Happiness Cover

If asked from variety of people about their reason of doing a particular job, the usual answer would be-"I do it to for the security of my family." And they take pride in stating this as this statement seems to put the family first. But it actually makes him & people around him a laggard in life as far as happiness is concerned. We get the whole equation wrong simply because we don't understand the question right. Life doesn't need a security cover; it needs a happiness cover. The problem with most of us is that we confuse happiness with security. We think that we are happy as long as we are secure and the tragedy is we neither understand happiness nor security.

Happiness is not a thing but a state and therefore it cannot be had in exchange of anything. All our life we keep running after money, security, financial freedom, palatial houses, luxury cars & all other toys to make ourselves & people around us happy. The paradox is while we are adding all these items to our shopping cart, someone is debiting a large amount of happiness from our happiness bank. When we bring these items home, we also get some so called freebies like greed, ego & stress. Ironically, the more secure we feel, the more security we yearn for & we are caught in a vicious cycle. 

This happens because we also misunderstand security. In the beginning we work for our basic needs but once we have it, we swiftly move to ultra-luxury items & never stop. Initially, having our basic necessities have some bearing on our happiness index, but once we reach to a certain level, hoarding these things doesn't affect our state of happiness. In fact, it takes a lot away from us & only gives us pain. What we should understand is that security is nothing but our ability to perform a particular job. As long as we are adequate to do a job we should not worry about security- financial or social. Instead of hoarding money and toys, one should hoard skills & talents. 

Remember, happiness also comes at a price & the price is your abnegation of all material pursuits. This is not to say that we don't need some basic necessities but what we don't need is mindless hoarding of luxuries at the cost of happiness. 

True Wisdom

To know is to gain knowledge. To know that you know is to be ignorant. To know that you know nothing is the real wisdom.

We stop learning when our being(ego) becomes bigger than us. The moment we realize that we have learnt enough, ignorance starts. There are two ways that we can stop growing- one way is to feel that we have known enough to pass our life & another is to feel that there is nothing left to know. In the first case, we put a limit to our knowledge & thus we only pass our lives instead of living. In second case we put limit to ourselves & die spiritually. 

A child learns most because he realizes that to grow he needs to know. He gets into stage of  constant learning very fast & remains there for pretty long period. After few years he starts thinking that he has gained knowledge of most of the things that is required to pass his life. Now he intends to specialize & walks in the direction of his dreams. But now he learns not for self but for others-for his family, for friends & for everyone connected to him & he prides himself being called successful in a particular field. Then he gains knowledge of all worldly affairs-he does so to have good relationship with his fellow human beings.

But what he misses is to learn for self. He feels he will have time enough to know when he will be free from others. But most of us fail to get that time & die in utter ignorance. Blessed are those who realize the meaning of true knowledge early in their life & go in quest of the same. They learn not for others but for self. The dilemma is not whether to know or not to, but what to know & what not to. If we can crack this puzzle,we will lead a life of bliss.

I Have Lived

The tragedy of life is not that we only live once, the tragedy is not realizing that this is our only chance to live. We pass our life as if we are in hurry & have many jobs to finish. The fact is that as a human being, we have only one business to deal with and that is to live. But that doesn't come naturally to people and one reason is that they have no experience in the same. They hide behind the fact that they have just arrived & that they are novice and are still learning tricks of the trade and many such excuses. We forget that a child is also inexperienced but he knows how to live. He doesn't become the slave of life. He becomes a student & a master at the same time.

When we have passed certain period of our life, we start having some kind of regret of not living life full size. And when that happens, our whole life flashes before us. We go into some kind of a flash back, replaying all the scenes from different periods of our life. But we don't have plenty to watch. The scenes that generally flash are our personal milestones, our professional successes, people who wronged us or the other way round.

But we miss something. We miss scenes of appreciating life, contributing to lives around us or making a difference in the lives of others. Then we realize that life is not about winning some trophies or collecting some toys; it is about living the moments, loving others and reading the messages that it throws towards us. Unfortunately, we don't care for these not-so-urgent but important acts & when we realize we have already directed major part of that movie called life. And the worst part it that it cannot be edited now. What is lived, cannot be un-lived.

