My friend Vikas recently sent me few quotes, which I found to be very inspiring. These quotes make one accept the reality & help prepare for tough times that everyone inevitably goes through in life.
Though most of these quotes are very popular, it is worth reading them once again & assure ourselves that whatever we are doing, we are on our journey to achieve the goal that we have set for ourselves.
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Success:
Without your involvement you can't succeed. With your involvement you can't fail.
What is the secret of Success... ?
"Right Decisions"
How do you make Right Decisions... ?
"Through Experience"
How do you get Experience.. . ?
"While making wrong decisions in the past..! “
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Strength:
If you know the strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.
- Hal Borland
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Actions:
You are not responsible for what people think about you. But you are responsible for what you give them to think about you.
-Stanley Ferrard
Don't make promise when you are in Joy . Don't reply when you are Sad. Don't take decisions when you are Angry.
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Happiness:
The happiest people do not necessarily have the best of all. They simply appreciate what they find on their way.
Write your Sad times in Sand. Write your Good times in Stone.
- George Bernard Shaw
Easy to receive. Difficult to give.
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Love:
It's better to lose your Ego to the one you Love, than to lose the one you Love because of Ego.
-John Keats
Easy to say we love. Difficult to demonstrate it every day.
A man is lucky if he is the first love of a Woman. A woman is lucky if she is the last love of a man.
- Charles Dickens
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Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Are you moving away from your friends?
Recently I had gone to Agra for some personal work. I had done my schooling there & had a lot of friends at that time. That was 13 years ago. So this time I wished to catch up with my old friends. After a little struggle, I was able to meet one of my friends, Satya.
Satya, as I remember, was a typical guy. He had lots of friends, including me. But I was not his best friend as we had lot of differences too between us. Nevertheless, it was good to see him again, & we chatted for a couple of hours catching up on each other.
Satya told me that he had lost many friends in the past years as many had moved out of Agra for further studies or some other reason. It was a very painful for him to see his friends go away. Finally he decided not have close friends any more. He had stopped calling his friends for casual chats, and refused to meet them during the weekends. He was feeling miserable at the moment, but thought he will get used to a life without close friends soon, and be his normal self once again. This he was doing to prevent himself from undergoing any more separation from his friends who may go away in the future.
I was really surprised to hear that Satya, who likes to be surrounded by friends, has decided to shun away from companionship. I could only admire his resolve to change his nature to such a great extent.
I contemplated on this during a long train journey back home couple of days later. I realised that there were certain flaws in his method to avoid pain.
1.Love thrives when people are in touch. By avoiding his friends, Satya himself is sending away his friends. This is causing pain to him already, and it is the same pain that he wishes to avoid.
2.He is sending away his friends who may stick with him for a long time, as they may not plan to leave place where they have spent so many years of their life.
3.He is causing pain to his friends by moving away from them without any apparent reason. His friends won’t know why he is avoiding them. And when they hear the truth, Satya may be looked upon as a person who is selfish & contacts others only when he requires help.
4.He will not be able to call anyone for help when he really needs it, because after some time his friends will start avoiding him too.
After doing the above analysis, I called up Satya to inform him what I had discovered and to ask him to stop this appproach. But he did not receive the call as he wished to avoid me.
Friday, April 10, 2009
The bread slices & jam sachet
Positive thinking can make one feel good or bad in same situation.
“Sir, your breakfast.”
Mohan put the newspaper down as the waiter put the breakfast tray in front of him. Next to him, Vinod was already opening his breakfast package.
“The food provided in Rajdhani Exp is really better than in other trains. Isn’t it?” asked Vinod.
“Yes” replied Mohan. He unwrapped the plain bread slices out of the covering. There was a bowl of Upma and one Vada with chutney. With the bread slices, a butter sachet, & a jam sachet were provided. He opened the jam sachet & applied the jam on a slice.
‘Why can’t they give enough jam so that it can be applied on both the slices? It is too less. Why such a small sachet’ thought Mohan sourly.
“Wow Mohan, did you see that?” exclaimed Vinod. “They have given such big slices of bread that one jam sachet is just not enough! We can consume one more jam sachet with this pair of bread slices.”
“........”
“Sir, your breakfast.”
Mohan put the newspaper down as the waiter put the breakfast tray in front of him. Next to him, Vinod was already opening his breakfast package.
“The food provided in Rajdhani Exp is really better than in other trains. Isn’t it?” asked Vinod.
