Laughter is the best medicine

Laughter is the best medicine. If you can laugh when you are ill you will get your health back sooner. If you cannot laugh, even if you are healthy, sooner or later you will lose your health and you will become ill.

Laughter brings inner energy to the fore. When you really laugh, for those few moments you are in a deep meditative state. Thinking stops. It is impossible to laugh and think together. When you really laugh, suddenly, the mind disappears. And the whole Zen methodology is how to get into no-mind.

Dancing and laughter are the best, natural, easily approachable doors to attaining no-mind. Existence melts into you; there is an overlapping of boundaries. And if you are really dancing ? not managing it but allowing it to manage you, allowing it to possess you ? if you are possessed by dance, thinking stops. The same happens with laughter. If you are possessed by laughter, thinking stops. And if you know a few moments of no-mind, those glimpses will promise you many more rewards that are going to come.

Before the mind disappears there open two alternatives: sleep or sushupti/ samadhi and satori. When thinking disappears, these are the two alternatives left: either you move into satori � a fully alert, no-thought state; or a fully asleep, no-thought state � sleep.

And sleep is more natural, because you have practised it long. If you live 60 years, for 20 years you have been asleep. It is the greatest activity that you have been doing; one-third of your life is spent in sleep. Laughing, how can you fall asleep? It brings a state of no-mind and no-thought, and does not allow you to fall asleep.

In a few Zen monasteries, every monk has to start his morning with laughter, and has to end his night with laughter. It will be difficult, living in a family set-up, to suddenly laugh early in the morning. But do try it; it's worth getting out of bed laughing. Yes, for no reason at all. Isn't it good to be alive?

One day you will not get up in the morning. One day the milkman will knock at the door, the spouse will be snoring, but you will not be there. One day, death will come. Before it knocks you down, have a good laugh � while there is time, have a good laugh.

And look at the whole ridiculousness: again the same day starts; you have done the same things again and again for your whole life. Again you will get into your slippers, rush to the bathroom � for what? Brushing your teeth, taking a shower � for what? Where are you going? Getting ready and nowhere to go!

Look at the whole ridiculousness of it and have a good laugh. Laughter leads to more laughter. And almost always I have seen people doing just the wrong thing. From early morning they get out of bed complaining, gloomy, sad, depressed, and miserable. Then one thing leads to another and for nothing. And they get angry. it is very bad because it will change your climate for the whole day, it will set a pattern for the whole day.

In their insanity, Zen people are saner than you are. They start the day laughing. Then the whole day you will feel laughter bubbling, welling up. There are so many ridiculous things happening all over! God must be dying of laughter down the centuries, for eternity, seeing this ridiculousness of the world. The people that He has created, and all the absurdities ? it is really a comedy. He must be laughing.

If you become silent after your laughter, one day you will hear God also laughing, you will hear the whole existence laughing with you even the trees and stones and stars.

So what are you waiting for. Now laugh for no reason

Myth of the Tireless Leader

Couple of days ago I wrote about Sleep. Couple of days ago Larry Summers fell asleep in a big meeting. Larry is the key guy in Obama's Administration and is being seen as the saviour from financial Tsunami in US.

I picked up the below from a Business Blog.

And the White House press corps snapped a battery of photos to share that news around the world. Like most everyone, I suspect, I giggled at his embarrassing moment and wondered how those in the room felt about the doze.
We've all been in meetings when someone has dozed off. It usually means the person is either deeply disengaged, or more likely exhausted. Summers is clearly the latter, presumably driving himself round the clock, sleeping minimally, to unwind this crisis.

Good for him, some might say. These are trying times that demand leaders who would forgo rest to solve our problems.

No doubt, demonstrating insane stamina on the job is some kind of alpha dog badge of honor. Part of the idolatry of that subspecies of leader known as an NFL coach, for example, comes from their preposterous work habits. And I still recall an unnerving New York Times article from 1997 about various high profile business leaders (including Disney's current CEO Robert Iger, PR guru Howard Rubenstein, and then-book publisher Judith Regan), boasting about how little sleep they needed.

