MISTAKES

If you haven’t made a mistake today, then you have not learnt anything today.

Mistakes are the stepping stone to success – one can never attain specialization unless one has made some mistakes. However, specialization here must not be confused with perfectionism – Perfection is only created to be witnessed by millions and attained by none. Perfection resides at horizon – the more we move forward, the farther we have to go to attain it and yet it is unattainable. Perfectionists never make mistakes and hence, no one is a perfectionist. That must not discourage us, we can always improve and there is no limit to it.

The question is which mistake is good and which is not – wise men make one kind of mistakes once and foolish men make the same mistake over and over again. Mistakes are not significantly important – what matters is the learning from mistakes. If we haven’t learnt anything from them, then we have wasted a big opportunity. Though it is believed that experience is the best teacher, it is not mandatory to gain experience to learn lessons – one can learn from others’ mistakes as well.

Atychiphobia – the persistent fear of failure. One way or the other, we all fear to fail but becoming the slave of such fears has devastating consequences. It is horrible to try and fail but it is lethal not to try because you fear to fail. One may not succeed in one go but persistent endeavor will definitely reap results. Moreover, what is it to succeed, when you have never failed? – It is just like appreciating the light without having seen the dark – indeed, the real taste of success comes after a series of failure. Imagine yourself and your friend on different sea voyages – you completed the voyage earlier and haven’t dealt with a storm but your friend took a lot more time, battling the storms of the sea – at the end, who is the best sailor? Successes provide accolades but failures provide improvements and the more the improvements, the better we are and hence, worthy for even more accolades. Conclusively, the art is how to fail and not how to succeed (obviously one is not supposed to count in deliberate failures).

MAKE A MISTAKE EVERYDAY, LEARN EVERYDAY & IMPROVE EVERYDAY.

LIVING GODS

“Know thyself as thee are Gods”

~Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

As per the scientific theory of dualism, the entire universe is consists of only two things – energy and matter. Point at anything and you will find that it is either a form of energy or a form of matter or a blend of both. As humans, we are a creature of flesh and bones and hence, we are a form of matter. The one who drives us is God – energy that is the fuel of our life. If this energy abandons us, then we are left with the only thing that we have i.e. matter – We are dead. Myriad religions give myriad explanations of death and yet they say the same thing. For instance, those who believe in the existence of soul (attma) believe that the soul abandons the body and the body is dead – this soul is intangible. This soul is nothing but the purest form of energy. The matter is dead without energy and the energy needs matter for making an impact.

We are the beings with energy – man with God residing within us. Therefore, the onus is on us to make the presence of God evident in our deeds. You may well ask about the devils, those who do bad acts despite the presence of God inside them. If you feel that something is bad, you must change it – if you think that bad man, using divine energy inside him for bad deeds, is wrong then you, suppressing divine energy inside you by being a silent watcher of the fare, are a menace.

God stays with everyone indiscriminately and wants us to de-root the evil – he is visible in our acts and we must act. We are living Gods and hence, we cannot sit and wait for God’s son to come and steer us out of our troubles, when God himself is residing inside us. Stop waiting for messiahs and be the messiah yourself. THE GREAT PERSONALITIES ARE ACTUALLY, ORDINARY PERSONALITIES WITH GREAT ACTS.

The Darkest Hour

The first glimpse of dawn breaks only after the darkest hour of night.

The irony is that the tendency to quit is at its peak, when we are just a few miles away from the first glimpse of our success. When we begin we are full of zest and zeal, our enthusiasm is addictive and our belief in our endeavour is maddening. When we walk on the path of our success, we commit to walk in darkness – we are unaware of what will follow next. Still we are ready to take risks in a hope to marry our dreams. However, when we have walked quite a distance, the darkness begins to get heavy on us and our own impatience begins to taunt us. The burden grows with every step forward and our doubts about our success begin to surface. What is more, the people around us do not believe in our endeavour as they used to. By the time we are about to reach the end, we are tired and exhausted with diminishing hope – gone is the zest, zeal and enthusiasm; the pace of time comes to a crawl – minutes seems to stretch in the blankets of days and hours in the quilts of months. It is the time, when most of us quit and press the SOS button – the most wrong moment to do it for a few more steps and we would reach our destiny.

The space is mostly dark and only stars have light – our life is a journey through the space on a mission to become a star. So, darkness is not an omen and blindness – it is a challenge, a test of our potential to become a star. So, the darker the path, the better the test and the best would be the individual coming out of it. We all start our journey in a similar way, but only some reach the illuminated path and the rest quit and stay in dark – afraid to venture in denser darkness.

