The eternal question we all carry around deep within our hearts. Love is the eternal search. Love is eternal when we find it. But do we really ever find it? When we define it, do we negate it? When we set limits on what we believe to be love do we begin to destroy it by hoping to understand or own it for ourselves? We offer it through our actions, through our gifts, through our poetry and songs, we give it with our lives. Through all of our relationships we vary our giving, often by what we hope to receive in return. But is this really love?

I recently overheard someone saying in a conversation that there is no such thing as "unconditional love". I would have to agree, although for different reasons. Love within itself is unconditional. Anything else is only an attempt to love, a learning to get us nearer to the one true knowing of love. It may be honorable, well intentioned, passionate and desiring, courageous and pure. It may be felt as temporary, but if lost easily it may not have been love at all. Love can not be corrupted, but attempts to know love can be thwarted and often fall short of what we hope love will be. This is where we learn we are human.

Love has been experienced as a life of living poetry. Love has been experienced as being the very notes of song, uplifting and generous to the wanting ear. Love has been experienced as the final act of giving one's life for another in battle. Love has been experienced as choosing to give new life to another. Love has been experienced as a devoted oneness with God. Love has been experienced as an endless passionate overflow of emotion in the arms of a waiting lover. Love is defined for us as "strong or passionate affection for a person", or "a warm liking, fond or tender feeling", or " a genuine emotion, emphasizing strength, depth, sincereness, devotion, loyalty, reverence, or passion, as for God, a man, a woman or a belief." Powerful ideas all. We know each of these definitions or ideas for ourselves. What we do with them is what makes us who we are in our lives. And what do you do with the love granted to you each day? How many times do we deny its expression from others because we fear what our own expressions will bring? Are we not denying our creator every time we deny the expression of love?

For the individuals who have experienced separation or divorce, or even the loss of a loved one to death, the separation can be the most traumatic experience we live through. The heart wrenching pain that seems to never really go away, the enormous waves that hit us daily, the times we hit the wall right after a strong and uplifting experience reminds us that we are learning. We are learning about strength, passion for our own life, about our own sincerity in our beliefs, about our loyalty to who we are, and certainly about our own genuineness. We search for that day when love will come again. We search everywhere, everyday, almost every hour. It has been said for centuries that "love is where the eyes meet with passion, for the eyes can not hide what the heart feels." So we have learned to look outward for this eternal love that will fulfill us, forgetting that it must first fill our own hearts. Perhaps that is why we fall into such pain and agony and sorrow when a love affair fails?

It is at that moment that we realize we did not fail the other person we expressed love to, but we have somehow not fulfilled ourselves once again. We combat failure with a misunderstood unfulfilled promise. We lose it, not knowing if we will ever find it again. The emotional tides lift and fall, crash and settle, then lift again. No one else, no matter how much we talk or cry, can pull us through the anxious hours of soul repair and growth. It is our own fire within that needs rekindling, guarding against the winds that would blow it out and leave us dark, cold and helpless. It is at this time we find the love that binds us together with every other being that surrounds us on the planet. Eventually we find the sun still rises to meet us in the morning and the stars continue to show us the way each night. The rivers still flow downstream into oceans that will never turn them away. The trees still reach upward every day praising the God that made them. We stand up straight and take a lesson from it all. What if you woke up one morning and realized that you were the only person left on the face of the earth? Who would you love? Why do we wait so long to start the journey that begins in the same place that it ends?

Love, in all its endlessness, unboundedness and failed definitions is this experience. And in opening up to let it go, without need of owning or even sometimes knowing its return, we open ourselves up to experiencing it more. We expand with the universe and not against it. We feel the stars for the first time. We feel the night for the first time. We feel God for the first time. Love doesn't ask why. It doesn't come. It doesn't go. It just is. It is not only in our hands, it is our hands. It isn't only in our heart, it is what makes our heart beat every beat. It wraps itself around us so securely that all we need to do to survive against all odds is to recognize it as the very breathe we just drew, and the last breathe we just let go. Love is the very Power of the Universe, every beat, every spin, every pulse, every move. And this is what you have to give.

