October 9, 2019

Notes by Ambika Mishra

Vivek ji shared a personal story from when he attended a hypnotist show in business school. He along with 14 others volunteered to be part of the act. The hypnotist took off his belt and tied it to the mike and then he told all 15 of them that his belt was a snake. All 15 of them jumped back as if the belt was a real snake. The hypnotist performed a few other acts like making everyone feel cold and fall asleep and everyone fell for it.

Vivek ji felt scared even though he knew that the belt was not a snake and same for the other acts of feeling cold and falling asleep. He felt that he couldn’t stop himself from acting in a strange way even though he knew the reality.

Message from the story –

When we are confused-

1. We become indecisive
2. We make mistakes
3. We can be pressured by others.

On the other hand, when we are clear and confident –

1. We become decisive
2. We become careful, and
3. We can help other instead of being pressured by others.

We should be clear and confident!

Practice-

Turn the lights off, spin around with eyes closed while holding a pencil. Throw the pencil at some point and keep spinning. Open your eyes and find the pencil with lights still switched off. Then Vivekji asked us why it takes so long to find pencil this way vs. if lights were on and we just casually dropped our pencil.

When the outside is confusing, even doing a small task like finding a pencil becomes difficult. When there is confusion inside, it will be much harder to live with. We should strive to be more clear and confident.

Notes by Keshav Ganesh

Story from Vivekji — When I was in business school, there was something called squash week. In squash week you get to know each other better. And there always was a hypnotist there. I never participated. In August 2005, my older sister tricked me. She said we had a family gathering. It was actually a big fair in Toronto. There was a board that said: Hypnotist, 3:00. At 3:00, we went to the grounds. After a while the hypnotist walks on stage. He asks for thirty volunteers. I run up as fast as I can. Talks to us. Then tells fifteen people to leave the stage. I was still on the stage. Then the hypnotist takes his belt off and wraps it around the standup microphone. Then says, this is a snake. All of us jump back thinking it is actually a snake. Then he says pretend it’s winter, and the next thing we know, we are hugging each other on a very sunny day. Then he says sleep. Then everyone on stage is sleeping. He plays around more like this until the show is over. Then he says when you go to the bathroom, everything will go away. So I go to the bathroom and there are people there.

Message from the story –

When you are confused you are also indecisive. When you are confused you make mistakes. Confused is pressured. Opposite of confused is clear or confident. Don’t make mistakes.

Practice-

Lights off, pencil in hand, eyes closed then spin. Then throw the pencil. Find it. It is hard to find things when you are confused.