‘Flying’ penguins for ‘frying’ people: Few pertinent ponderings

I read with much interest the newest book by Dr. Asoka Jinadasa. It is an extension of his award-winning book, ‘Flying Penguins’, with the apt title, ‘Self Help Book #1: Easy Ways to Change Your Life’. It is an assortment of practical advises with pragmatic approaches, highlighting the best practices for personal excellence. Today’s column is an elaboration of its extensive contents. 

Overview

Knowing Asoka as a friend and having seen his multiple achievements, I can see that the new series of self-help books with flying penguin origin is another coveted feather in his cap. He joins the elite calibre of Stephen Covey, Anthony Robbins, Robin Sharma and many others in coming up with an evidence based tested and proven tool kit for unleashing one’s potential. The combination of being a chartered engineer, business strategy consultant, creative film maker, and a “spiritual master” as he would like to be called now, has resulted in an enriching compilation of self-help guidelines with high practical relevance. 

“Silence between notes produces Music; Silence between thoughts produces Wisdom,” says Asoka. “You have embarked on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. This hair-raising effort to change your life will take you from wherever you are in life, to the pinnacle of success and fulfilment—simply by awakening your vast inborn childhood genius.” That is how he invites the readers to embark on a journey of continuing excellence. We were told that he has trained and coached thousands of people in dozens of organisations in many countries and some have achieved personal and career goals they only dreamed of, by using his methods to awaken their inborn childhood genius. It is indeed interesting to see his simple documentation of the doable and deliverable techniques.  

According to Asoka, four more self-help books are on the offing. As he states, Self Help Book #1 (Easy Ways to Change Your Life) prepares you mentally and physically to awaken the genius within you. Self Help Book #2 (Boost Your Skills and Self Esteem) improves life skills and confidence using the six-skills foundation symbolised by Heart, Mind, Body, Passion, Focus, and Health. Self Help Book #3 (Achieve Bigger Goals for a Better Life) helps you develop an action plan to define and achieve hair- raising goals that you only dream of. Self Help Book #4 (Unleash the Natural Leader Within You) gives you a six-skills foundation and a five-step framework to awaken your natural-born abilities. Self Help Book #5 (Slow and Reverse Your Aging Process) offers you a six-skills antiaging framework and thirty ways to slow and reverse aging—at any age. 

Story behind ‘Flying Penguin’

Dr. Asoka Jinadasa describes the reasons behind the uncommon title of his acclaimed book. “While writing my first book in this series, I kept thinking about what title would be best for it. It had to convey that the book was all about helping people break through their self-imposed limitations to create miracles in their lives.  But I had no idea how to capture all that in a catchy and meaningful title. Then a miracle happened. I received an email showing a BBC film trailer featuring flying penguins. Made as an April Fools’ Day hoax, it showed penguins in Antarctica taking off and flying.”

“Though it was a hoax, it grabbed my attention. I knew that penguins can’t fly. But I was hoping to find out if they could do so at least momentarily. Then a second miracle happened. While idly searching for penguins, I found what I was seeking. The November 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine showed an amazing picture taken by Paul Nicklen: an emperor penguin flying out of the water to land on ice at a higher level when threatened by a predator lurking in the water. That was my cue. Both penguins and humans create miracles under life-threatening conditions.  That was how my subconscious mind guided me to find the perfect title for my book, with almost no effort on my part.”

“Your ability to intuitively download new ideas is closely connected to your mental state and the associated brainwaves,” advises Dr. Asoka. 

Valued comments from a veteran

Dr. Marshal Goldsmith, an author, or editor of 36 books, which have sold over two million copies, been translated into 32 languages, and become listed bestsellers in 12 countries has given some interesting comments on the Self Help book on Flying Penguins. 

“Flying Penguin Self Help Book: Easy Ways to Change Your Life is an exceptional guide to understanding the foundation of our learned behaviours, how we form and maintain habits that hold us back, and how to break free of these cycles to create the life we want.”

“Following a natural progression, Dr. Asoka leads readers through a fascinating discovery of human potential and our innate abilities. He prepares you to move past what may hold you back with priming your mind, visualizations, energy, stress management and more; and finally, to actionable steps and methods to change your life.”

“This book is rooted in Dr. Asoka’s expert knowledge for coaching, behavioural change, and personal experiences in helping so many people achieve success! Building on his award-winning Six-Skills Foundation, the Self Help book series is a powerful resource for anyone looking to improve their lives and opportunities. Dr. Asoka has helped thousands of people in organizations across the world and has created a series to bring that incredible knowledge directly to you.”

Your cosmic antenna

Dr. Jinadasa has the knack of presenting a deep phenomenon in a delightfully simple manner. Here’s what he says about a “cosmic antenna” that we have to be aware of:

“You were born with a cosmic antenna that is connected to your subconscious mind. That is what made you an intuitive learning machine, long before you could even read.  This cosmic antenna is intuitively used by animals. Penguins have an internal Global Positioning System (GPS). It enables them to find their way home after swimming hundreds of kilometres. Migratory birds collectively know when to take off and in which direction to fly.”

“Different species of animals, including humans, appear to be plugged into a dedicated intelligence field called the Morphogenetic Field. It is specific to each species. When enough mice in a group learn a maze, all mice everywhere suddenly seem to know the maze—whether they have run it before or not!  This intelligence field provides the transmission medium for your cosmic antenna, through which you are connected to the accumulated wisdom of humankind. That is how new-born babies learn to communicate with their parents soon after they come into a world, they know nothing about.”

“Your intuition enables you to reconnect with your cosmic antenna, as you did in early childhood.”

Change your negative emotions

Dr. Asoka offers a practical way of moving beyond negativity. “In early childhood, your emotions arose from what you were experiencing at that moment in time. As you grew older, you also acquired a set of negative emotions that got triggered whenever you were faced with any change you were reluctant to accept due to past experiences. These negative emotions typically include fear, anger, sadness, and jealousy. How can you change such emotions that obstruct your success?”

“See each problem differently is the first step in Buddha’s Eightfold Path to perfection. Changing your point of view is the first of eight steps that will progressively lead to: positive thoughts, kind words, ethical actions, righteous livelihood, virtuous effort, mindful awareness, and mental perfection.”

“Changing your point of view is the starting point. For example, having to push a stalled car uphill is far more difficult than pushing it downhill. However, reminding yourself that pushing it uphill will make you stronger, will make that difficult task more palatable.”

Dr. Jinadasa quotes Nick Vujicic who said, “When you focus on what you don’t have, you lose what you do have. To transform any negative emotion instantly, see the problem underlying that emotion as a valuable gift for self-improvement. Born without arms and legs, Nick Vujicic empowered himself to become a famous speaker and best-selling author by adopting an inspiring philosophy: No arms. No legs. No Worries!” 

Way forward 

Considering the turbulent times that we are going though, being positive, proactive, and productive are of high relevance, and any guide towards such a direction is noteworthy and commendable. Amidst a lot of doom and gloom, assisting people to have a sense of hope in awakening their true potential in standing on one’s own feet is of high significance. 

As Asoka describes, penguins fly rarely and that is in a situation of danger and uncertainty. We as “frying people” having devastated by a planetary pandemic and now by the prevailing economic woes, can learn from “flying penguins”. 

“If a lion cub thinks it is a kitten, it would be catching mice all its life,” so says Asoka. It is a clarion call for awakening the human potential and rekindling the human spirit. I am sure that it will be a sure-fire way of resiliently responding to the required revival, as individuals and institutions alike.

(The writer is a faculty member of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), and can be reached through [email protected], [email protected] or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info.)