Unfortunately, the myth of the tireless leader is just that--a myth. The ugly truth about sleeplessness is that it's linked to obesity, diabetes, depression and, yes, increased mortality. Forgoing sleep doesn't make you a hero. It makes you ineffective.

I make better spot decisions when I've had a good night's sleep--and better decisions still, having thought about them over a good night's sleep. And I try to manage employees guided by my own experience. I don't want the new mother dragging herself back from maternity leave at six weeks if she's exhausted. I'd rather cope without her for a few more weeks and have her back "whole" and rested. I don't want people traveling on a red eye and heading straight into a busy day just so they won't "waste" the day.

In fact, getting that rest isn't a waste at all. They'll do better work. And you'll be a better leader for having let them sleep.

As for Summers, he should be well aware of the toll of running himself ragged. Neil Rudenstine, former president of Harvard University, was forced to take a leave of absence to deal with "exhaustion." What good will Summers be for helping sort out the crisis if he's forced to take a leave or collapses on the job?

Even if he survives this all, I'd feel better if he weren't debilitated by exhaustion as he makes decisions that will affect all of us for years to come.

Maybe Summers' impromptu nap shouldn't make us giggle so much as worry.

May be some people I know, should also read this, and go to bed early.

After all - "Early to bed and early to rise, may Jack healthy, wealthy & wise."

Why Sleep Is So Important?

Why Sleep Is So Important

Many hard-charging managers pride themselves on their ability to work long hours and get by on 5 or 6 hours of sleep. But the truth is that they're shortchanging themselves -- and their companies.

"Sleep is not a luxury," says Dr. James O'Brien, medical director of the Boston SleepCare Center in Waltham, Mass. "It's a necessity for optimal functioning."

When you sleep, your brain catalogues the previous day's experiences, primes your memory, and triggers the release of hormones regulating energy, mood, and mental acuity. To complete its work, the brain needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep. When it gets less, your concentration, creativity, mood regulation, and productivity all take a hit.

How sleep works
To understand why the right amount of shut-eye is so important to performance, it helps to know how sleep works.

Healthy sleep is divided into four-stage cycles. As we progress through stages 1 and 2, we become increasingly unplugged from the world until we reach the deep sleep that happens in stage 3. In deep sleep, both brain and body activity drop to their lowest point during the cycle, and blood is redirected from the brain to muscles.

The fourth and final stage is named for the rapid eye movement -- REM -- that is its defining characteristic. Our brains become busily active in REM sleep, too, even more so than when we are awake. Dreaming happens during this stage.

In a full night's sleep, we experience three or four such cycles, each lasting 60 to 90 minutes.

The work sleep does
Different yet equally important restorative work happens during deep sleep (stage 3) and REM sleep (stage 4).

Deep sleep is crucial for physical renewal, hormonal regulation, and growth. Without deep sleep, you're more likely to get sick, feel depressed, and gain an unhealthy amount of weight. According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2008 Sleep in America poll, those who sleep less than 6 hours per night on workdays are significantly more likely to be obese than those who sleep 8 hours or more (41% vs. 28%).

In REM sleep -- stage 4 in the sleep cycle -- the brain processes and synthesizes memories and emotions, activity that is crucial for learning and higher-level thought. A lack of REM sleep results in slower cognitive and social processing, problems with memory, and difficulty concentrating. The same 2008 sleep poll found that people who sleep less than 6 hours per night during the workweek are twice as likely as their better-rested colleagues to report difficulty in concentrating.

A deficit in sleep leads to deficits in work performance
Performing complex tasks and navigating complicated relationships -- the heart and soul of a manager's work -- both become much harder to do when REM sleep suffers. And when you cut back on sleep, your REM sleep suffers the most.

There are two reasons for this:

1. Your brain, when confronted with sleep deprivation, opts for lighter sleep and hence less REM sleep.
2. Later sleep cycles tend to have longer REM periods than cycles earlier in the night. When you sleep through only one or two cycles instead of three or four, your REM sleep is disproportionately affected.