“Yes” replied Mohan. He unwrapped the plain bread slices out of the covering. There was a bowl of Upma and one Vada with chutney. With the bread slices, a butter sachet, & a jam sachet were provided. He opened the jam sachet & applied the jam on a slice.
‘Why can’t they give enough jam so that it can be applied on both the slices? It is too less. Why such a small sachet’ thought Mohan sourly.
“Wow Mohan, did you see that?” exclaimed Vinod. “They have given such big slices of bread that one jam sachet is just not enough! We can consume one more jam sachet with this pair of bread slices.”
“........”
Monday, March 30, 2009
Madhav's Folly
An incident from a professional's life who was bored while sitting for the same presentation over & over again...
Madhav set the over-head projector on the table and checked the projection on the screen. It was fine. He then opened the powerpoint presentation and ran the entire slide-show once. Once he was satisfied, he sat on the corner chair, waiting for his senior Kishore to arrive & begin the presentation to the prospective clients.
Madhav had done very well in the last few months on his job. His manager had given him a good review of his work, and he did get a reasonable salary-hike. But the promotion that he wanted never came. He still wondered as to how long he will have to wait to get good designation under his name.
Reminiscence of the past were broken by the sound of the door opening. Madhav got up to greet Kishore, but was surprised to see the his manager walk in.
'Good morning sir. How are you doing? Are you too going to attend this sales presentation?'
'No Madhav.' his manager said. ' Kishore called me up just now. He is stuck in a heavy traffic jam due a political rally, and won't be here in time. Can you make the presentation? I will send the audience in.'
'What?' Madhav was aghast. 'I am not ready sir. I have not prepared for it.'
'Hey, come on Madhav. You have attended this presentation so many times. You don't need to prepare. Am I wrong?'
It was then Madhav realized his folly. He had sat through the presentation innumerable times. But he never listened to it. He knew all the jokes cracked by Kishore but he did not know in what context those jokes were told. He knew the sequence of all the slides. But he did not know what each slide exactly conveyed. For him, it was same old story told over & over again. But he never bothered to listen to that story. While Kishore was gave the presentation, he would browse the Internet on his laptop for the latest movie he wanted to watch, or the latest score of international cricket match involving India
And now, when there was a chance to prove to his manager that he was as good as Kishore in giving presentations, he was going to miss out. If only he would have been attentive earlier & given this presentation today, life was going to be different.
Madhav sat down on the chair with a heavy heart. Outside he could hear his manager speaking on the phone to audience apologizing for the postponement of the meeting.
Madhav set the over-head projector on the table and checked the projection on the screen. It was fine. He then opened the powerpoint presentation and ran the entire slide-show once. Once he was satisfied, he sat on the corner chair, waiting for his senior Kishore to arrive & begin the presentation to the prospective clients.
Madhav had done very well in the last few months on his job. His manager had given him a good review of his work, and he did get a reasonable salary-hike. But the promotion that he wanted never came. He still wondered as to how long he will have to wait to get good designation under his name.
Reminiscence of the past were broken by the sound of the door opening. Madhav got up to greet Kishore, but was surprised to see the his manager walk in.
'Good morning sir. How are you doing? Are you too going to attend this sales presentation?'
'No Madhav.' his manager said. ' Kishore called me up just now. He is stuck in a heavy traffic jam due a political rally, and won't be here in time. Can you make the presentation? I will send the audience in.'
'What?' Madhav was aghast. 'I am not ready sir. I have not prepared for it.'
'Hey, come on Madhav. You have attended this presentation so many times. You don't need to prepare. Am I wrong?'
It was then Madhav realized his folly. He had sat through the presentation innumerable times. But he never listened to it. He knew all the jokes cracked by Kishore but he did not know in what context those jokes were told. He knew the sequence of all the slides. But he did not know what each slide exactly conveyed. For him, it was same old story told over & over again. But he never bothered to listen to that story. While Kishore was gave the presentation, he would browse the Internet on his laptop for the latest movie he wanted to watch, or the latest score of international cricket match involving India
And now, when there was a chance to prove to his manager that he was as good as Kishore in giving presentations, he was going to miss out. If only he would have been attentive earlier & given this presentation today, life was going to be different.
Madhav sat down on the chair with a heavy heart. Outside he could hear his manager speaking on the phone to audience apologizing for the postponement of the meeting.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Why we shout when we are angry?
I received the following gem from my sister Meenu. This is a great reading.
A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Another answer came, ' By shouting we let out our frustration.'
