Saturday, June 21, 2014

Key Insights from Crystallization happening in Psychiatry

Key Insights from Crystallization happening in Psychiatry
An Interview with Consultant Psychiatrist
on similarities between Psychiatry profession and Crystallization process. 

                                                           by Dr. Nitin Arora

Dr. Abdulkareem Mustafa,
Consultant Psychiatrist,
Ibn Al Nafees Hospital, Bahrain
Manama, 16th June, 2014: Crystallization essentially is process of formation of solid crystals from a homogeneous solution. In psychiatric consultancy context, crystallization indicates a process of restoration of individual resilience necessary to cope with uncertain bio-psycho-social situations. I had proposed a model on ‘Crystallization of SpaceTime’ which looks for insights from different industries / professions based on comparative analogies between crystal and business growth process. This is the second interview based article where I explore the similarities with crystallization process within the context of Psychiatric professional services. I am honored to have Dr. Abdul Kareem Mustafa, Consultant Psychiatrist, Ibn Al Nafees Hospital, Bahrain who has taken time out of his busy schedule to share his insights. I am sure that my business undergraduate students will get benefitted by reading the experiential advises of a psychiatrist. The conceptual readers can go deeper by seeing the similarities between the crystallization process and psychiatrist process aimed at restoring resilience in his clients.

Arora: Ultimately, how do you see a perfect psychiatrist treatment / counseling?
Dr. Abdul: After the counselling, I want to see my client as a person having no complaint, taking good care of himself and his relationships as well as doing his jobs. He should have developed resilience towards life uncertainties by living through them.

Arora: Can you tell about any forefather of psychiatric profession who has been proved false today.
Dr. Abdul: Definitely, Sigmund Freud.! His theory prevented growth of psychiatric profession for a period close to century. Medicine progresses by empiricism. Empirical research collects facts and then out of these facts you can think of a theory like that of Freud! On the other hand, Emil kraepelin’s classification of mental disorders has stood against all the recent classifications.
Successful Heart Connection with  patients

Arora: How do you access deeper layers of patient’s problematic mind?
Dr. Abdul: I need to integrate the bio-psycho-socio-spiritual aspects of client. This approach Is not only for assessment but also for psychotherapy, counseling or prescribing medicine.

I am not a great couch fan. You can see that I don’t have any couch in my clinic. Couch might be good for psychoanalysis which used to continue for 5 years, I prefer psychotherapy. I approach my client’s problem like approaching an elephant. Exploring its different constituents like tail, trunk, legs, etc and by all possible means to decode and synthesize the real cause of the psychiatric symptom. I support all drug therapies & complimentary therapies like hypnotherapy, diet regulation, reiki, yoga etc. Also, ECT is also one of the safest treatments in medicine and not only in psychiatry.  It depends on my client’s situation that which one treatment of mix of them solves the problem.

Arora: Is the significance of mind and heart different in your profession?
Dr. Abdul: There is no such place of Cartesian thinking in psychiatry. It’s actually an integration of Bio-Psycho-Socio-Spiritual. We have to encourage all to take care of all and not just a part to remain healthy.

Arora: Do you see any big benefits from winning hearts of your patients?
Dr. Abdul: We have to win hearts, without building rapport with the client we cannot help him. winning hearts is important to win trust of patients. We have some terms in psychiatry such as ‘transference’ or ‘counter transference’. Former term is from the patient’s side and the latter is from the psychiatrist side. You have to keep balance between wining heart keeping boundaries. If we don’t know how to keep the boundaries (the relationship between the patient and professional), one should not be in psychiatry profession. Keeping boundaries means keeping your interaction very flexible according to the interest of your client. We have both positive an negative transference as well as positive and negative counter-transference. Resolution this neurotic transference if the essence of the psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. Our profession depends on this basic premise of winning hearts / trust of patients. 

Crystal’s brilliance

Arora: What is that Psychiatric profession’s strength that makes it an immortal profession?
Dr. Abdul: There are so many specialties in medicine like ENT, gastro, cardiology, neurology, opthalmology etc. All of these professionals have to know how to deal with the psyche of the patients. They can afford to forget the knowledge of many other unrelated specialties but can’t afford to lose the knowledge of psychiatric aspect of their clients.

One time my colleague, she is a gynecologist saw me in the operation theatre. She was surprised and asked me  “ What are you doing here?”. I replied, “ How come you don’t know why I am here?You don’t know that as you work on the lower end of the patient and  I work on her upper end!!! She smiled and replied: No  I have to approach the patient from the top so that I  can get through her bottom.”  The wise gynecologist is a good example that psychiatric knowledge is such immortal.