When your brain is starved of REM sleep, concentrating on a single activity is challenging. Multitasking -- an inescapable bane of managerial work -- becomes exponentially more so.

A deficit of REM sleep also makes it tougher to pick up on nuances in discussions or negotiations.

"When you're trying to understand the subtext of what someone is saying, your brain needs to use a bunch of programs at the same time," says Dr. Gandis Mazeika, head of Sleep Medicine Northwest in Seattle. "If you're sleep deprived, that's hard to do."

In addition, recent research shows that sleep deprivation takes a toll on decision-making ability.

Getting more from the sleep you get
Given the demands facing managers today -- working in a 24/7, always-on environment is a big one -- a full night's sleep is sometimes an impossible dream. Fortunately, there are ways to get more out of the time you do manage to spend in sleep:

• Avoid caffeine. Cut out caffeinated coffee, tea, and soda ideally 1 hour before bedtime -- and chocolate, too. When you sleep, make it a commitment.
• Try to nod off quickly. To fall asleep fast, you can occasionally use a sleeping supplement. But be careful. For example, the much-prescribed Ambien is specifically for sleeping seven to eight hours. If you don't have that much time, don't use it. Although some antidepressants can help you feel drowsy enough to fall asleep, they also tend to compromise REM, says Dr. O'Brien. A more healthful approach for some is to meditate a half-hour before hitting the bed.
• Darken the room completely. Your brain creates a hormone called melatonin that senses when it's dark out and primes you for sleep. If you try to sleep amid too much light, your brain may decide you're not ready for bedtime after all. So turn off the TV, shut down the computer, turn the clock to the wall, and close the blinds tightly. Use an eye mask if you're sleeping during the daytime.
• Sleep in a restful environment. Make sure the room is quiet and your BlackBerry is out of hearing range. Sleep on a comfortable mattress; Dr. Mazeika advises you get a new one every five to 10 years.

Exploit the power of power naps
Don't forget that brief day-time naps can be helpful. If at all possible, close your office door (if you have one) and try to doze for 10 to 20 minutes.

"Power naps are real and help you feel refreshed," says Dr. O'Brien.

But keep the naps short, he warns. With a longer nap, you're likely to wake up while in deep sleep and feel worse than before. It can take up to 30 minutes to feel fully alert after awakening from deep sleep.

By keeping your nap to 10-20 minutes, you should be able to achieve stage 2 in the sleep cycle and wake up energized rather than groggy. A short power nap should provide enough of a boost to keep your performance going strong the rest of the day -- and is more effective (as well as healthier) than a cup of coffee.

Why Sleep Is So Important?

Why Sleep Is So Important

Many hard-charging managers pride themselves on their ability to work long hours and get by on 5 or 6 hours of sleep. But the truth is that they're shortchanging themselves -- and their companies.

"Sleep is not a luxury," says Dr. James O'Brien, medical director of the Boston SleepCare Center in Waltham, Mass. "It's a necessity for optimal functioning."

When you sleep, your brain catalogues the previous day's experiences, primes your memory, and triggers the release of hormones regulating energy, mood, and mental acuity. To complete its work, the brain needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep. When it gets less, your concentration, creativity, mood regulation, and productivity all take a hit.

How sleep works
To understand why the right amount of shut-eye is so important to performance, it helps to know how sleep works.

Healthy sleep is divided into four-stage cycles. As we progress through stages 1 and 2, we become increasingly unplugged from the world until we reach the deep sleep that happens in stage 3. In deep sleep, both brain and body activity drop to their lowest point during the cycle, and blood is redirected from the brain to muscles.

The fourth and final stage is named for the rapid eye movement -- REM -- that is its defining characteristic. Our brains become busily active in REM sleep, too, even more so than when we are awake. Dreaming happens during this stage.

In a full night's sleep, we experience three or four such cycles, each lasting 60 to 90 minutes.

