along with some recommended reading and practices to deepen our understanding.

I moved from Vodafone who I have been with for around 10 years to 2degrees about a month ago. I moved because 2degrees said they could put me on an invoice basis (I am a business). I hoped on and joined but could not get the “pay monthly” plan to accept me as my drivers license had expired… You can only change to this plan if you ave a current drivers license. Okay, so I renewed and then tried again but the site would still not let me go onto “pay monthly” because of some error on the website.

I phone support (again!) and they said someone would get back to me in 2 days max. 4 or 5 days latter someone contacted me and told me they had sorted it out. So I tried again this morning to complete the application process of where all I had to do, or so I was told, was to choose the plan I needed to go on.

I went in today and got the message “Sorry!! We’ve been unable to automatically approve your application”. Okay so what happened to the response I got by phone.

Called and after a 20 minute phone call they PROMISED they would have someone on the phone to me today to sort it out personally.

So it is now 8:30pm and no one has called.

Sadly Prepay does not work for me, so now I need to decide why I am going to stay with 2dregees. It has taken over a month to try and sort this out, and admittedly the initial fault was mine because of an expired drivers license. But that was sorted 3 weeks ago now.

The helpdesk was supportive and friendly but it seems there is no process to seriously escalate a problem in a meaningful way. Also no process to tell customers if they are having issues and that there are delays. Not very professional IMHO.

So, Vodafone, unless I get a response to this soon and it is sorted I will be heading back your way…. and I though Vodafones customer service was bad!!!!

I have just revamped my Ayurveda Wiki project. I started putting together a website as a resource for Ayurvedic Herbology a couple of years ago using MediaWiki (The same software Wikipedia uses). However I found the software did not give me enough flexibility so moved everything to a Drupal powered website earlier this year and have slowly been adding content. So it is now on-line at www.ayurwiki.info.

It is a long process and will no doubt take a lot of time to get my current first phase herbs online – around 130 herbs. Just a matter of finding the time between jobs to get this done. Trouble is I seem to have more jobs to do these days, so not much time between jobs.

Ayurveda looks at herbs in a unique way. Rather than simply looking at simply it’s chemical properties, Ayurveda looks at the herb as a whole and recognises each of these herbs having particular actions and energetics (like heating, their taste, post digestive effects etc.). Each individual is also seen, from an Ayurvedic perspective as being composed of 5 elemental qualities, which have a tendency to go out of balance and cause illness due to our lifestyle or eating habits. When we understand the qualities of the imbalance and the qualities of the herbs it is a matter of matching the herbs qualities and energetics to what is needed in the body to help create balance.

Ayurvedic herbs do not act like modern chemical drugs, rather they have a slow and consistent action over a long period of time. We look not so much as a solution to act on a symptom but rather target what we see as the cause and then by removing the cause the sympton will eventually disappear. My experience that to get real benefits from herbal medicines, such as Ayurvedic herbs, you need to take them for 3 to 6 months.

All very interesting stuff once you get to know it. So getting to know the herbs is quite magic.

Always amazes me at the differences of culture between Wellington and Auckland. This morning I was on my way to do some work in Wellington and caught a lift with two strangers. Within a few seconds of getting in there was a conversation in full bloom. If this was Auckland we would be traveling in complete silence.

I love it in Wellington when people will look you in the eye and say hi. When you go and have a coffee and the staff talk to you. Where you can catch a bus or a train to where ever you want or pop your car into a garage for an urgent repair without an appointment.

Magic.

I have added some photos from the Internship at Hassan for those that might be interested to see what it is all about. You can click on the Ayurveda Internship under Pages or go the link below:

Ayurveda Internship pictures

I am soon to leave India after having spent a short time in Bangalore or Bengaluru is it is known today. It is India’s fifth largest city with over 4 million people (in 2001). Amazing, you could fit the entire population of New Zealand into this city. Certainly it has the feel of a very large city.

For the last few days I have been experiencing a cold so have kept to my hotel room at the Sanman Guest House, in Model House Street, of Kanakapura Road, Basavangudi. It is situated behind the Shivashakthu Convention Hall which is an important land mark as I could not find Model House Street on any map, including google maps. The street is there but no name. I guess it is just to hard to put the names of all the many tiny streets onto the maps, but disconcerting for the intrepid traveller. It is a nice place to stay with a comfortable bed, its own bathroom, a television with what seems like 100 channels and there is wireless Internet which is an amazing gift after the challenges of Internet access in Hassan.

I got here by taxi from Hassan which was a relaxing journey with mostly very good roads and not too much traffic. It was a motorway, a bit like State Highway 1 in NZ, with parts of it being upgraded to two lanes which slowed things down. A 208 km journey which took around 4 hours, so that gives you an idea of the pace of the traffic. Nothing moves fast here.