I am so very annoiyed by the waiy our so-called uber-aurban-lads and lasses speak English using faike Aussie or American accents. Infact, its so damn annoiying to the heights!, especially, when some freaky a-word comes up and blabbers somethings that sounds like a piece of s-word coming out of a key-hole!.

And what's more?, the syndrome is soon turning pandemic!. Now, I am getting to see a wee-bit of it in everyone - ranging from the watchman at ***** (I mean five stared hotel ;-p) to people at Academical Institutes to the global studs of these Academical Institutes! and to the people driving cabs.

I have indeed been following the metamorphosis over the years, more so, during the few times when I have travelled on flights. I have always been blessed to have some sort of a stoopid "chick" sitting besides me and be talking all sorts of chickly-chickking-chicken matters to her coursemates, mostly with girls in a faike Amei-ri-caan or Ouss-trai-lian accent, with a mix of a very localized Kannada or a dialect of "Madras Baasha". I swear!, the accents would be like --

"Owww!, chooo chweet- I yam missing ya. When are you cam-ming to some dumb plaice?. Whay, dant ya gimme a kaal sum-taime tomarrow?"

or much worse when they call the hostress and say

"Haw much auf moi taime wood be waisted on ower jerni? You knowing aa?".

Holy cow!,they would try to roll their tongue and talk like some freaky coconut tree is venturing from their throats. Everytime when these "fake dumbasses" talk, they would talk and show his/her fake accent as if their stereotypically-pathetic-throats are made in America. I'd feel like spanking their heads and telling them how how they would insult themselves, their mother tongue, their Country as well as insulting the American and Australian culture!

I mean..I don't blame them if they are from overseas or they are very fluent and been able to converse in such way, but still..What is so wrong about being what you are!? What is wrong in conversing in English Language as the English that they know and as the English that they speak? Infact, isn't this some sort of a "self racial abusing"? Isnt this racism at its grass roots? Isnt this a case of peremptoriness on ones own culture, country and language?. What is so trendy in losing out on your native accent? What is so stylish in trying yo imitate someone else's accent? Moreso, with some of them being so very "adulterated" that those stupid fake accent and end up being mumbling instead of speaking, as if they were stuffing some bondas or pee-it-zaas in their mouth.At the end of all this,the worse thing is that they already look like some deep stupid snob.

It’s a shame that a shifting economic climate changes the dynamic of the employee – employer relationship.

When market conditions are pristine and employment is low, the power sits firmly with employees. Companies stressed to deliver on the goods and services sold increase compensation, deliver a broad array of benefits, and serve up promotions even if the title exceeds the employee’s competency.

Despite these lavish efforts to retain, employees are often quick to jump to a new opportunity even if it only modestly increases their take-home pay.

In today’s trying times, its management that stands in a position of strength. Those wonderful benefits? Tabled for budget reasons. Salaries? Frozen and, in some instances, reduced. All the while the specter of layoffs hangs across the organization.

In the past few months, I have read numerous articles and blog posts in which corporate executives suggest their employees should be thankful to simply be on the payroll.

Rather than defining this situation as dysfunctional, I will take it a step further and argue that there isn’t (nor should there be) a relationship between an employee and their employer.

Relationships involve intimate emotional connections that thrive even during periods of stress or turmoil. Personally, I have a relationship with my parents, my brother, my family and a select set of friends. I stand with them 100 percent…regardless of life’s variances.

But, what would happen with the people a company employs? A company's goal would be to maintain a productive business agreement defined by shared interests and expectations. Its responsibilities are straightforward:

*Maintain an environment in which they are set up for success
*Provide a reasonable level of support and resources
*Deliver an honest assessment of performance, even if it is not what they want to hear
*Strive to provide fair compensation

In return, it expects each member to embrace the organization’s core values and standards for performance; to represent themselves and the company in an acceptable manner; and, ultimately, to care about their development as a professional.