The work sleep does
Different yet equally important restorative work happens during deep sleep (stage 3) and REM sleep (stage 4).

Deep sleep is crucial for physical renewal, hormonal regulation, and growth. Without deep sleep, you're more likely to get sick, feel depressed, and gain an unhealthy amount of weight. According to the National Sleep Foundation's 2008 Sleep in America poll, those who sleep less than 6 hours per night on workdays are significantly more likely to be obese than those who sleep 8 hours or more (41% vs. 28%).

In REM sleep -- stage 4 in the sleep cycle -- the brain processes and synthesizes memories and emotions, activity that is crucial for learning and higher-level thought. A lack of REM sleep results in slower cognitive and social processing, problems with memory, and difficulty concentrating. The same 2008 sleep poll found that people who sleep less than 6 hours per night during the workweek are twice as likely as their better-rested colleagues to report difficulty in concentrating.

A deficit in sleep leads to deficits in work performance
Performing complex tasks and navigating complicated relationships -- the heart and soul of a manager's work -- both become much harder to do when REM sleep suffers. And when you cut back on sleep, your REM sleep suffers the most.

There are two reasons for this:

1. Your brain, when confronted with sleep deprivation, opts for lighter sleep and hence less REM sleep.
2. Later sleep cycles tend to have longer REM periods than cycles earlier in the night. When you sleep through only one or two cycles instead of three or four, your REM sleep is disproportionately affected.

When your brain is starved of REM sleep, concentrating on a single activity is challenging. Multitasking -- an inescapable bane of managerial work -- becomes exponentially more so.

A deficit of REM sleep also makes it tougher to pick up on nuances in discussions or negotiations.

"When you're trying to understand the subtext of what someone is saying, your brain needs to use a bunch of programs at the same time," says Dr. Gandis Mazeika, head of Sleep Medicine Northwest in Seattle. "If you're sleep deprived, that's hard to do."

In addition, recent research shows that sleep deprivation takes a toll on decision-making ability.

Getting more from the sleep you get
Given the demands facing managers today -- working in a 24/7, always-on environment is a big one -- a full night's sleep is sometimes an impossible dream. Fortunately, there are ways to get more out of the time you do manage to spend in sleep:

• Avoid caffeine. Cut out caffeinated coffee, tea, and soda ideally 1 hour before bedtime -- and chocolate, too. When you sleep, make it a commitment.
• Try to nod off quickly. To fall asleep fast, you can occasionally use a sleeping supplement. But be careful. For example, the much-prescribed Ambien is specifically for sleeping seven to eight hours. If you don't have that much time, don't use it. Although some antidepressants can help you feel drowsy enough to fall asleep, they also tend to compromise REM, says Dr. O'Brien. A more healthful approach for some is to meditate a half-hour before hitting the bed.
• Darken the room completely. Your brain creates a hormone called melatonin that senses when it's dark out and primes you for sleep. If you try to sleep amid too much light, your brain may decide you're not ready for bedtime after all. So turn off the TV, shut down the computer, turn the clock to the wall, and close the blinds tightly. Use an eye mask if you're sleeping during the daytime.
• Sleep in a restful environment. Make sure the room is quiet and your BlackBerry is out of hearing range. Sleep on a comfortable mattress; Dr. Mazeika advises you get a new one every five to 10 years.

Exploit the power of power naps
Don't forget that brief day-time naps can be helpful. If at all possible, close your office door (if you have one) and try to doze for 10 to 20 minutes.

"Power naps are real and help you feel refreshed," says Dr. O'Brien.

But keep the naps short, he warns. With a longer nap, you're likely to wake up while in deep sleep and feel worse than before. It can take up to 30 minutes to feel fully alert after awakening from deep sleep.

By keeping your nap to 10-20 minutes, you should be able to achieve stage 2 in the sleep cycle and wake up energized rather than groggy. A short power nap should provide enough of a boost to keep your performance going strong the rest of the day -- and is more effective (as well as healthier) than a cup of coffee.