But the saint was not satisfied. Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
The saint continued, 'What happens when two people are in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small... 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'
MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.
A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Another answer came, ' By shouting we let out our frustration.'
But the saint was not satisfied. Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
The saint continued, 'What happens when two people are in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small... 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'
MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.
Monday, March 09, 2009
'Am I egoistic?'
It was written all across his face that he was very happy. Vinod emptied the glass of water and then asked him, “I can tell by looking at your face that something has happened & now you are at truce with Sudha. Am I right?”
Ganesh sighed. “Yes. You are too good a psychologist. It was a bit of problem which we resolved finally. The last week’s fight was very bad. We were sleeping in separate rooms. And we were not on talking terms too. She prepared breakfast & lunch for me in the morning and then entered the bathroom, and won’t come out till I leave for office. When I come in the evening, food will be on the table, she will be sleeping in her room. But finally we started to miss each other. Yesterday I bought her favourite ice-cream, went to her room. She was pretending to sleep. But I forcefully woke her up, and gave the ice-cream. And rest is history. We apologised to each other and the same good old days are back now.”
“Good to hear that. I did not like your sullen & unshaven face last week” laughed Vinod.
“But I don’t understand one thing Vinod” Ganesh said. “I love Sudha more than my life. We have been married for many months now. We do have our small misunderstandings. But the day this misunderstanding came up, I started hating her. After our fight, she went to the living room to watch TV. She was watching her favourite comedy serial, and was laughing at those silly jokes made by the actors. But I was feeling very jealous inside myself. Seeing her laugh was making my blood boil. I wished that power goes off, or our TV goes out of order and she is not able to watch the serial. I wanted her to keep crying till she comes back to me. Similarly, when she was talking to the neighbour in the evening, she was enjoying her time. I just wanted to bash both their faces at that time. But after we made up last night, I wonder how could I have such ghastly thoughts about her? After all, I love her.”
Vinod continued to sip his juice as he smiled at Ganesh. “You mean you wished ill for Sudha when both of you were fighting?”
“Yes. Very much. And I am ashamed of it. Do you think I love her?”
“Tell me one thing” Vinod asked. “Whose was guilty of the argument? Was it your mistake or hers?”
“How does it matter Vinod? We apologised to each other & we are happy now. Everything has been forgiven.”
“Who apologised first? You or her?”
“It was me, “Ganesh said. “I took the ice-cream to her and said that I was sorry. She immediately responded by saying sorry.”
“You said sorry first even though it was not necessarily your mistake. Am I right?”
“Yes. May be I was wrong. May be not. But both of us apologised to each other.”
“Then you love her. No doubt about it. Love requires swallowing ones ego. You did that, though it was after few days. You love her. And she said sorry immediately after you apologised. So she loves you too.”
“Then why did I think of hurting her?”
“Ego.”
“Ego?”
“Yes ego. After you fought, it was your ego which demanded that Sudha cannot be happy without you. It wanted to hurt her. It always wants you to feel important. It wants to prove that you are such an important person in her life that she cannot remain happy even for a moment without you. It wanted to cut-off all other sources of her happiness, so that she depends only upon you for her happiness.”
“So you mean I am egoistic?”
“We all are, to some degree.”
“But just now you told I swallowed my ego? And proved that I really love her..!”
“Yes. You were egoistic when you thought of hurting her. Ego blinds us more than love. That’s why, even though you love Sudha, you wanted TV or the neighbour to go away. But later, love overcame ego. You decided to apologise. You took the first step. Love triumphed over ego.”
“I see...My God! I never thought that way” Ganesh said.
“You will get it. Think about it. When we love somebody we always say, ‘your happiness is my happiness’. Don’t we? But what happens when we fight or argue? Isn’t other’s happiness not our happiness at that point too? It is.”
“Then what happens?”
“Always remember, if 2 people, who say they love each other are having a fight, watch for the one who starts shouting first. When he starts shouting, his ego has overcome his love for the other person. The other person will not shout till his ego is hurt by the shouting from the first one.
“So you mean to say I need to overcome my ego?”
“You already did once. Next time, let it not take few days, but few hours. And going forward let it be few minutes.”
“You are right. Then I will not have to suffer so much.”
“I don’t know, who among you shouted first, and whose mistake was it overall. But I know, Sudha is lucky to have you as life-partner. You will ensure that the relationship lasts long.”
“Thanks Vinod” Ganesh chuckled.
“Still I wonder Ganesh. Why did not she approach you first to apologise?”
“...........”
(Based on a true incident.)
