Which side of :):

Sometimes we spend too much time to look at the wrong side of a situation, losing focus on the bright side. The below is my attempt to remind ourselves on those times, to have the mindfulness to perceive the paradigm, on making that shift to stay on course.

A Glass is looked Half Empty

Or

Rather, A Glass is looked Half Full !!

A Mistake is a Disaster

Or 

Rather, A Mistake teaches a Lesson !!

A Day is considered Half Gone

Or 

Rather, Half a Day is still to come !!

A Problem is seen as a Blocker

Or

Rather, A Stepping stone to further !!

A Criticism goes to your heart

Or

Rather, you understand the message !!

A Praise goes to your head

Or

Rather, you stay grounded !!

Choice is with Us !!

The deciding factor of :):

Experiencing the The

When the voice is loud,

Message is lost

When the voice is calm,

Message is heard !!

When the Present is now,

The Past is gone,

Future is yet,

Life is here and with you !!

When there is distance,

Between you and You,

We experience the

The, Inside us !!

Think Different

Think Different was an advertising slogan used by Apple Inc. from 1997 to 2002, which was a revolution of a sort at that time. When I heard this again in one of Twitter posts today, I wanted to pen this down. 

The whole thing is quite inspirational and has something that moves or stirs you to an extent. It's about those people who simply followed their heart and went full throttle in their endeavors, thereby making a lasting imprint for generations to come. Keeping aside the right thing or a wrong thing aside, just think from the perspective of thinking differently and just having the courage to go against the herd, with a conviction - that attitude is what we can learn and aim for.

List is endless but few people that I could think of, right now :

Mahatma Gandhi

Albert Einstein 

Mohammad Ali

Edison 

Newton

Alfred Hitchcock

Martin Luther King

Sachin Tendulkar and so on

Now, the excerpt that made headlines :

"Here's to the crazy ones

The misfits, the rebels,

The troublemakers,

The round pegs in the square hole

The ones who see things differently 

They are not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them,

But the only thing you can't do

Is ignore them

Because they change things

They push the human race forward

And while some may see them as crazy ones

We see genius

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world

Are the ones who do.

Think different"

Thinking different for the best that we can be, honing and bringing forth our innate powers and abilities, making ourselves feel content and complete, thus making our world and the one around us, better than before.

Savour The Moments and Say Thanks

Whèn a husband comes home,
And Wife greets with an inside smile,
Notice the affection and love,
Notice the balance of home works and kids,
Notice the breakfasts, lunch and dinners,
Notice the timely reminders of familial and important matters,
Notice the visible and invisible adjustments been made,
Be conscious and Savour the moments
Say Thanks with your Heart and Mind !!

When Men is not understood by Venus,
When desires and wishes are timely forgotten, though not intentionally,
Notice the pressure works that may have gone during the day,
Notice the sincere attempts made to smile & balance office and family life,
Notice the love and affection not shown explicitly,
Be conscious and Savour the Moments,
Say Thanks with your Heart and Mind !!

When Kids create ruckus and fail to comprehend,
When so called right is ignored And,
so called wrong is accounted,
Notice their age and understandability factor,
Notice their environments and situations,
Notice the pressures that we may unknowingly put forth,
Notice the imposed curb on their imagination and learning prowess by us - albeit unknowingly,
Be conscious, Savour and Understand  the Moments 

For Parents are the Beacons and Guide,
To help children attain their dreams !!

When Parents enquire our well being,
When they constantly wait for our phone calls,
Just to hear our content voice,
And to feel ha0ppy and satisfied,
Notice the selfless affection and love,
Notice the upbringing and level we achieved,
Notice the hardships and toil taken,
Notice the smile and excitement on seeing us in person,
Be conscious and Savour the Moments,
Say Thanks with your Heart and Mind,
For we are, where we are, only because of Them !!