The weather while I have been here has been really great. Some people say this is the worst time to be in Southern India (July/August) but around this area the weather is temperate. It is usually cloudy with a slight breeze, 27oC would be a really warm day and at night it cools down. Quite ideal really. The coolest time here is apparently in January when temperatures plummet to 20oC. The humidity is also pleasant.

Best way to get around is in the yellow auto-rickshaw which are everywhere. Mostly they will turn there meters on or negotiate a price with you before starting out. However when you want to get back to your hotel from one of the shopping areas then you have to be a bit more vigilant as they try to put their charges up considerable and often refuse to use their meters. A bit of patients and working around will eventually get you a fair price.

I met one of my fellow Ayurvedic Practitioners here, Thomas Mueller (http://www.ayuwave.com), who had just returned from giving a set of workshops in Japan. Thomas had spent a month here in Bangalore before the Internship so he new the place a lot better than me and was able to take me to some of the areas I was interested in. There is a good Ayurveda book shop here called Vedanta Book House, on 6th Main, Chamarajpet which was good to visit. They have a large range of books related to all sorts of metaphysical subjects, spread over several small shops adjacent to each other. Many of the students at the SDM College purchases there Ayurveda books from here.

There are also some good older type shopping areas around where I am staying. I like the Gandhi Bazar along Gandhi Bazar road and adjacent streets. Good place to purchase fruit and lots of stalls with flowers used in daily rituals here in India. There is also some great shops in Jayangar, a short 20 minutes walk away, down 9 Main. Found some good places to eat in these areas also. I am a vegetarian, which is a great thing in India as most places seem to be vegetarian or at least have mostly vegetarian meals.

While I was at Hassan I decided to have a break from coffee and for the time there all I had was a daily cup of very sweet tea and water to drink. Bangalore does have coffee shops but it the coffee was mostly disappointing, mainly because the beans were too old or the coffee was too weak. Not good for someone who loves his coffee. However I eventually found a place which makes the best coffee in Bangalore (that I have come across), and it is just around the corner from where I am staying. It is a small place called Cafe Mondo at 2 Pattalamma Gudu Street, which runs off Arumugam Circle. They make a good cafe latee and serve food with a definite western flavour if you want something different from Indian food. Just a Latee and Apple cake is nice.

Today, feeling a little better I am going to go of an visit Brigade Road and Commercial Street, and have a look around. Both popular shopping areas. Not much opens here before 11am so it will be an afternoon adventure and an opportunity to pick up a couple of things before I head off to Singapore for a couple of nights.

The experience over the last two months have been very rewarding. India has always had a place in my heart so it has been good to be able to immerse myself in its culture for a short while. However it is now time to start to tune back into home again.

Every month from the 1st to the 10th the Ayurvedic Hospital here in Hassan has what they call an obesity camp. This is an opportunity for people who are overweight to come in and undergo the appropriate therapy. This is generally a mixture of several steps which includes:

• Going on a special diet while admited for the 10 days
• Yoga and Pranayama sessions each day
• Special herbal medicines to promote metabolism and help to reduce fat tissue.
• Daily massage, usually using herbal powders rather than oil which is contraindicated in obesity and Kapha imbalances.
• Panchakarma

I met some of the patients who did the obesity camp last month as they came out of their yoga session. The guy I talked to was so happy that he had lost some weight. The smile on his face was magical.

Obesity and Diabetes are of course linked together and many of the obese cases also have diabetes which creates quite a serious complication for ones health. Although diabetes is not difficult to treat in Ayurveda, if not treated then the associated conditions can become very serious.

Once the patient is discharged they are given special diet recommendations. Of course this is the critical phase, as when we go home we often tend to go back to our old habits and the weight starts to pile back on. Only way to deal with this is to make the life change, eat properly and exercise…… Don’t I know it.

Of course there are other eating disorders which I have studied while here, such as anorexia and bulimia which are also serious and in the case of anorexia, very difficult to deal with if it has set in as a serious pattern. Anorexic people for example, do not see the effect that their diet is having on their body and often still see themselves as fat or overweight. When people tell them they are thin then often they believe their friends to be lying to them. Ayurveda sees these more as an disease of the mind and it is at this level that some work has to be done, often using counciling and some special procedures which awaken the intellect and discernment of the mind.

Often these diseases are caused by our social culture which is demanding that we be thin. Look at the magazines, television etc. which often people site in front of for extended periods these days. Its subtle influence goes very deeply into our social culture.

My time at Hassan is drawing to a close. In a few days I will be saying a sad goodbye to new friends and heading back to Bangalore where I have some further ayurvedic explorations to do. As well as a million pages of notes to type out.