Ganesh sighed. “Yes. You are too good a psychologist. It was a bit of problem which we resolved finally. The last week’s fight was very bad. We were sleeping in separate rooms. And we were not on talking terms too. She prepared breakfast & lunch for me in the morning and then entered the bathroom, and won’t come out till I leave for office. When I come in the evening, food will be on the table, she will be sleeping in her room. But finally we started to miss each other. Yesterday I bought her favourite ice-cream, went to her room. She was pretending to sleep. But I forcefully woke her up, and gave the ice-cream. And rest is history. We apologised to each other and the same good old days are back now.”
“Good to hear that. I did not like your sullen & unshaven face last week” laughed Vinod.
“But I don’t understand one thing Vinod” Ganesh said. “I love Sudha more than my life. We have been married for many months now. We do have our small misunderstandings. But the day this misunderstanding came up, I started hating her. After our fight, she went to the living room to watch TV. She was watching her favourite comedy serial, and was laughing at those silly jokes made by the actors. But I was feeling very jealous inside myself. Seeing her laugh was making my blood boil. I wished that power goes off, or our TV goes out of order and she is not able to watch the serial. I wanted her to keep crying till she comes back to me. Similarly, when she was talking to the neighbour in the evening, she was enjoying her time. I just wanted to bash both their faces at that time. But after we made up last night, I wonder how could I have such ghastly thoughts about her? After all, I love her.”
Vinod continued to sip his juice as he smiled at Ganesh. “You mean you wished ill for Sudha when both of you were fighting?”
“Yes. Very much. And I am ashamed of it. Do you think I love her?”
“Tell me one thing” Vinod asked. “Whose was guilty of the argument? Was it your mistake or hers?”
“How does it matter Vinod? We apologised to each other & we are happy now. Everything has been forgiven.”
“Who apologised first? You or her?”
“It was me, “Ganesh said. “I took the ice-cream to her and said that I was sorry. She immediately responded by saying sorry.”
“You said sorry first even though it was not necessarily your mistake. Am I right?”
“Yes. May be I was wrong. May be not. But both of us apologised to each other.”
“Then you love her. No doubt about it. Love requires swallowing ones ego. You did that, though it was after few days. You love her. And she said sorry immediately after you apologised. So she loves you too.”
“Then why did I think of hurting her?”
“Ego.”
“Ego?”
“Yes ego. After you fought, it was your ego which demanded that Sudha cannot be happy without you. It wanted to hurt her. It always wants you to feel important. It wants to prove that you are such an important person in her life that she cannot remain happy even for a moment without you. It wanted to cut-off all other sources of her happiness, so that she depends only upon you for her happiness.”
“So you mean I am egoistic?”
“We all are, to some degree.”
“But just now you told I swallowed my ego? And proved that I really love her..!”
“Yes. You were egoistic when you thought of hurting her. Ego blinds us more than love. That’s why, even though you love Sudha, you wanted TV or the neighbour to go away. But later, love overcame ego. You decided to apologise. You took the first step. Love triumphed over ego.”
“I see...My God! I never thought that way” Ganesh said.
“You will get it. Think about it. When we love somebody we always say, ‘your happiness is my happiness’. Don’t we? But what happens when we fight or argue? Isn’t other’s happiness not our happiness at that point too? It is.”
“Then what happens?”
“Always remember, if 2 people, who say they love each other are having a fight, watch for the one who starts shouting first. When he starts shouting, his ego has overcome his love for the other person. The other person will not shout till his ego is hurt by the shouting from the first one.
“So you mean to say I need to overcome my ego?”
“You already did once. Next time, let it not take few days, but few hours. And going forward let it be few minutes.”
“You are right. Then I will not have to suffer so much.”
“I don’t know, who among you shouted first, and whose mistake was it overall. But I know, Sudha is lucky to have you as life-partner. You will ensure that the relationship lasts long.”
“Thanks Vinod” Ganesh chuckled.
“Still I wonder Ganesh. Why did not she approach you first to apologise?”
“...........”
(Based on a true incident.)
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Four destructive phrases that should be avoided in discussions
After I wasted a weekend, as I mentioned in my last post, I did plan my next weekend in a much better manner. And it went well. What did not go well was the week after the weekend. I had a very big mis-understanding with one of my closest friends. There were lot of arguments & counter-arguments, and feelings were hurt. Fortunately, the fires have died down now & things are starting to become normal again.