The difference between a successful and unsuccessful person is not due to the lack of potential but due to adequacy of its realisation. The inadequate realisation of potential gives half or no success and half success is akin to no failure. Accepted is the fact that we are tired and cannot move forward but don’t forget that when one has completed a large part of journey, then a few more miles should not come in the way. When the first light of our success will break, its warmth will fill us with renewed enthusiasm and the tiredness will become immaterial. It is just a matter of a little more endeavour – convince yourself and move on for you will not receive praises for an incomplete journey, even your own self will not appreciate your efforts and you will feel dejected.

After a long night, the darkest hour of night is the most testing hour – stay patient, be perseverant and move on. If you can survive the darkest hour, you deserve to witness the break of dawn and the following morning in the fare of this world will be for you to enjoy. 

I am Possible

I am going to visit past – some hundred years back. Would you like to accompany me?

1800: A world so simple by today’s standard. A middle class guy thinks of landing on moon and that is only possible in his dreams – it is impossible to cover a journey to moon. Another girl wishes to talk to his sister, married to a man in different village, she should either visit her or write a letter and show a little patience – instant talking is impossible. A son has to send money to his ailing mother and the things are left to the mercy of post office – instant money transfer is impossible. A farmer awaits the rainfall to irrigate his land – it is impossible to irrigate otherwise.

I think that this is the world of impossibilities – spaceships, phones, internet, money transfers, banking, modern farming, nuclear energy, www – everything seems impossible.

Well friend, we can have a good laugh here as we have the knowledge that whatever these beings, living in 1800, believe to be impossible is indeed possible for their future generations. Whoever had first used the word – IMPOSSIBLE – must have been amused to discover the possibilities attached it. Anything under the sun is possible – the necessary condition is to work in right direction – to believe in its possibilities and no power can stop the utmost power of our own mind.

We would have still been living in a world similar to that of 1800 but thanks to the great inventors like Charles Babbage, Tim Berners-Lee and many more, who believed in the possibilities. Belief in possibilities is the first and very important step towards the creation and inventions that turn impossibilities into possibilities. Some ultra sensible beings would call it madness but in a way we all are mad and it definitely requires a great degree of madness to tread in the dark with only a faith in our capabilities. All the great men had been seriously insane in past, are insane at present and will be insane in future. After all, you have to first lose your sanity to make the world lose its inertia. I do not much about being great but I am not ashamed to admit that I am an insane myself...

“It is always impossible unless it is done” If we spend your whole life clinging to impossibility and going by the sanity of this world – we would never have a better future. For betterment, we have to baptize IMPOSSIBLE into I AM POSSIBLE and the wonders will happen... 

PROCRASTINATION

There exists always a tomorrow but alas! It does not belong to you.

We are lazy beings and one of our favourite jobs is to postpone the things. ‘I will do it tomorrow’ ‘I will do this one day in future’ ‘I will enjoy my life when I will be a little richer and older’ ‘I am waiting for the right time to do it’ Well, if you also cling to such future commitments, then you are a part of more than half of the population. We spend our life waiting for that one day, for that right time when we will complete all the pending things in our life – be it enjoying the life or starting a new venture.

Ask yourself a question, “Does time wait for you or for any right person?” Time never stops and it is indifferent to all the ordeals that befall on us and on others. Then, why do we wait for the right time? What can be the most right time but this very second, which you choose to lose by keeping faith on a future date? Does your body wait for the right time to breathe? No. Then, why do you wait for the right time to live? Running in the race of life, you keep surviving but cease living. You do not need warm pockets to do what you want to do. All you need is jigaar (a big heart) for it – a will to take risk and a certain level of determination.

‘Okay, tomorrow onwards, I will definitely start completing all the pending things’ you must be wondering and for now, you would choose to sleep over it. Every today comes with a tomorrow attached to it. So, which tomorrow are you talking about – the one that will never convert into today? What is wrong with today? What is wrong with now? You are born free, then why do you choose to spend your life as a slave of a routine?

To start living, one must stop procrastinating. It is indeed scary to do break away from your routine life but it is horrible to have regrets before you die. There is no right time but now and no right day but today. Now and today are all you have, the rest are mere delusions to keep you under the slavery of routine.