Arora: What kind of patients will remain eternal and why? Any solution if you can see?
Dr. Abdul: Some facts first! The new development in psychiatric armamentarium made psychiatry more efficient specialty.  Psychiatirc patient now can live normal life. Even patients with severe mental disorders, 25% of them will always be  normal after treatment, the next 50%  will be  a bit sub-normal even with treatment. While the remaining  25%  will give poor response, even with continuous psychiatric attention and care. The solution lies in understanding the secrets that are created in psyche have faith in them and be determined to pool the best out of the dilemma.

Arora: What is the role of upbringing on your patient ?
Dr. Abdul:  Upbringing shapes and reframes us. In childhood you can see the conditioning theory very clearly. If the teacher says to his student that he is smart, he will become smart. If he says he is dumb, he will become dumb. If wrong conditioning remains, psychiatric hospitals will always be busy with patients till eternity. If conditioning is positive, they can develop the resilience to life hiccups or even tragedies. Else, some facts are scary that are out for long. By 2030, Depression will become number one killer taking over the Cardiac attack.  

Arora: How do you define your professional heartbeat (lifeline)? Can it ever become zero?
Dr. Abdul: Wallahi! I hope, I hope, to find my profession to become like small pox, a disease which is eradicated from the world. One of the kings of Egypt, Ramses V, was killed by small pox. If at that time someone says the small pox will be eradicated, he could have been seen as crazy. But today, if we look back, as per my info, last case of small pox was observed in 1975.
Preventive psychiatry was also a movement that if they study it, psychiatrists could be avoided. But so far it’s not possible.  Psychiatric treatment makes changes on cellular level. It’s not just a thought or suggestion but it is capable of changing structure organically. 

Arora: Is there a space in Psychiatrist’s profession for providing innovative treatments?
Dr. Abdul: Each patient is a separate book. You cannot generalize. But there are no innovations as such. But treatment can be tailor made to each patient and this is innovation in our profession. The good mix of psychotherapy, ECT, drug therapy, social therapy, unique approaches etc. makes the psychiatric treatment innovative.

Crystallizer (Predictable and Unpredictable Intelligence)

Arora: What one drastic change you have observed that has crystallized in psychiatric services?
Dr. Abdul: Addictive drugs like cannabis were taken lightly in the past. Now we are sure that cannabis is cause of relapse of all other addictive drugs so look at hashish now as one of the most dangerous addictive drugs. It is not only gate way drug but it works like a prisoner which keep a drug addict in his addiction until he takes overdose and dies.  Actually, it was not scientific. In Egypt, they still have hubbly-bubbly, we say ‘Sheesha’ in arabic language. They have a long history of consuming hashish as something a common prescription for mental disorders. Even I have read Freud’s prescriptions of Cocaine when I was at John Hopkin’s University as a research scholar.  It was common then but now it is banned as it is addictive and is very dangerous. Once you take even for one time, it creates great craving and the addict never gets free from this addiction. So this prescription of this common drug is banned even though many say it is less dangerous than nicotine based cigarettes.



Arora: What is your organizational & professional ‘possessed predictable-intelligence’?
Dr. Abdul: Big & clean sources of professional knowledge from journals, conferences, readings; my clinical experience; and using the sources around the patient like family therapy, marital therapy. So , they are these three categories.

Arora: What ‘unpredictable intelligence’ you are eager to capture?
Dr. Abdul: Yes, I am working on building my research center to capture deeper insights, and intelligence. But it needs investment. If someone can invest in my research center, I can assure you that I can change the face of psychiatry. Other specialties are quick in data collection but it is not the same in psychiatry. It needs time, patience, organizational support and big investment in research to capture this unpredictable intelligence which could unleash great insights that can help psychiatric patients.

Factors preventing Super-Saturation in your profession

Arora: What factors in social environment has supported the society to become mentally insane?
Dr. Abdul: You may laugh if I give you first the reason for becoming a psychiatric patient. People who survive the deadly diseases in the past by virtue of their immunity strength ‘natural survivors’, they will have less mental disorders. But those who survived because of antibiotic and rehydrants, ‘forced survivors’, they will not be mentally healthier than natural survivors. These forced survivors have more chances of having mental disorders. But I don’t say that that medicine is bad or I am against it. I am saying that ‘vaccination of psychiatry’ (in a metaphoric sense), should be developed to help them to cope with the life.  ‘Vaccination of psyche’ has a very bright future.