When the mis-understanding first came up, I sat with my friend to discuss the issue. Many times these discussions became arguments. You may ask what is the difference in discussion & arguments in this case. What I saw was that we started the discussion with the purpose of resolving the issue. But during the discussion the attitude of the participants changed, & towards the end we were speaking to prove our point, to prove that one was right and other was wrong, and not to resolve the issue. As this happened again & again, I began to look for those word & phrases that changed a constructive discussion into a destructive argument. I came up with the following list:
1. Its not my problem (or 'it is your problem'): The best discussion buster. You can be assured that the moment one person uses this phrase, he indicates that he no longer feels he needs to do anything to resolve the issue. In fact, he feels that he does not have to do anything with the issue, and should not be dragged in the discussion to resolve the problem. The other person(s) is solely responsible to do the fire-fighting.
I have worked few good managers, and some not-so-good-managers in my workplace. The good managers never use this phrase during any discussion even when the issue is actually 'not their problem'. The not-so-good-managers tend to use this more often and put the blame on somebody else.
2. I am like that only: May not be a grammatically correct phrase, but I have heard it being used many times. When somebody says this, he means that he is not going to change his behaviour/actions to resolve the issue, or prevent it from cropping up later on. He does not want to change his nature. The other person has to work within this extra constraint and still resolve the problem. I have been defeated in many arguments by this phrase alone. I have a simple philosophy: Accept people as they are, and do not try to transform them. Instead, change yourself. And when somebody says this phrase to me, I cannot argue back as it goes against my policy!
3. What's the use?: This phrase may not be heard as often as the other two mentioned above, but is equally effective in creating bitterness between people. I told my friend about all the efforts I was making to bring our relationship back to normal, and he asked me, 'what's the use'? :-( I was expecting an appreciation for the efforts I was making, and such a question added insult to injury.
In addition to the above three, there is one more phrase that is used very commonly by many of us. This did not come up during the arguments with my friend, but I have observed its negativity very often.
4. I told you so!: Very commonly used, and very effective if you want to put somebody down. We all use it when at the 'right' time, when we know we were right all the way & the other person never listened to us, continued in his own way & finally tasted failure. I ask myself, do I really need to speak it out? Why don't I comfort him after his failure? All the effort he had put in has not borne the results he was looking for, and is disappointed. And, after his failure, he anyway realizes that I was right, and I had told him so.
There are many more phrases that can be destructive. If you know, please put them in the comments below.
When the mis-understanding first came up, I sat with my friend to discuss the issue. Many times these discussions became arguments. You may ask what is the difference in discussion & arguments in this case. What I saw was that we started the discussion with the purpose of resolving the issue. But during the discussion the attitude of the participants changed, & towards the end we were speaking to prove our point, to prove that one was right and other was wrong, and not to resolve the issue. As this happened again & again, I began to look for those word & phrases that changed a constructive discussion into a destructive argument. I came up with the following list:
1. Its not my problem (or 'it is your problem'): The best discussion buster. You can be assured that the moment one person uses this phrase, he indicates that he no longer feels he needs to do anything to resolve the issue. In fact, he feels that he does not have to do anything with the issue, and should not be dragged in the discussion to resolve the problem. The other person(s) is solely responsible to do the fire-fighting.
I have worked few good managers, and some not-so-good-managers in my workplace. The good managers never use this phrase during any discussion even when the issue is actually 'not their problem'. The not-so-good-managers tend to use this more often and put the blame on somebody else.
2. I am like that only: May not be a grammatically correct phrase, but I have heard it being used many times. When somebody says this, he means that he is not going to change his behaviour/actions to resolve the issue, or prevent it from cropping up later on. He does not want to change his nature. The other person has to work within this extra constraint and still resolve the problem. I have been defeated in many arguments by this phrase alone. I have a simple philosophy: Accept people as they are, and do not try to transform them. Instead, change yourself. And when somebody says this phrase to me, I cannot argue back as it goes against my policy!
3. What's the use?: This phrase may not be heard as often as the other two mentioned above, but is equally effective in creating bitterness between people. I told my friend about all the efforts I was making to bring our relationship back to normal, and he asked me, 'what's the use'? :-( I was expecting an appreciation for the efforts I was making, and such a question added insult to injury.
In addition to the above three, there is one more phrase that is used very commonly by many of us. This did not come up during the arguments with my friend, but I have observed its negativity very often.