THE VVIP

Once, a teacher instructed the class to write a paragraph on the very very important person in one’s life in homework. Next day, he signed the homework to find a good description of important persons in respective pupils’ lives –mother, sister, father, brother, friends, prime minister, teacher, president and many more. As the teacher returned the copies, he asked, “Has none of you seen mirror all your life?” The class was puzzled by the question, “We look into the mirror everyday of our life,” replied one pupil. “Then, don’t you recognize the person standing behind it?” reposed the teacher. “It shows our reflection and we do recognize ourselves,” was the reply. “If this is so, then why not the person standing behind the mirror is the VVIP in your life?” The class fell silent. “Who is going to help you the most, when you are in trouble?” the teacher began “With whom do you live every second of your life? Who is the only one to be with you even when you wish to be left alone and who stays even when you are left alone to give the tests and exams of your life – academic or otherwise? Men may come and men may go but you stay with yourself till the end of your journey...”

It is without a doubt that your family members, friends, the PM and the President of your country are very important persons in your life but when it comes to The VVIP, it is always you. The only person, who can guarantee your success, despite all your failures is you, yourself. People may come to guide you, motivate you and assist you but the person, who will act exclusively for you, is the one standing behind the mirror.

The self-importance must not be confused with conceit or vanity. The self-importance is a necessity for confidence and development. If you do not value your own self, which is permanent till your death, then how would you ever value others, who stay for shorter time spans in your life? If you have no value for and a minimal pride in your abilities, then how can you expect the world to value you and your talent?

It is always good to value others and the best to value yourself. So, go and have a meeting with the VVIP, standing behind the mirror and tell yourself that you are something – you are a wonder, a unique personality, a power and a proud owner of your own self. Don’t live like a journalist, chasing the VIPs, live like a VVIP and let the journalist chase you...

LUCK & YOU

Recalling an old story...

There was once an Akashvani (A prediction from the heaven) that there will be no rainfall in the village. The farmers were horrified but knowing at the same time that it will be fruitless to work on their farms, they went back home. However, one farmer remained and kept tilling his farm. Surprised by his acts, the Indra (the rain god) appeared and asked him if he hadn’t heard the Akashvani. “I did hear it,” replied the farmer. “Then, why are you still tilling your land?” asked Indra. “Because I am afraid that if I cease cultivating for the next twenty years, then I may forget how to cultivate,” said the farmer. This made Indra wonder that if he ceased causing rainfall for next twenty years, then he may also forget how to cause rainfall. Hence, he disappeared and within seconds, there was a shower of rain.

Your luck is like the rain for a farmer, you cannot control it. Whenever we look at and hear about a successful person, we often have one thing to say that we all strive but only few are lucky enough to succeed. Why don’t we look at it as more effort on the part of successful person and less effort on part of others? Let us believe that a factor called luck exists and impacts our chances for success but let me ask you one thing, ‘Can you really determine being lucky or unlucky, in general? Or today being lucky or unlucky day for you?’ No you cannot. Nobody can.

Luck is like a random game of cards. When you play cards, you are never sure of what cards you will have. Similarly, you can never be sure whether the luck is at your side while you are putting your hands in a job. Nobody is eternally lucky and nobody is ever unlucky. It is all random.

Still, we can control something and that is our efforts and our hopes. We can strive for our aims like the farmer or lest we may forget how to achieve. The biggest achievement is not that we achieve what we had aim for but the biggest achievement is knowing that you are unlucky in a job and still trying to achieve that goal in a hope that one day, you will definitely achieve.

We cannot control our luck but we must keep striving and one day, even the worst of luck will turn good and we will achieve. It is not necessary to be born with a silver spoon but it is of utmost important that you must always strive for that silver spoon...

Virtual Boundaries

From believing in an edgy world, we have discovered our geoid shaped planet.

While searching for the limits, we have unveiled an ever expanding universe.

Boundaries are not the part of natural creation but that of human’s.

And to cross those boundaries is consequent upon our will.

Indeed, nature has bestowed us with no boundaries – physical or virtual. No wonder, it has provided us with big and small hurdles to test the tenacity of our will but no hurdle is obstinate enough to be called a boundary. When we wish to achieve something, we calculate the extent to which we can go to achieve that thing, the amount of risk that we are ready to take and the volume of stakes that we can put and thus, we set our boundaries.

Life is the biggest gamble and it is up to us to decide the amount with which we would play – some of us play big and some play small and the risk and rewards are likewise. If we set up the boundaries of our time and efforts in our acts of achieving, the boundaries of our rewards would automatically be set. Some of us are determined to achieve and commit to achieve despite everything – we call them unrealistic until they succeed, and then we call them lucky. On the other hand, most of us seek the prop of so called ‘reality’ and compromise with our dreams – we wish to achieve but when it comes to striving we are often lazy.

