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As I turn 50, my intention is to devote the second phase of my life to share my insights learned through my many missteps over the years and the introspection that followed, so that others need not go through the same bumps and falls that I had to endure on their journey to joy, fulfillment and peace.

I truly believe that we can create an enlightened society where inner awareness can empower people to thrive in harmony. To generate joy and peace in your life and our world, we need to look at ourselves both as individuals and as a collective.

While I learned these lessons the hard way, my hope is to present them in a manner that is simple and easy to adopt without experiencing any pain or even a lot of practice. It is based on an approach of illuminating blind-spots, so that once discovered they’re never forgotten.

1. The solutions to all your problems are within you.

While you might have heard that the answers to all your problems are within you, there is no simple approach to discovering them. My premise that each of us is inhabited by a hidden PIG and APE helps place a tangible face and name so you can actually watch them when they start to control your moves. The PIG and the APE not only mimic the behaviors of their animal namesakes, but are acronyms for Pursing Instant Gratification and Avoiding Painful Experiences. When we constantly look outside ourselves for answers, we miss catching the real inner culprits for our unhappiness.

2. You are NOT your Ego.

Your Ego, defined here as an identity created for you by your mind, is addicted to your achievements, accumulations and your failures. YOU, the self you were born as, is much bigger than the limited identity your thinking mind can create for you. It is awesome and connected to the source of all life. Mistaking your identity for your true self leads you down a path of worry, fear, anxiety and pain. Merely accepting the fact that you are much bigger than your Ego liberates you from the confines of living your life using someone else’s yardstick. You blossom.

3. Live life meeting the needs of others without ignoring your own.

Once you recognize the hidden animals and distinguish YOU from your Ego, you are ready to live life being keenly aware of your own true needs as well as those of others. You will easily separate needs from wants and be able to engage with others in a productive way. The empathy and compassion that flows from you will provide you with the tact necessary to address tough situations.

4. Live Two Days at a Time.

There has to be a balance between the two extremes of living only for today and living only for the future, and it’s not very difficult to find.

“Be Here Now” and attend fully to the issues before you today. But at the same time, be aware not to do anything that could jeopardize your tomorrow. At the end of each day you might ask: What did I learn today? What can I do different tomorrow? Then “just live it” the next day. Today and tomorrow, today and tomorrow. Life is a repeating series of todays and tomorrows.

For harmony in your life and our world,

Krishna

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Krishna Pendyala is an unconventional Coach with unique insights into the human condition gained from lifelong personal study and varied experiences as an entrepreneur, researcher, videographer and engineer. After coming to the US from India to complete his graduate studies at Indiana State University in 1984, he stayed on to launch two multimedia companies and developed MediaSite, and industry-leading product for online lectures and presentations. During the 1990's he began speaking and leading seminars on personal growth and change, then set out to write a book about achieving "success on your own terms". But he soon realized that true happiness depended first on knowing who "you" really are — which led to his book Beyond the PIG and the APE: Realizing SUCCESS and True HAPPINESS.

Having grown up both in the East and the West along with his extensive professional experience in education, philanthropy, multimedia, technology, business, wealth management and life coaching coupled with having overcome serious personal challenges, he has a uniquely blended perspective on life and a simple framework using his constructs of the PIG, APE and the EGO to help people make more mindful choices in life.

Working with Congressman Tim Ryan, author of A Mindful Nation, he dreams of a society where inner awareness empowers people to thrive in harmony. He is the president of the Mindful Nation Foundation and a regular speaker to corporate, academic, and spiritual groups. He is also the Chief Empowerment Officer of Tetra Advisors, a boutique consulting form that specializes guiding select entrepreneurs to change their mindset about their team, life and growth.

For more information, please visit krishnapendyala.com and mindfulchoices.org

Comments (6)

  1. Thanks for this beauiful insight,something new i learned from reading this article is living life two days @ a time. this article is going to be posted on my wall.

  2. Well Krishna,I do live for today,but with the hope of tomorrow.Tomorrow isn’t a giving.I could fall asleep,and not wake up.I know a few it happened to.That’s why I hope for tomorrow.My interpretation of ego is edging god out.I’m not religious,I have my higher power.I know all about the inside work.I have done a lot of it.I am comfortable in my own skin.

    1. Dear Patrick, Thank you for sharing your perspective. I love it. In fact, I remember Wayne Dyer share long time ago that he had heard EGO being Edging God Out and I liked it a lot. It is the separation from the source that creates our identity which we then get attached to. You have to live fully today.

  3. Krishna – well stated that we are not our ego, we can meet the needs of all with balance, and that we are able to discover answers when we are honest about looking for them and not acting on the acronyms of PIG and APE. I too appreciate the emphasis on only focusing on today and tomorrow. Long term outlooks and goals have their place but they might take attention away from the immediate day-to-day functioning.

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