I see, Bullying is one of the major reason where people abuse each other, whether at home or at work. This is increasing and I see this to be one of the leading reason of people having mental disorders. Bullying someone and getting bullied is not much different. They are two faces of same coin in context of being prone to mental disorder. They both have a heavy impact / influence on ‘forced survivors’ in comparison to ‘natural survivors’. 

Arora: What factors you see supports the society in becoming mentally healthy than before?
Dr. Abdul:  Love, Faith, Self-confidence, Social skills. All of these factors can help and I see them rising. The more ways you have to connect with others, the stronger your connection is with others and with oneself too. Mental health is just a stronger connection with oneself and with others. When these connections go weak, the person becomes weak and becomes less aware of his weakness. This lack of awareness of one’s weakness and eventually acting out of from this state makes one of a kind of a mental patient.

Recrystallization

Arora: What purification treatment is majorly suggested to patients after the completion of consultancy period to avoid recurrence of same problem?
Dr. Abdul: Adherence to medication as prescribed, or follow up visits will suffice this final purification process. .

Harmony

Arora: What does harmony means to you from Professional perspective?
Dr. Abdul: Harmony means developing effective ways of giving consultation to my clients with the best possible support of my hospital administration and my personal life. Balance between client’s needs, hospital administration rules, and fulfillment of my intellectual / social priorities is crucial for bringing harmony in my profession.

Closing
Arora: Any advice to young students and professionals on how to keep themselves mentally fit?

Dr Abdul: Learn how to deal with stress. Stress is inevitable! Acquire Social skills, communication skills, Conflict resolution skills. Learn how to be serene. Don’t become a money making machine. Life is a thousand page adventurous story with the morale to aim for happiness and comes with a small footnote on your possessions. 

List of Previous Interview based Articles:

1. Arora, N. (2014) Key Insights from Crystallization happening in Advisory Services. An Interview with Mr. Adnan Fareed, Senior Financial Consultant, Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization, Bahrain. (Interview Date: 10th June 2014, Manama)

2. Arora, N (2014); Crystallization of SpaceTime: An exploratory Mystical insights for Business. The Proposed Model.
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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Key Insights from Crystallization happening in Advisory Services


Academician talks to Senior Financial Consultant in Advisory Services on crystallization happening in advisory services. 

10th June 2014
                                                                  by Dr. Nitin Arora

Mr. Adnan Fareed,
Sr. Financial Consultant,
TAGO, Bahrain
Crystallization refers to the formation of solid crystals from a homogeneous solution. It is essentially a solid-liquid separation technique. In business context, crystallization indicates formation of insights from being in the business environment for long. This interview based article is essentially an experiential insight-effort separation activity.  Here we explore crystallization happening in advisory services from the perspective of Mr. Adnan Fareed,  Senior Financial Consultant in Bahrain. The author has proposed a model on ‘Crystallization of SpaceTime’ which looks for insights from different industry based on analogies between crystal growth process and business growth process. This is the first article of this interview based articles.

Arora: What one major change you have witnessed that has shaped advisory services?
Fareed: The advisory services had moved from centralization to decentralization to regionalization. All credit goes to the advent of teleconferencing and online knowledge collaboration technologies. This allows the advisories and consultants like us to provide expert advises without much physical travel. Else the physical travel consumes a major portion of our time. The global base of our Organization allows timely crystallizing of key advisors for a project to work jointly and bid for project successfully without leaving the desk or the country .

Arora: How do you explain on having successfully formed a  ‘heart connection with customers’ ?
Fareed: Strategies keep changing but it is the customer loyalty is what we want at the end of business. There is no golden rule for forming a successful heart connection with customers in advisory services. Some clients will not start new projects. Some clients come back depending on the commencement date of their new projects. Some clients give references of their suppliers or buyers as goodwill builds up, and this is also a part of winning their hearts. They trust us that we can provide support to their important stakeholders and this is how they also strengthen their heart connections within their network of stakeholders. But yes, it is during the period of crisis when the image is at stake of any organization and they will invite only those consultants whom they have immense trust for lifting them out of the crisis situation. We as advisory service providers have seen cases when our first bad impression can seriously erode the possibility of getting a second project even after a gap of six –seven years. So yes, even first impression is also important in building heart connection, even though it takes longer than that in most of the clientele.