If the company falls down on some part or the employee perceives that their needs extend beyond what my company can provide, then it’s understandable for them to seek other opportunities. (In fact, I encourage it.)

Yet, it’s also important for employees to recognize that difficult decisions often must be made based on the macro needs of the organization. Yes, its a fact that the company at time would be forced to fire people. And forced to cut staff. It’s never personal.

No one at a company should ever be thankful they have a job. Their employment is well earned and, as long as they deliver on their responsibilities, the company's commitment to their professional success is resolute.

There’s no moral obligation about it. It’s simply a business agreement.

Are social networks inherently racist? How about being sadist? Anti-Semitic?

Before you discard these questions as merely inflammatory, take a few moments to study your own collection of friends and contacts on Facebook, LinkedIn and the other online communities you participate in.

I’m going to bet a fair number of the faces gazing back at you from the screen mirror your own. The same can most likely be said about their backgrounds, interests, and professional and personal affiliations.

It is understandable. Social media is merely the online extension of the age-old human attribute to align oneself with others who share a similar background and belief system. The problem that arises in a homogeneous community is those who fall outside the accepted norm tend to be shunned and, in extreme cases, even ridiculed.

Let’s not pretend this doesn’t happen – regardless of who resides in the White House.

I consider my views on race, religion and gender relations to be rather contemporary. Yet, I have also found myself at times in somewhat questionable situations.

For instance, in college I was a member of a predominantly "some" fraternity. It was not uncommon to hear a derogatory put-down about those who chose a different religious path.

More recently, I stood with a group of male executives at an industry event who found amusement in inappropriate comments about a female attendee.

I’ve been thinking about the issue of bias in social networks since coming across an article about a new online community created by American Airlines for African-Americans. Branded “Black Atlas,” the content of this social network caters to the supposedly unique interests these travelers have in destinations and accommodations.

While in no way do I mean to imply that American Airlines is a racist organization. However, I do question the viability of a marketing initiative that is so ethnically centered.

Ultimately, I do not believe racism, sexism or religious intolerance permeates most social networks. Online communities reflect the natural bias and preferences that come with a gathering of individuals who share so much in common.

Social media is about people and, after all, we are only human.

Ok, this one is perhaps onDemand economics. Here's a second derivative of my Thought for the Day, and yup!- Its a kind of the same Exception!

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favour in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Beginning a new year often brings forth a review of our expectations and I thought it might be a good idea to briefly examine this topic. As with many concepts in our culture, we tend to fall well short of fully appreciating what these terms truly suggest and at times, the apparent contradictions that they may evoke. This is certainly the case with the word expectations. Are they to be valued and embraced or do they impede us and distort our life experiences? The answer depends on a host of things.

One size doesn’t typically fit all and we need to look at how we employ the word expectations. From the perspective of some spiritual traditions we should be disinclined to attach to expectations as they may block our direct experience of life and impose a bondage of belief upon us. Traditional western values that inculcate and reward achievement honor high expectations, for they drive our culture and our economy.

Some people suffer from a lack of healthy expectations and thus limit their potential and others set unattainably high expectations for themselves and thus assure their frustration and unhappiness. Often, expectations get in the way of our being present as our mind distorts our current experience through the filter of our needs. In this case, we are confronted with a paradox. Are expectations good or bad? The zen answer to this questions is simply, yes. The seeming paradox around this term that may lead to much confusion. A good starting point is to ask if your expectations–or lack thereof—enhance your life experience? Do they assist you in the unfolding of your life or do they justify your unhappiness?

The paradox of expectation shouldn’t be resolved by simply saying that they are good or bad. They are neither and they are both. They are what me make them and what we make of them. The responsibility lies within us. As the architects of our lives, we need to be the master of our expectations, rather than be ruled by them. If after a thorough examination, we conclude that our expectations are authentic and self-generated and yet we still struggle in their attainment, we have an opportunity to look at why that is so. On the other hand, if these wishes are not of our own making but merely imposed upon us, we can unshackle ourselves from this burden.