4. I told you so!: Very commonly used, and very effective if you want to put somebody down. We all use it when at the 'right' time, when we know we were right all the way & the other person never listened to us, continued in his own way & finally tasted failure. I ask myself, do I really need to speak it out? Why don't I comfort him after his failure? All the effort he had put in has not borne the results he was looking for, and is disappointed. And, after his failure, he anyway realizes that I was right, and I had told him so.
There are many more phrases that can be destructive. If you know, please put them in the comments below.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A weekend wasted :-(
We all look forward top weekends, at least I do. And I wish my weekend to be more satisfying than the previous one. I had planned my weekend in advance this time. My plan was as follows:
1. Saturday: Travel with a colleague to a holy place outside the city, and have good outing.
2. Sunday: Helping my neighbour in packing the household luggage, as he was shifting to a new house.
I was pretty happy with this advance planning and knew that this weekend is going to be very satisfactory for me. Comes Saturday & all these plans went for a toss.
(a) Saturday: We had to leave at 5:30 am in the morning, but I got up from sleep only at 5:15 am. 15 minutes was never going to be sufficient to get ready and join the entire party with whom I was travelling. So Saturday's plan went down the drain.
(b) Sunday: My neighbour had organized for house-warming ceremony for the new house. It consisted of havan, (a ritualistic worship of the new house), lunch for the guests, and bhajans (singing of devotional songs). I had received an itinerary of the program, but I did not bother to read it, thinking that all I knew was that he is shifting on Sunday, and that's all I need to know. But, due to this schedule, he spent entire day at the new house, taking care of the ceremony, and there was no packing & shifting. Again, my plan of spending a day fruitfully went in vain.
I made following observations after wasting my weekend:
1. I need to always have an alternate plan. (I usually have, but this weekend I did not, as everything was fixed & nothing seemed to have any possibility of going wrong. My colleague did go to the holy place, and my neighbour did shift his house).
2. Just because things do not go as we planned, we should not waste time ruing about it. (I confess that I spent my Saturday cursing myself that I did not get up early. This guilt consumed what could have been a wonderful Saturday for me.)
I have not yet planned for the coming weekend. But, this time I know it won't be this fruitless.
1. Saturday: Travel with a colleague to a holy place outside the city, and have good outing.
2. Sunday: Helping my neighbour in packing the household luggage, as he was shifting to a new house.
I was pretty happy with this advance planning and knew that this weekend is going to be very satisfactory for me. Comes Saturday & all these plans went for a toss.
(a) Saturday: We had to leave at 5:30 am in the morning, but I got up from sleep only at 5:15 am. 15 minutes was never going to be sufficient to get ready and join the entire party with whom I was travelling. So Saturday's plan went down the drain.
(b) Sunday: My neighbour had organized for house-warming ceremony for the new house. It consisted of havan, (a ritualistic worship of the new house), lunch for the guests, and bhajans (singing of devotional songs). I had received an itinerary of the program, but I did not bother to read it, thinking that all I knew was that he is shifting on Sunday, and that's all I need to know. But, due to this schedule, he spent entire day at the new house, taking care of the ceremony, and there was no packing & shifting. Again, my plan of spending a day fruitfully went in vain.
I made following observations after wasting my weekend:
1. I need to always have an alternate plan. (I usually have, but this weekend I did not, as everything was fixed & nothing seemed to have any possibility of going wrong. My colleague did go to the holy place, and my neighbour did shift his house).
2. Just because things do not go as we planned, we should not waste time ruing about it. (I confess that I spent my Saturday cursing myself that I did not get up early. This guilt consumed what could have been a wonderful Saturday for me.)
I have not yet planned for the coming weekend. But, this time I know it won't be this fruitless.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Be Thankful...
It's easy to be thankful for the good things in life. But a life of rich fulfillment comes to those, who are also thankful for their setbacks. The following lines make us aware of those things that are valuable to us, but we don't realize their importance.
Thanks to my friend Prashant C P for sending the same :-)
Be thankful, that you don't have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful, when you don't know something.
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful, for the difficult times.
It is during those times that you grow.
Be thankful, for your limitations.
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful, for each new challenge.
For that will build your strength and character.
Be thankful, for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful, when you're tired and weary.
Because it means you've made an effort.
Thanks to my friend Prashant C P for sending the same :-)
Be thankful, that you don't have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful, when you don't know something.
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful, for the difficult times.
It is during those times that you grow.
Be thankful, for your limitations.
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful, for each new challenge.
For that will build your strength and character.
Be thankful, for your mistakes.
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful, when you're tired and weary.
Because it means you've made an effort.
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