Arora:  What do you see as organizational strength that helps achieving an immortal status (self-sustaining for long) ?
Fareed: Whatever we do we own it. We own it means that whatever we take both responsibility and accountability for the work we do. We are a global organization with headquarters in Jordan and presence in major parts of world under the brand name of Talal Abu Ghazaleh Organization. We just can’t run away from any mistake that any of our global office commits. It affects the entire group image globally. Our worthy Chairman, H.E. Dr. Talal Abu Ghazaleh, leads by example by embracing mistakes and failures of his highly paid expert employees. He believes that as he himself stands behind all of us like a shield, similarly we should stand behind the work we do in all its phases of ups and down. Client is important and we should not leave them at any phase of their execution. And this very attitude is very well absorbed and executed in TAGO culture. This culture of accountability and responsibility will keep us marching forward.

Arora: Is advisory service passive or active in providing innovative solutions to the clients.
Fareed: If you are not innovative, you cannot survive in many types of business sectors. We are no exceptions. But there is not much enough space and time available to us. We are limited by customers’ deadlines and the business space. We are also limited by industry specific specialists or strategic alliances who are the key partners in providing an innovative solution to out diverse clients. Yes, proactive solutions are presented to different companies on many occasions but its acceptance depends on the willingness of the organization to accept it or reject it. The reasons are numerous but yes, it’s being provided and it should be a continuous activity and not once in a blue moon kind of event.

Arora:  What are your organizational ‘possessed predictable-intelligence’ ?
Fareed: The possessed intelligence we have are majorly three - (a) Existing employees (b) Strategic alliances and (c) knowledge base generated from the past projects.

Arora: What is that ‘unpredictable intelligence’ that you are eager to capture?
Fareed: Eagerness to capture clients may become a habit for some to the point it becomes greediness. So we have to walk on razor’s edge that we don’t fall on the side of greediness to capture clients by giving unreasonable promises. But yes, it’s a known fact among consulting business that some clients are not very clear in what particular area of their business w.r.t. their own startups or existing business they actually want consultants. To pinpoint to the real issue or pain may take some time. And this means that the consultants may found themselves in a situation where they can solve 60% of problem using their own in-house experts, 20% they can hire do it with the help of their strategic alliances. But for the last 20% of work, they have no perfect guess on how to do it. No consulting company is expert in all business sectors. And they know for sure that they can’t do it for some sectors or some areas but then they have to take the leap of faith to accept the client. And no doubt, this phase is the most excruciating and frustrating phase as it needs endless exploration and that too within the deadline. The answer, the optimal solution for this phase is unpredictable intelligence for us and that we want to capture. And this phase is the actual stretch of our organizational learning curve where we learn and increase our knowledge base- one of the important component of ‘possessed predictable intelligence’ for future projects and advisors.

Arora: Is your ‘possessed predictable intelligence’ sufficient enough to capture the ‘unpredictable intelligence’?
Fareed: As I said, our organization strength is responsibility and accountability and we stand behind our clients. This means with every previous project our possessed intelligence increases and this gives us more confidence in next projects. The learning curve has touched new heights and has taken a permanent & irreversible shape. So, in a sense, yes, our growth in learning curve is sufficient enough to go for the next project and deploy the new possessed intelligence at service of exploring the never ending unpredictable demands of clients. This gives us confidence to cross the border between getting the job and getting the job done effectively. We can calibrate our risk appetite with ever rising possessed intelligence.  

Arora: How do you define your business lifeline?
Fareed: Our organization is not like an island but like multiple islands connected on an information superhighway. Our chairman keeps an eye on a concept called as ‘Golden Assignment’. This is a monthly financial report of all our global offices on their business generation. Some are top performers and some at the bottom. And the top performers and least performers keep changing on monthly basis. Business lifeline is not individual for us but a combined lifeline which is like a heartbeat of organization. The top performance has a unique story to tell while the bottom performer has another. No one is lower or higher in the eyes of management. All are joined together. We know that no company can be always profitable forever. There are numerous reasons for its success and also for its failures. So just flow with it and minimize the mistakes that lead to downfall and learn the core reason why we succeed in some places and not other.

Arora: What frightens your Organization the most. ?
Fareed: Loosing a client is not our fear but earning a bad reputation is our biggest fear. Smaller hiccups are fine and manageable using business tools but there is zero tolerance for any stigma attached to our brand name. And we prevent this from happening by using our best ethical practices in dealing with clients. But yes, accidents are inevitable but they can be minimized by fostering a culture of excellence and accountability.

