FEAR !

Fear is one of the experiences that we all go through. It has multiple dimensions - It may be a fear of failure, fear of public speaking, fear of being left out, fear of adversity, fear of losing control, fear of parents, fear of supervisor, fear of being caught, fear of confrontation, fear of rejection, fear of death, fear of accident, fear of losing job/money/loved ones, fear of losing your edge, fear of consequence, fear of unknown.

The amount and degree of fear is situational, for some there may be lot of fear during speaking in public but might have less fear when speaking to small group.

Fear also varies over a period of time; person may have fear initially when he/she started the business and as the time passes the fear might come down.

One might develop different types of fear due to experiences in life also.

There is another type of fear that comes from danger to life itself, like when you are attacked by a wild life or getting robed at gun point.

If you notice fear is always there with you. Just take a moment and see if you can identify the presence of fear right now (don't look at the source/reason just get present!).

Fear is like snake that is there within you, if you try to fight it out through your mind it also starts fighting back. If you just leave it will be just there and will not harm you.

How to handle fear?

 One way to handle fear is to look at the impact. When one is under the control of fear what it stops is "action", say for example you have the fear of failure and you want to start a business.

What fear stops is to take action towards what is required to make the business run. Fear directs your attention for survival. One of the safest ways to avoid failure is "NO – ACTION"

To handle fear what is required is COURAGE, it is not the absence of fear but it is your willingness to take action in the presence of fear. Capt. Gopinath says it in his biography narrating his experience during the  war "…I spent the night walking from trench to trench under the cover of darkness. It is not that we were not sacred. Courage is the counterpoint of fear. Courage appears when in war or business one is indeed sacred."

Give space for fear and let it be.

 

Photography - Cameras

Camera is one of the most important elements of your photography; it captures the light in order to create the image you want. Again remember it just captures the light you do rest of the things!
What we need to remember is buying a expensive high end camera may not give you the best picture. Also if you are interested to pursue it as serious hobby, look at the overall cost of additional lenses, filters, batteries, storage and additional hard disk, printing etc.
Cameras can be classified in multiple ways and there is a huge overlap between various camera segments. One way to look at is Analog/ Film based Camera and Digital Camera or based on the features it provides.
Since it is era of Digital Cameras; let’s focus on the types of Digital Cameras. Before that I want to clear the myth about Mega Pixels (MP) in digital cameras.
See the illustration above; same number of pixels are placed on both the sensors. As the number of MP increases it can store more information and better quality but it also depends on the size of the pixel that depends on the size of the sensor.
It is not only the pixels but also the size of the sensor is important.
Digital Camera’s can be placed under
· Point shoot cameras (Compacts)
· Prosumer (Bridge)
· Digital single lens reflex cameras(DSLR)
Point shoot cameras compact, lightweight and great for point-and-shoot photo-taking. Affordability and compactness makes it very attractive for general purpose photography. Approximate price range is from Rs 5000 to Rs20,000
Prosumer or Bridge levels between a professional and compact camera. It has light weight and affordability of the compact camera and range of features of a professional camera. These cameras provide wide range of features including manual mode for creative shooting. It has varied zoom lens capacity which is useful for macro to wild life photography.
Approximate price range Rs. 18,000- 40,000
Digital single lens reflex cameras(DSLR)
The main advantage of DSL is large image sensor (and bigger pixels) . Photographs can be enlarged for printing. Other advantage is; it provides the facility to interchange lenses thus giving you wide range of options from macro to landscapes to wildlife.
DSLR starts around Rs 28,000 and goes till few lakhs. (plus lens anywhere between Rs. 3000 to few lakhs). If you are serious it is worth to invest in DSLR.
Hope this gives some idea about the world of cameras.

Buddha Sid!

You might have seen the movie ‘Wake-up Sid!’ or at least heard about it. The translation of the Sanskrit word “Buddha” is ‘wake-up’. So Buddha Sid is another way of saying ‘Wake-up Sid’. Wake-up to “attain your true self”

Let’s look at how things exist for us. Suppose if you don’t know what is “Coffee”?
One of the dimensions is, to explain it along time –Coffee starts from a coffee seed, which is sown in the ground, then the plant gives the coffee beans. These beans are dried, these dried beans are fried at certain temperature and then packed and sent to the coffee shop, in the shop they are grinded to create a powder, and then the powder is mixed with boiling water and then filtered to prepare a cup of coffee.
This is more logical, progressive along the dimension of time.

Another dimension is along space, Coffee is very good drink, it has very good aroma, it’s color ranges from light brown to dark brown. In some countries coffee is mixed with hot milk and sugar. Some people prefer coffee without sugar. Coffee is refreshing in nature. Now a day’s coffee is available all over the world.
It is more in the domain of emotions and experience.

Another dimension is – Take a cup of coffee, take a big sip, “slurrr !”… and drink it. “Aaha !”
This dimension is something beyond experience and logic.
You just “Get it” … you get what “Coffee” is !!

In Buddhism the first approach is called Hinayana, the second is called Mahayana and the last one is called Zen.

All the three dimensions have specific importance, while first two approaches are based on the past the third approach is focusing on the present.
“Buddha Sid” :-)
(Article Source Reference – Compass of Zen- Zen Master Seung Sahn) To subscribe to the newsletter write to - mithare@gmail.com