So, the best way is to live every moment of it so that when you watch your own movie, you scream with joy- 

                                                                              "I have lived."

Do What You Fear

There are two dominant forces working in this world- Fear & Faith. And both the forces can't co-exist. In fact, they antagonize each other. When someone gets bitten by the fear bug, the first symptom that shows up is loss of faith. The other symptoms may be poor self-esteem, frustration, low confidence & feeling of guilt. Ultimately, the person cuts himself from  the world & becomes a recluse. Fear engulfs his whole mental make-up & he goes into depression.

On the other hand, the person who has faith in self & God can move mountains. He does the impossible because he believes it before he sees it happening. As William Wordsworth stated, 
                                                  "Faith is a passionate intuition." 
The person who has faith has the intuition of things coming his way & he does not see a blurred image but a very clear vision. He achieves everything twice- first in his mind & then in the real world. Once he starts experiencing the magic of belief, all impossible looking things look very much possible. He sees fear in the face & challenges all his limits. Now, he does not enjoy achieving easy goals. He leaves these for the fickle-minded & relishes only the impossible looking goals. 

But the important thing is to cross the first hurdle of fear- fear of failure. One reason that many people lead an ordinary existence is that they are in the grip of this fear. They don't realize that the success lies on the other side of this fear. The moment they challenge the fear, it vanishes into thin air. Fear is like a street dog. It chases you till you run away from it but crawls back once you stand & look straight into its eye. 

The only way to shoo away this fear is to run towards it. You will gather courage, gain confidence & do the things which earlier seemed impossible. All the successful people had one trait common in them- they feared nothing & it was because they had immense faith in their abilities. You might have come across people who looked quite ordinary when you last saw them but they shocked you with their achievements when you met them after few years. There was nothing miraculous that happened in their life; they only shifted from fear mode to faith mode & because you did not see the shift, you were shocked with their achievements. Now it is your turn to shock the world. 

Seek Within

Everyone craves for a life full of wonders & to seek that we run everywhere & to everyone. But more often than not we feel disenchanted and come back to our own abode to find that the world that we were seeking out was within, waiting for us to return. It is sure that one day we will come back & seek asylum in the comforting confines of our soul. And then we only wonder why we failed to notice the light within & lived in darkness. 

One day, I decided to do some soul-searching & had an interesting dialogue with my soul. 

When probed why don't we see the light even though we want it badly, it answered, "My dear child, the light that is there can't be seen; it can only be felt & to feel this light one needs to have a soul that is devoid of all impurities. It has to be as fresh & pure as a newly bloomed flower."

Then I questioned, "Why didn't I notice it when I was a child? I met all the requirements to notice the light."

And it whispered into my ear,"You noticed it in your initial years. This is why it is said that a child is closest to God. But you started ignoring it soon as your vision was blinded by the external influences. And once that happened, you closed your eyes forever to ignore it & engaged in material pursuits."

But I was not to be defeated so easily. I continued pestering my soul, "But you could have talked to me. After all, you are my soul. It is your duty to guide me whenever you think I am heading towards the wrong direction."

It smiled as if to tease me, "My dear child, I was continuously talking to you as I am talking now. But my voice was muffled by the noise outside. What you call intuition was me talking to you. But you ignored that too."

"But I said my prayers regularly. Then, what is the difference between prayer & intuition?" asked I.

It answered, "You said your prayers that is why you had a strong intuition. Prayer is you talking to God & intuition is God talking to you."

"So, how am I able to listen your voice now?", questioned I.

It smiled again & replied, "Because now you understand that the real world is within you. All that you seek is within;rest all is a mirage."

And then feeling frustrated & tired, I demanded, "Why are you giving these answers now? "

It replied softly, "Because you are asking the questions now. And 'now' is all that matters. Don't regret; don't fret over what you have lost. Rejoice over what you are going to experience now."

