Welcome to the Deploy Yourself Newsletter. Every two weeks I share about what impactful leadership looks like. I also share the most insightful lessons and stories I encountered in the last two weeks. You can also read this issue online.
Send A Gratitude Post Card From Beautiful Amsterdam To Your Loved Ones
Ever since I shared the benefits of gratitude in my last newsletter, I have been thinking about how to express gratitude myself. Then, during one of my photo walks in Amsterdam last week, it all clicked together. I spend hours photographing Amsterdam every week, and it is a kind of meditation for me. I love those moments when I forget myself behind the camera and focus entirely on the beautiful city in front of me.
So I thought – what if I use my photographs, which provide so much calm and joy to me, to express gratitude to people this festive season? 2020 has been a tough year for all of us, and many of us have been directly or indirectly impacted by it. We can all use a little gratitude.
We are also entering a festive season soon, with Diwali – the festival of lights, coming up on the 14th of November, and Christmas and New Year coming up soon after that. It is a tradition to share gifts during both Diwali and Christmas, and I think this is all the more important this year given that we have all been locked up inside our homes. We have spent this entire year without being able to meet and spend time with our friends and family.
As a gesture of gratitude, I will send out Thank You Postcards with one of my beautiful Amsterdam photographs to anyone you want me to. If you have a friend, colleague, or a family member you want to express gratitude to, just send me their name, the message you want to send, and their address to me.
I will print up one of my Amsterdam photos on a postcard, write down your message, and mail it to them, no matter where in the world they are. You can see my favorite photos from Amsterdam here. If you want to choose which photo should I send for you, just let me know and I will do the rest.
This year has been a year of reflection for me. I have written a lot about my thoughts at DeployYourself this year, and this is my way of Deploying Myself.
If anyone comes to mind after reading this, send me their name, address, and your message for them. They will have a beautiful Amsterdam postcard coming their way soon.
Articles and Stories Which Have Fascinated Me
One
How To Use Both Conscious and Subconscious Mind to Solve Our Biggest Problems?
Our mind is often categorized into two categories – the conscious and the subconscious. Everywhere where we use rational thought, we are using our conscious mind. For example – we are using our conscious mind when we apply logic to solve a math problem. Similarly, we use our conscious mind when we use our intellect to plan for the future. It is our conscious mind that leads us to speak, write, move our body, or plan. We use our conscious mind whenever “we” decide to do something.
The subconscious mind, on the other hand, is where our intuition lies. This is the part of the mind where all our memories and past experiences lie. This is the part of the mind which knows how to breathe, how our vital organs function without our making any decisions. It is through our subconscious mind that we form beliefs and intuition about what is happening around us. Our subconscious mind is where our feelings and emotions originate.
We might think that when we develop ideas and solve problems, it is only our conscious mind at work. But our subconscious mind also plays a big role in the background. This is the part of the mind’s functioning which most people are unaware of. At the same time, this is exactly the information which can make us much more productive if we were to know how it works.
A lot of scientific discoveries and achievements have been accidental, or not what the scientists were working towards. Even in our lives, we can see that trying too hard to solve a problem can lead to frustration, yet when we step aside and do something else we can suddenly see the solution. This kind of idea generation and making connections between different ideas are a result of our intuitive and subconscious mind.
From How To Use Both Conscious and Subconscious Mind to Maximise Creativity And Solve Our Biggest Problems? – An Article From My Desk
Two
Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself – One Of My Favorite Speeches
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
From the speech Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself by Franklin D Roosevelt
That’s it for now. If you have any questions, just hit reply. All the best,
Sumit
(Twitter) @SumitGupta
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