Dr. Renu S. Persaud of Canada
“The Mastery of You,’ by Dr. Renu S. Persaud, will be released by Waldorf Publishing on October 15. Renu has been living in Toronto since she was a baby. She is a professor, lecturer and social scientist. Her groundbreaking work on self-worth and the development of a strong sense of self has been widely acclaimed.
Renu says that “The Mastery of You” enables us to understand the Self above all else.
She says: “We gain knowledge and strategies needed to value our own sense of self-worth through the paradox of selfishness. Failure to nurture the Self results in the greatest form of betrayal – self-betrayal."
Renu’s book is partly autobiographical, highlighting poignant – and sometimes excruciating – experiences, experiences that took courage to tackle, and even more courage to write about for public audiences.
“My ultimate goal for humanity: the kindness revolution,” Renu says.
Here are some excerpts from the book:
The human body is made up of various systems. We require all systems to work effectively for an overall physical sense of well-being. Durkheim posited that malaise in any system or its parts creates unrest for the entire body. So too society acts upon us and is comprised of a system of parts called institutions—political, economic, legal, cultural, and so on.
I add to this that society must be comprised of a new institution, the institution of selfhood. Durkheim stated we can, indeed, measure this because certain elements are predictable and thus measurable. I often ponder how the elements of science can help us thrive and become successful. In our lives, we are surrounded by people who challenge us, who genuinely want us to be successful.
But there are also those who injure our spirit, and as humans, we may tend to ruminate on negative situations. We fail to see value in the smaller successes.
In a given day, we may have interactions with many various people and groups. The exchanges we recall most often can be the negative interactions. Why? Those who injured our spirit, dissipating our motivation to forge ahead, cause us to feel self-doubt. Our attention should be channeled toward the positive interactions, but this is difficult depending on our personality.
Thinking often about how someone offended you merely surges their negative energy further. Self-mastery prepares us in the background to gain the traits required to transcend deleterious energy so that we do not ponder them. Self-mastery helps to arrange our mindful spirit to digress negative energy from adverse interactions. We then illuminate our penchant to move beyond futile words and actions.
For the ideas of self-mastery to stimulate an effective change in your life, one trait is required: kindness.
Kindness will give you the measure of self-importance you want. It will give you the fulfillment you seek. You will feel your best, and this matters. How do you exude kindness? A part of this involves the empathy equation I discussed above. As humans, we all have this potential, but failure to recognize and practice it leads us astray.
In sports, education, and community activities, we teach our children that winning is secondary, and it is most important they put forth genuine efforts. The attempt to do one’s best is a win in itself. We delve into the competition knowing we must try to win but we do not have to be the winner. With this mindset, we release the mediocrity that allows for selfish “best” pursuits.
You can find more about the book at: renupersaud.com. Renu can be reached on Twitter at: @PersaudRenu, and by email at: info@renupersaud.com