Reality is that tool with which we set boundaries between our present world and a world, which we call unrealistic or impossible. However, it is always impossible unless it is done. A century back, space trips and cyber world were unrealistic but they flourish today because of some of those who mingled reality and unreality – for whom there were no boundaries.  

There are no boundaries for boundaries are not in the nature of universe and we are a part of this universe. So, break away from your artificial boundaries and become a drunkard lover, who can even go to hell to make love with his beloved.

Reality is just a refuge for those, who are tired of their dreams. Whether you want to live like a refugee or die like a successful lover – the choice is yours!  

The Only Obstacle

The pupil raised another question to his teacher, “What are obstacles that lay in our way to success?” The teacher had a wise smile and took the class to school terrace. He asked the pupil to climb the fences and look down. The pupil was dead scared, “I will fall and die,” he said. “You won’t. Now climb” But the pupil did not move. After repeated persuasion, he mustered up some courage, climbed for a fleeting moment and jumped back to the terrace floor.

“You see,” said the teacher “you and your fears are your only obstacles. Once, you overcome them by having faith in you, you will be unstoppable”

When you are afraid to do something, you tend to find myriad excuses so that you do not have to perform – you call them obstacles. Even a small reason will work as good as a big one if you are afraid and wish to avoid it. At that time, you will not find solutions but problems & hurdles and you will have more of both. If you waste your energy in constructing backup plans before starting your journey, you will end up living your life in your backups. It is good to be prudent but your prudence must not interfere with your goals.

Who and what can stop you? Nobody and nothing but you yourselves!

You are afraid to take the plunge – a leap of faith. But then, what is not risky – being born as a helpless and completely dependent infant is risky! Sharing the air, you breathe in with a large population is risky! Driving is risky and so is eating the food produced by an unknown farmer! Life is in itself a risk – a gamble, a coincidence! Despite this, you live and keep your faith.

To achieve something, to succeed, you must trust your abilities like an infant trusts his mother. Failure must not be an option – you may lose some levels but the game must end with your triumph. You are unstoppable only your will to achieve has to overcome your fear of failure. There is no mundane obstacle as great as the one that lie within – an inertia that prevents you from leaving your comfort zone, to take risk and to kick start the journey.

You may lose once, twice or thrice but each one of us is a born winner. Hence, victory is your property and the ultimate claim on it will be yours if and only if you remove the only obstacle...

Success & the Power of Mind

Once a pupil asked his teacher about the secret of success and the teacher asked him to meet at the river bank after the class. At the river bank, the teacher and the pupil chit chatted and decided to take a dip in the river. As they approached the middle of the river, the teacher pushed the pupil’s head under the water. The pupil wrestled to pull up but couldn’t – he wrestled harder and failed again but he kept trying and finally succeeded. “Were you trying to kill me?” asked the bewildered pupil. “What was only thing you wanted and you fought for while you were underwater?” asked the teacher. “I wanted to get out and breathe,” replied the pupil. “This is the secret of success,” said the teacher “wanting and striving for something as you were striving to breathe underwater”

Success has as many definitions and formulas as many mouths. Its components are numerous – hard work, luck, attitude, perseverance, etc. Let sum them up, the only component is the power of our mind.

As inside, so outside! One’s world is the perception of one’s own senses and more than that an interpretation of one’s own brain. Our eyes provide a pretty distorted image with a gap in it caused by the blind spot to our brain. The pixels are blurred and the onus is on our brain to interpret it. Don’t believe me! Well have a few shots of alcohol down your throat and check the efficiency of your eyes.

Yes, a very potent power lies inside the brain box and not on the readings in our palm. The faculty of our mind has enormous potential. When we do not succeed, it is because our entire energy controlled by our mind was not concentrated in the achievement of our goal. In other words, we had other things in mind, especially the fear of failure. If we concentrate our energy in fearing to fail, we will fail for we have not concentrated our energy in achieving – no amount of hard work can avoid it. When we concentrate fully and leave no options for ourselves but to succeed and succeed, the universal energy connects with the energy directed by our brain and it seems that universe is conspiring to make us achieve our goal.

So, next time if you wish to achieve and succeed, keep success as the only end and not one of the options. Concentrate the power of your mind in achieving and devote all your energy for that – Success is waiting for you!