Arora:  Does harmony exist in your work?
Fareed: Advisors are like puppets in the hand of clients. They have to tailor their report with number and facts to meet the objectives of clients. Our reports are like clean or not clean. We cannot just convince our clients that whatever they wish to do is possible. Our reports are also observed by many bankers, regulators, alliances, buyers besides clients. Biased report in favour of clients gives a bad reputation in front of others. And this is a tightrope that we have walk before we accept the consulting offer. For us harmony doesn’t mean to please everyone but yet we don’t want to disruptive too. But if the consultation is sometime disruptive then we stick to our possessed intelligence and allow the unpredictable intelligence to tackle it in its own ways. Sometimes we can applause and sometimes not. But this is the real harmony for us to move forward without getting bogged down from our chaotic moments.
On organization level, our worthy Chairman is doing a lot in the field of academics, welfare and also corporate front. This balance is what I see as harmony in our organization which keeps the intellect and heart balanced and yet self-sustaining. 

Arora: How does chaos look like in your work?

Fareed: Hmm…It is visible very clearly in employee performance issues especially when there is resentment among employees due to biased allocation of resources. Imbalance in work life issues of many employees also contributes to intensifying work chaos. And no doubt, chaos is much more visible than harmony. As harmony is smooth but chaos has edges and sharp corners. Smiles, talks and laughters are not noisy but not the silently simmering mini volcanoes. 
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Location: TAGUCB, Bahrain

CRYSTALLIZATION OF SPACETIME -An Exploratory Mystical Insight for Business

                                                    CRYSTALLIZATION OF SPACETIME -
                               
                                                    An Exploratory Mystical Insight for Business

Dr. Nitin Arora                                                                                               29th May 2014
Dr. Nitin Arora

The Analogy

Cricket is the most loved game connecting Indians while computing machines have successfully connected the majority of world. Cricket game is now being crystallized from 5 day test match to a 3 hour match. And “big room sized” computer has crystallized from noisy machines to 5 inch silent smartphones. Further, the best game of cricket has become more entertaining when the launch of “IPL” format in 2008 wherein each team has mix of foreign and Indian players. Just imagine IPL format of game, as if, the government of USA for three months hires best leaders and politicians, statesman from all different countries to run its own country for three months. The bitter enemies in contemporary sports competition become teammates for one format of game. What an idea! The early cricketers haven’t seen such glitter in their whole career life what new cricketers have seen in their early periods. The founders of cricket haven’t conceived of even batting pads or one-day match1,2 when they started what to say about inventing IPL format. This game is a big commercial success generating tens of billions of dollars in the span of 3 month every year!  Also the CEO of IBM in 1958 said that only five people in the whole world will buy computers and now the Smartphone worldwide sales are 33 per second in early 2014! Who says, only first movers of industry can create and see the future!!! The followers can not only see and create but can also crystallize the brighter future!!!

By the above two business analogies, I would like to focus on business patterns which are generating commercial success. Be it going from big size to small size machines for computers or reducing large time span to short time span as in the game of cricket.  Be it the early use of computers only for basic mathematical calculation or the futuristic plan for providing global access of internet to astronauts siting on the moon! The pattern for business success lies in holding the heart of entertaining-imagination. And no doubt cricket is loved purely for its entertainment while smartphones have now opened new doors for integrating intelligent entertainment sources.

Crystallization
On a broad level, I see a pattern in these two different businesses – Cricket and smartphones- Crystallization of time and space. Crystallization is a slow process of converting liquid solvent3 to solid crystals using a chemical reaction taking place in a crystallizer. Considering this meaning we can see that Cricket game is successful in “crystallizing time” to generate ‘crystal’ -unpredictable entertainment - from wood and carbon while computers has successfully “crystallized space” for manufacturing ‘crystal’ - predictable entertainment - from plastic and silicon.

If Einstein can somehow read this in his spirit form will surely laugh if I say time & space as two different things. He said time and space are one - “SpaceTime continuum4”. They are not two different things but are one continuum. Both are two aspects of same phenomenon. I am sure business houses also knew this secret of Einstein and are using this knowledge in their decisions:

All predictable-intelligence would be deployed,
By eternally witnessing the unfolding of infinite unpredictable-intelligence;
By learning to reproduce their intelligence patterns;
to weed out, slowly and slowly, the never ending problems of businesses.


The SpaceTime Insight

‘Crystallization of SpaceTime’ means generating a state called ‘Successful Connection’ by businesses or ‘Enlightenment’ by mystics. Success in today’s world is just an acronym of ‘successful connection with customers’. If that very ‘connection’ is lost, success disappears but if the connection is strong and durable, success appears durable and long lasting. Hence the focus on ‘Successful Connection’!. Let’s me expand this insight ‘Crystallization of SpaceTime’ and convey to you all its multi-dimensional essence.  If we look from this perspective into these two inseparable aspects of crystallization then it raises individual and business entities to higher levels of connections. This crystallization perspective provides an insight, a holistic view from mystic and chemical reaction perspectives. Both are capable of giving birth to diamonds- ‘Mystical Enlightenment’ & ‘heart-connection’ respectively. Some businesses might not like to use the word customer for their clients like patients, even for them the core ‘heart-connection’ will still be a valid ultimate objective.