Ways to Connect Back

Sometimes we react in a way which is quite unknown to our own selves. For no logical reason as such, we tend to go into the direction of negative pool of thoughts and it becomes increasingly difficult to get back to our normal state easily.

During these times, it is even more difficult to remember the wise words or thoughts which we know already and again for some reason, we forget to even recollect them. 

These difficult-to-explain thoughts makes us gloomy and propels us to react in a way, which is not us. Worst, it affects our near and dear ones, as well because of the way we behave in front of them.

At these times, we need to remember as best as we can, that our mind is becoming the master here, making us react unnecessarily. Rather, our thoughts and reaction should be in our control, in other words, mind should be listening to us, we being the Master.

Few probable solution to make us come back to our normal happy state, would be to use any of the below methods which we like and resonates with us :

1) Words are really powerful - Have an easy access of some quotes or words or a short story write up. Few one liners or sentences have the ability to completely change the way we think in a split second.

2) Music - Musical notes has the ability to make us feel divinity around us. Have your favorite music downloaded or recorded, somewhere where you can easily access and listen to them. This calms our mind and makes us easy to forget the worrisome thoughts.

3) Selfless act 

Do any selfless act to anyone - maybe to a stranger or someone close to you. It can be anything - smiling to a person or saying good morning/thank you or giving food to someone needy. Just remember it should be selfless.

The practice of giving without expecting from the other side, makes us lighter and magically clears the clutter in our thoughts.

4) Gratitude 

Always keep handy a note to remind yourself all the things that you are blessed in your life, currently. This makes us realize the great things that we already have, thus uplifting our moods. In this way, we focus less on what we don't have, thus making it easy to become our normal self.

Let It Go

When the mind becomes noisy

And Senses becomes hazy

Try to Listen to your very own self

And let It go !!

When Not to be becomes To be

And vice versa doesn't hold true

Try to listen to your very own voice

And let It go !!

When emotions makes it cloudy

And awareness is a distant cry

Try to listen to your very own heart

And let It go !!

Letting go brings us back

To where we belong

Staying this course 

Will make us go long 

And when you really let it go

The Mind plays the music

Senses abides by the rhythm 

Awareness adds to the lyrics

The Cosmic Nature song is all yours !!

Balloons With Names

There was a seminar happening in which many people had come to attend. The speaker conducted a small exercise to engage everyone. He gave one balloon to each person and asked them to write their names on it. Then, all the balloons were collected and put in a room.

Everyone was then let in that room and asked to find the balloon which had their names within 5 minutes. As we all can imagine, there was a chaos that ensued as everyone started searching their balloons in hurry. At the end, none of them were able to collect their own balloons.

Then the speaker asked everyone to randomly collect any balloon and simply give it to the person whose name was written on it. Within 5 minutes, everyone had their own balloons in their hands.

Balloons = All that we strive for in this life - happiness, contentment, satisfaction

Let's try to co-relate. When we help others around us in any small or big way possible, the experiential contentment and happiness we get, cannot be marked in words and can only only be felt inside. We all have experienced that moment in our lives when we have given to someone, without any expectation or intent or return.

It is said that a person is happy when he gives people a bit of his heart rather a piece of his mind. If we can give someone's contentment or happiness (balloon) back to the person, whom it belongs to - the Universe and Nature makes sure that someone hands over our contentment or happiness (balloon) back to us.

Rich in heart or kind

Someone asked Bill Gates, "Is there anyone richer than you in the world". He said, "Yes, there is a person richer than me."

He then narrated an incident when he was neither rich nor famous. I was in New York Airport where I saw a newspaper vendor. I wanted to buy one newspaper but found that there was not enough change with me. So I returned the paper back to the vendor.

The vendor said, "I am giving this to you for free." On his insistence, I took the paper. Coincidentally, after 2-3 months, I landed in the same airport and again I was short of change to buy the newspaper. However, the vendor again gave it to me saying, "You can take it, I am giving it to you from my profit, so I would not be at loss". I took the newspaper.