I Can Grow

The biggest proof of life is growth. If someone is not busy growing, he is surely busy dying. The basic difference between objects & human beings is that while objects only decay, human beings have the option of growing. We are not talking about growth in social status or financial standing but growing in mind, body & soul.
The first big area that we should concentrate upon is mind & man starts to grow naturally in this particular area from his early childhood. In fact he grows best when he is young & has not achieved much. The problem begins when he starts thinking that he has learnt enough to pass rest of his life easily & he exactly does that- he only passes his life. Another difference between a child & a grown up man is that while a child's learning is multidimensional, a man's growth is uni-dimensional. He learns only in the area of his work & cuts himself off from rest of the areas. There is nothing wrong in specializing in one particular field, but limiting oneself only to that field will limit one's achievements only to that area. 
Second important area to grow is in the body which surely doesn't mean to become stronger or to live longer. It only means to lead a healthy & disease free life as long as one lives. It is funny that to gain material pursuits we compromise with our health & to regain the same level of health that we had before we made the compromise, we are ready to let go of all our wealth, but in vain. Most of us settle for a diamond-studded wheel chair! Not getting time for exercise is like not getting time to have your tank filled when you know your vehicle will run out of petrol sooner than later.
"Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness." - Edward Stanley
The third and the most important area to grow is soul. Surprisingly, we don't have to do anything extraordinary to achieve growth in this area. If we learn to live simply without making much efforts, we will grow. If we have to learn something, it is stillness of mind not the speed. 
"To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still. 
                                                                                                                  - Jiddu Krishnamurti
The only objective of meditation is being quiet, being still & being in peace with self. Instead of pushing for life, let the life come slowly; let each moment approach you as if it were made only for you & immerse yourself into it.  
In order to live an abundant life, it is important that we channelize all our energy to grow in these areas & the rest of your life will take care of itself.

Impossible Says I m possible

Few things appear ironical but are true- the best in a man always comes out in the worst of situations. A man learns from his failures more than he does from his successes. He moves from ordinary to extraordinary by doing the impossible looking things not by acting on that appears possible. Then, why is it so that we perform more of ordinary acts than the extraordinary ones in our daily life? The answer lies in understanding the difference or similarity between Impossible & I m possible.  

When we select any goal that looks impossible or too big for our abilities, we tend to shrink it to fit it to our size. We do it so that the chances of hitting our target are 100%. And the reason behind this self-limiting thinking is that our purpose of selecting that goal is not to learn but to achieve, which is never the right approach. Another fallacy contributes to shrinking our goal size. Most of goals appear impossible in the beginning. And the usual response of human brain is to reject the impossible & embrace possible looking goals. The fact is that each goal is possible only if you give it little more effort & time than needed for an ordinary goal. Goals are not difficult or easy, our approach is soft or strong. We program our brain to accept the impossible by going for impossible goals consistently. 

In fact if someone is achieving his goals without much efforts on a regular basis, he might be underestimating his abilities. Make a realistic assessment of your skills & then select your goals. Falter on the side of  overestimating your abilities, but never underestimate your strengths. Choose something that stretches your skills & efforts to maximum. You may not achieve the goal but you will certainly learn much more than learning from achieving an ordinary goal. And remember, it is not the destination that teaches you but the journey.

One more thing, whenever you fail in any attempt, analyze what went wrong; but more importantly assess what did you learn & try to apply this learning in next & bigger goal; bigger because you have already failed successfully in a smaller effort. Sir Edmund Hillary did not stop after failing twice in his conquest. He challenged Mount Everest & said to it, 

"I will come again & conquer you because as a mountain you can't grow, but as a human, i can."

Had he shrunk the size of his goal, we would not have been talking about him here. No one knows about the maximum limit of his abilities until he stretches it to that level. You don't fail when you fall; you fail only when you fall & don't get up. And as a human being we are not programmed to fail; we are programmed to learn & succeed. 

Instead of shrinking your goals, expand your abilities. Instead of cutting down on the size of your goal, increase your effort level. Instead of listening 'impossible', listen 'i m possible', every time you choose a big goal.