One step further, ancient mystics indicated that this state ‘Enlightenment’ is beyond time and space. Mystics say that time exists because of “bodymind”. (Mind and body are one, not two) and Space exists because of spirit. In that context enlightenment is crystallization of BodyMind and spirit. Bodymind is the ‘crystallizer’ for both the mystic and business. Spirit (with capital S) is the crystal for mystic while ‘heart-connection’ with customer is the crystal for business. The mystics gave birth to Spirit while businesses aim for ‘heart-connections’ with customers. Both Spirit and heart-connections co-exist in the same spacetime continuum. Spirit is imperishable. Heart-connection (product / service) is perishable but changes form keeping the spirit of business imperishable.

Spirit from mystic perspective means Unpredictable Intelligence. It is an eternal witness to both mind and body. It await the moment when individual’s mind and body gets absolutely detached from individuals’ spirit before giving birth to Spirit. Spirit in business means ‘heart-connection’ (predictable intelligence) used for ‘serving the other, with a purpose but captivated by medium’. This ‘Captivated Purpose’ remains as an ‘engaged player’ within individual mind and body of stakeholders involved. It also await the moment when it is successful in holding the hearts of society in utter awe thereby crystallizing itself from the clutches of bodymind.

Predictable-intelligence is always second to unpredictable-intelligence,
Former lies in bodymind while the latter is the magic of the Spirit;
Former is utilitarian while the latter is self-illuminated source of knowledge.

By focusing on ‘SpaceTime’ means focusing on ‘BodyMind and Spirit’. Managing time actually means managing mind and body in the given space. Even sitting silently and doing nothing contributes to immortality of organization in unique ways when having loads of intense actions by disciplined & invincible management stalwarts can’t contribute towards organizational resurrection. But yes, minding one’s mind (subtle actions) and body (coarse actions) will guarantee longevity of an organization ‘lifeline’. And managing space is just giving room for the spirit to move in a given time

Space is just a closet for time,
Like time being the highway for spirit.
Time moves in space,
else it is a senseless linear or parallel stretch of historical, random, disconnected events.
Space expands for time,
else everything simply appears to exist without any sign of growth.

This focus on bodymind will indirectly control time factor embedded in generating successful connections in business world. Both bodymind and time are relative and hence complement each other. Whenever bodymind crystallizes, a new space is created for integrating this new connection. Unless crystallization happens, no new connection can occupy space. Any effort to displace existing heart-connection connections will be more of a mad race rather than keeping a graceful face. A more harmonized connection will definitely displace the less harmonized connection. Any effort to save the latter will just be a delayed darwin’s game of survival of fittest and eventually and reluctantly giving way to the former.

Harmony

Now the next question arises on how to have increasing harmonies. Harmony is a metaphor for the quality of crystals (Spirit / heart- connection with customers). And achieving harmony means on how to achieve this high quality / high purity of crystals? The only answer:

Focus on Spirit not bodymind.
i.e.
Keep an eye on achieving successful heart-connection while under bodymind’s captivity.

Time management and Space management are some of its residual benefits of ‘harmony between bodymind and Spirit. Spirit is the unmanifested bodymind. But it is the only reality manifested at the end of crystallization. Focussing on bodymind means beating around the bush while focusing on spirit means witnessing. This witnessing the bodymind leads to harmonized crystallization of one big size Spirit for mystics. Pure crystallization is possible only for Mystics but not for businesses. Hence they have to be recrystallized5 again and again, ad-infinitum, to achieve the status of purity. Why so?

The leader’s purpose during implementation stops at bodymind border due to either too much single-headed obsession with pre-determined purpose or too many strings attached. In both situations it makes it difficult to reach to ultimate realization of true purpose crystals. And this half-baked process eventually leads to crystallization of ‘infinite’, ‘uneven-sized’ & ‘perishable’ connections / crystals. But it is absolutely wise for leader to listen to the voices of responses w.r.t. purpose. Businesses are always a source of multi-dimensional stories of celebration and depression, laughters and cries. Celebration, depression, laughters and screams are all social manifestation of being a part of this world. They are unavoidable, but this is a business life as an ordinary man knows it. Harmony in business is an ideal goal for business but it is not possible to have a full control over’s one choice. All businesses are not complimentary to each other. Most of them have surprisingly antagonistic / cannibalistic nature. A practical anecdote6 will illustrate this business crystal.