After 19 years, I became famous and known to people. Suddenly one day I remembered the vendor. I began searching for him and found him couple of months later.

I asked him, "Do you know me". He said, "Yes. You are Bill gates".

I asked him again, "Do you remember once you gave me newspaper for free". He said, "Yes, I remember. I gave you twice".

I said, "I want to repay the help you had offered me at that time. Whatever you want in your life, tell me - I shall fulfill it".

The vendor said, "Dont you think by doing so, you won't be able to match my help". I asked, "Why". He said, "I had helped you when I was a poor newspaper vendor and you are trying to help me now when you have become the richest man in the world. How can your help match mine".

Henry Ward Beecher, an Americal social reformer rightly said, "It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has"

One time or another, all of us must have felt atleast once, that we would do something for the people in need when we have ample bank balance or assets worth mentioning.

However, due to our own conditioned societal reasonings, we pan ourselves out later. The fact is, which we know deep down under, it would never be enough and hence the right time will never come.

Depending on our capacity and understanding, let us do something selfless periodically, with the notion of simply making lives better than before. If we think with the right nerves and intent, we will figure out our ability quotient and then act accordingly.

Fixing It or Throwing It Away

There was a King who had a pack of 10 wild dogs. He used them to punish all those who committed blunders. One day one of his ministers made a mistake. The King was furious and passed an order that the minister should be thrown to the dogs. Desperate to save his life, the minister pleaded "I served you faithfully for 10 years and in return this is what you would do to me. Ok, fine, if that's what you want it to be. But for serving you these many years, can i ask you a small favour".

The King said, "Agreed, tell me what do you want". The minister asked - "Just give me 10 more days". The King agreed readily.

The minister then went to the guard who was the caretaker of the wild dogs and pleaded him to allow taking care of the wild dogs for 10 days. Unaware of the King's order, the guard was little surprised though he agreed as it would have reduced his daily work routine.

The minister took care of the wild dogs for the next 10 days with utmost love and care, feeding them, bathing them, cleaning for them and making them feel very comfortable. After 10 days were over, the king ordered the minister to be thrown to the dogs but to his utter amazement, the dogs started licking the feet of the minster !!

Being baffled by this behaviour, the King asked, "What has happened to these dogs ?" The minister replied, "My King, I served the dog for only 10 days, and even in such a short term of service, they didn't forget what I did for them"

This story tells a lot about how should we deal with our relationships. Isn't it a fact that sometimes just because of a mistake, a small or a big one from someone whom we are related to closely, we tend to forget all the numerous times when they had immensely cared for us, shared their love to us, made us feel good, better and best, helped us to be what we can, making us believe in ourselves - all those moments contributing in its own unique way - making us what we are, how we are and where we are, right now !!

A reporter asked an elderly couple, "What is the secret of your happy marriage". They replied, "We were born in a time when if something was broken, we would fix it. Not just throw it away"

That statement pretty much summarises the intent and clearly says a lot about having a long lasting relationship with people, who matter most to us. Let's be mindful about it and not be intimidated by provocative situations, thus gracefully embracing and paving way for those everlasting moments to come in our relationships.

Side stand

There are times when we often found ourselves in a brain fade moment. Basically it's a term to describe a situation where we behave quite silly and often awkwardly. Forgetfulness is one such use case.

One of such instances which perhaps happened in all of our life is when we park our bikes in side stand and forget to place it back to it's original position. When we start the engine and move little further owing to the friction, we realise the matter.

However, the point and act that I want to bring forth here, is about those people who do their best to make the driver aware of the situation. They yell with all possible hints that can be given to the rider within the short timespan of eye contact. It's a simple selfless gesture to ensure that the person knows about the problem and can take necessary steps to ensure a smooth ride.

I have seen so many times this kind of gesture throughout my life and each time it advocates a simple yet timeless trait shared on all occasions - a selfless act for the good and well being of the other, of doing right without any specific reason or expectation.