We hoteliers are indeed a breed apart in every way; though not rich ourselves, we have all the rich man’s disease and habits. Why? Simply because of the posh surroundings our work hovers around. After a sixteen hour shift, I would make tracks to the coffee shop at the Windsor Manor at 2am, even though I was an outlet manager at the Taj!! Just had to be seen and heard about syndrome I guess. We do crave for tons of externals attractions all the time- always. But for how long? Before the call comes … That’s when we need to see Inwards and explore. As our learned Swamiji’s inform us- seek your self- go beyond the body, mind and intelligence to see the eternal Jyoti (light). How do we carve out the time we busy bodies are so limited with!
Yoga
Enrol in an early morning or an evening course. The mere action of the various asanasas gets you started to focus your attention inwards. Dive in. The mind starts accepting the yoga activity initially though before wandering off; but with applied concentration, the down load of self gets activated. Initially it may not be possible to get totally focused, but with consistent determination, we could achieve a little bit of success. The restless mind anchoring temporally. Our mind is akin to an adorable hungry baby monkey. This first baby step would be the most crucial one; don’t let it get side tracked, temptations do arise – there are bloody Marries and Moitoes. The question is, haven’t we tried them all these decades! How much more? Please don’t label me as a Sanyasi, yes we do need to be in touch with the industry surely, but all I am inviting you is to go in for those few moments. Pause and play. Seek the divine Dhrusti of which we are all a part – I am THAT.
Meditation
As busy professionals we may not have the time to perform extensive rituals or elaborate Pujas, but definitely can spare some time for meditation. This has the power to focus your thoughts to go inwards effectively. There are experts to guide you on a starter course; one can do a Mis-en place of a simplistic meditation. Just sit in a peaceful area (not in the staff café with all your buddies over crusty pizzas) and start chanting: spare ribs, lasagne, tiramisu, Om Swaha. Simply pick up a holy word like Ram or Vittala; utter inwardly and silent. It does have the power of focusing your thoughts and channelize these into streams of powerful yet relaxing waves. Look at the various colours with your eyes closed, do you see ARR, APC or Revpars or slowly start see a different spectrum altogether.
You may be a houseman or a general manager, but internally you are THAT: Soham; as our great sages say. You are part of those billion years entity which has been going through the process of spiritual evolution, actually a never ending part of HIM. All we need is to realise this simple truth. It’s the tip of the iceberg once we get slightly closer to this revelation; our mind gets into a more peaceful mode.
Meditation is that process which rekindles your brain with the mind space. Like we do deep cleaning in Housekeeping, we need to go delve deep into ourselves and focus inwards to the ultimate source of strength. It is here we can realise the happiness of gathering our thoughts, emotions and connecting with the higher self. This positive feel is truly alleviating. The peace coming from these truly life changing little actions which are really simple to action, but we keep procrastinating due to assumed heavy and unhappy bottom lines which takes us to the ocean floor daily. These moments of truth may last us happiness in small packets of time before you get into the real world of hospitality: Yes Maam, Sorry Sir. Hmm No sir…..