A big corporation hired several cannibals. “You are all part of our team now,” said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. “You get all the usual benefits and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don't eat any of the other employees.”

The cannibals promised they would not.

A few weeks later, the cannibals’ boss remarked, “You’re all working very hard, and I’m satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?” The cannibals all shook their heads, “No,” they said.

After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, “Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?” A hand rose hesitantly in admission. “You fool!” said the leader. “For weeks, we’ve been eating managers and no one noticed anything, but noooooo, you had to go and eat someone important!”

If one wants harmony in business then no stakeholder of society can be left alone living with irresponsible actions. To awake everyone to be responsible means interlocking of bodymind-horns or in another sense far wretched possibility of achieving harmony!!! Harmony in business definitely starts with an individual, having the capacity to engulf the other’s imagination, sufficient enough to start the self-sustaining social chain-reaction. This chain reaction will be potent enough to give birth to many crystals with increasing levels of purity and harmony.

On the other hand, Self-Harmony is an individual and personal affair and it needs a shift of gestalt, to turn your focus towards yourself. The business world is so captivating that one rarely gets to know that one has to also focus on one’s own self too. The life inside the business leader is always busy holding the reins of chaotic and unpredictable SpaceTime and giving an impression that all is under control. But the leader knows that it is a nearly false impression in almost all occasions. On the contrary, self-harmony is a consequence of selfish focus on transcending bodymind. Transcendence touches the core of self i.e. spirit which is an endless - rhythm resonating with the lyrics of Spirit. Just like stillness is at the center of movement and silence is at the core of noise. Similarly relaxation is at the core of BodyMind. And that core is the individual’s spirit. It is utterly relaxed and at harmony and trust with Spirit as it is non-changing unlike ever changing forms of body and mind.  A beautiful story7 will illustrate this Mystic’s crystal.

A man just got married and was returning home with his wife. They were crossing a lake in a boat when suddenly a great storm arose. The man was a warrior, but the woman became very much afraid because it seemed almost hopeless -- THE BOAT WAS SMALL AND THE STORM WAS REALLY HUGE, AND ANY MOMENT THEY WERE GOING TO BE DROWNED. But the man sat silently, calm and quiet, as if nothing was happening.


The woman was trembling and she said, "Are you not afraid? This may be our last moment of life! IT DOESN’T SEEM THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO REACH THE OTHER SHORE. Only some miracle can save us, otherwise death is certain. Are you not afraid? Are you mad or something? Are you a stone or something?”

THE MAN LAUGHED AND TOOK THE SWORD OUT OF ITS SHEATH. The woman was even more puzzled -- what he is doing? Then he brought the naked sword close to the woman's neck -- so close that just a small gap was there, it was almost touching her neck.  He said, “ARE YOU AFRAID?”

She started to giggle and laugh and said, “WHY SHOULD I BE AFRAID? If the sword is in your hands, why should I be afraid? I know you love me.” He put the sword back and said, “This is my answer. I know God loves me, and the sword is in His hands, and the storm is in His hands -- so WHATSOEVER IS GOING TO HAPPEN IS GOING TO BE GOOD. If we survive, good; if we don’t survive, good -- because EVERYTHING IS IN HIS HANDS, AND HE CANNOT DO ANYTHING WRONG.” This is the trust one needs to imbibe. SUCH TREMENDOUS TRUST IS CAPABLE OF TRANSFORMING YOUR WHOLE LIFE! And ONLY such tremendous trust is capable of transforming your life -- less than that won’t do.

Harmonizing bodymind for business is an eternal process flowing like a sine curve  of alternating current (A.C.) - going up and down from chaos to certainty and then again to chaos. But harmonizing the individual is achieved like a process of transformation of A.C. to direct current (D.C.). It’s a one-time event only and there is no returning back. The sine curve (bodymind’s heartbeat) is transformed once and for all in to a straight line (dead bodymind’s heartbeat).  The latter state is called ‘enlightenment’ while the former sinusoidal state is called ‘Management’.

The comparative differences in Crystals

The crystal of mystic is immortal while the crystal of business is mortal. Spirit can fly on its own without fear for eternity while ‘bodymind originated connection’ remains afraid of its mortal nature. It’s only when Spirit hold the hand of spirit of mystic that fear disappears else only a false display of fearlessness is put up by bodymind. And it is only when ‘successful heart-connection’ is formed that the fear of business is delayed, till the mortal reality resurfaces its hood. Otherwise, peace is the golden garment of mystic while anxiety is the hidden lashes ruthless business world.

Bigger the space-time more is the peace. Smaller the space-time, lesser is the peace. Bodymind remains in the confines of small or big but spirit is beyond the concept of measurement. Hence peace is a distant and relative concept for citizens of business-world while ‘successful heart-connection’ is measurable. The closer you are with the Spirit even at the time of failure ‘You’ are at peace, at ease, at harmony. And the closer the organization is with its own spirit, it is actually at ‘deep introspection stage’ – reformulating / realigning the purpose based on the emerging voices of the customers.

Yes, the other - connection is always distant from your spirit. If the other can command successful connections then it can also command failures, disorientations or disruptions. The other is actually not you. And other cannot be you. Even you cannot be you. It is that You cannot manufacture Yourself. At the most you can discover yourself, and hence you can say that you are just yourself but not that I manufactured myself or invented myself. Any invention about self is always far from the true self, the spirit.  Your bodymind is not the same as the bodymind of others. Hence the uniqueness of every person. But in business one’s bodymind DNA can be copied to create a similar bodymind but it will be the copycat spirit not the original spirit. Crystallization of spirit never took place for the copycat organization. It can breakaway anytime and is at the mercy of both predictable and unpredictable-intelligence.

The next question arises that “how crystallization process stops on its own and does it needs further treatment?”. If you forcibly stop the action oriented bodymind stage of crystallization and force the spirit crystal to come out, the spirit will be small & unstable and not of much use. But if you let the supersaturated heated bodymind cool off unattended, the spirit crystals will form on its own and fall out of the bodymind. They will be pure, stable and big.  Further, there is never a need for performing – recrystallization for the mystic Spirit as the source of impurity, the environment (bodymind), is already transcended. There is no possibility of attachment of any impure bodymind component to the Spirit. But any number of crystallizations done for business purpose, will somehow require re-crystallization, again and again, for removing the attached impurities in the crystal produced. The reason being the changing environment (bodymind) always penetrating the crystals produced by the business.

What to expect from me in my future articles

I have given the secret of ‘crystallization of SpaceTime’ model in your hands. In my forthcoming articles, I will share the key issues brought up during my interviews with leaders and key decision makers from multiple industries / sectors including Online education on how well this insight is applicable to their situation. The interviews will focus on as many possible questions, as mentioned below. The intent is to understand the extent of crystallization completed and what lies ahead for them in their industry to strengthen / build the ‘Connection’. I will attempt to capture the insights hidden from the discussion on their industry specific replies:

1.      On false predictions of their early leaders (industry specific) and if they had re-visioned now.
2.      On how well they are able crystallize ‘heart-connection with customers’.
3.      On their ongoing journey towards achieving immortality (Self-sustaining chain-reaction) status in their Industry.
4.      On how they are utilizing their ‘possessed predictable-intelligence’ to tap the mighty ‘unpredictable-intelligence’.
5.      On their fears of failures and factors affecting their ‘business lifeline’.
6.      On what does harmony means to them from company / Industry point of view and what are they doing for it to achieve it. I will try to focus on the success stories, check-mate situations and the hurdles!!!
7.      And finally, on how their leaders are planning to achieve self-harmony and how it is influencing their employees, customers and key decisions in personal life.

On a closing note, the readers are requested to send me feedback or share their experience or ask questions to me w.r.t. this proposed model ‘Crystallization of SpaceTime – A mystical insight for business’. I am sure your questions will enrich the model which will further refine the future meetings with leaders and key decision makers.


References:

1.      A brief history of cricket; Origins and development. Available from:                                                            < http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/239757.html> [10 April 2014]
2.      History of Cricket. Available from : < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_cricket> [10 April 2014]
3.      Growing Quality Crystals, Available from :< http://web.mit.edu/x-ray/cystallize.html> [10 May 2014].
4.      Albert Einstein - spacetime relativity theory. Available from :< http://www.new-science-theory.com/albert-einstein.php? [10 April 2014]
5.      Recrystallization. Available from :<http://www.chem.utoronto.ca/coursenotes/ CHM249/ Recrystallization.pdf [11 May 2014].
6.      Wilson, F. 2010, Organizational Behaviour and Work: A critical Introduction, 3rd edn., Oxford University Press.
7.      Trust. Available from:<http://letssharestories.tumblr.com/post/17934797808/an-amazing-story-of-couple-on-boat-a-man> 
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