LiFe is a journey, not a destination!!!

Well I am not a philosopher & not a priest & not a writer, & millions of people have already written too much on life so there's no point adding a drop of water to the ocean...but would just like to write a few lines that I have experienced in life.

For me this age is too short a span for experience, in fact it's just the beginning of my journey in the real world. There is too much to come in life. I have to cross the ocean & I am just at the shore as of now. However there is this 1 thing I have learned ( till now). No matter how difficult a situation is or no matter how worst of the situations we are in; at the end, we overcome it triumphantly.

I heard this somewhere - ' Good times give us a lot of happiness, but there is this one bad thing about good times, it ends. Similarly, bad times give us a lot of pains but one good thing about the bad times is that even it ends.' This is so true. All we need to have is a little patience, confidence, hope, courage, strength & the most important thing 'FAITH'.

'Have Faith in your Faith'----> One of the best lines I have ever come across. If you believe you can do something or you can't do something; in either case you are right.

God has already planned our life & HE has already written a beautiful future for us, all we need to do is, Trust him today. I know I have miles to go but till now even I have been in situations which seemed so impossible that I thought life would never be the same again. But after every dark night there's a beautiful morning. And same was the case with me.

In fact there is no such thing as problems in our life. It's our view about the situation that is the problem. Some people just keep cribbing through out life- Exam tensions, getting a job tension, tensions at job, Family problems, friends & love problems & what not. And in this process we lose the joys of life. Why not look at the brighter side of it??? It might be easier said than done, but we need to do that.

I was jobless for morethan a year after my engineering. Many of my friends were also in the same state & every time we used to meet they used to keep crying for job & all. However I just had 1 thing in mind, when the right time comes, I will get one. I enjoyed that year by doing all things I love. I had faith that I would. Eventually I got one after many tries.

Problems of life are like a snake crossing our legs. If one gets worried, impatient & try to fiddle with it, it might bite us; but if we just stand still & let it pass by, it will cross without harming.

So the bottom line is that life might "APPEAR" difficult ( coz life is not difficult, it just appears to be), we need to face each phase of it with a smile.

There are no risks… only opportunities!!!!

There is no security TO life. Then where is the question of security IN life. The need for security keeps you transfixed in life. Then where is question of transcendence. Our comfort zones become our prison, within which our potential remains locked up. Imagine a banyan tree growing inside a pot - only a bonsai is possible. It may be artistic, but it doesn't serve the purpose for which it was born. There is security in remaining a seed whereas a plant is always vulnerable. But then, what is the purpose of the seed? It contains a thousand forests within. It is only in its transcendence into a plant the possibilities of a forest exist. If you do not dare to give up certainty for uncertainty, you will not move ahead. Growth is in giving up what you are to become what you can be. It is astonishing as to how the world makes way for a resolute soul! It is amazing how obstacles move out of the path of a man who chooses to transcend, than to remain transfixed. Throw yourself into the unknown. Make a rebellious move. Take a daring plunge. Many great ideas have been lost because the people who had them could not stand being laughed at. Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise. There are no risks… only opportunities. The higher and the beyond are awaiting us…...

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. - Helen Keller

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live. Risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. - Leo FBuscaglia

In skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed. People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be too cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down. - Annie Dillard

There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community. - M. Scott Peck

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. - Anais Nin

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time. - Andre Gide

I hold it true, whate'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. - Alfred Tennyson

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Winston Churchill

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny. - Napoleon Bonaparte

You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take. - Wayne Gretzky

Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. - Ella Williams

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing. - George Bernard Shaw

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. - Soren Kierkegaard

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible and achieve it, generation after generation. - Pearl S. Buck

This nation was built by men who took risks - pioneers who were not afraid of the wilderness, businessmen who were not afraid of failure, scientists who were not afraid of the truth, thinkers who were not afraid of progress, dreamers who were not afraid of action. - Brooks Atkinson

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. - Seneca

A ship in harbour is safe but that is not what ships are for. - John A. Shedd

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. - Erich Fromm

In pursuit of Excellence!!!

In the Constitution of India, under Article 51Aon 'Fundamental Duties of every citizen of India' one of the fundamental duties of every Indian is listed as, 'To strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity'. Lack of excellence should hurt. That which hurts instructs. That which instructs creates. What's okay is okay and what's not okay is not okay. Where there is excellence, explanations are not required. Where explanations are required, rarely you find excellence. Haven't we heard, 'Good, better, best; never let it rest till your good becomes better and your better becomes the best'. 'Zero defect' is possible. Precision is possible. Sustained excellence is possible. It all starts with the attitude to refuse to settle for anything but the best. Excellence can be obtained when you care more than what others think as wise, risk more than what others think as safe, dream more than what others think as practical, and expect more than what others think as possible. 

To excel is to continually perform. Not for a moment or moments. Not for a day or for days. But to perform day after day, month after month, and make that uncommon performance look commonplace. To excel is to take the inner drive of competition and not only embrace it, but master it. It cannot be bought or legislated or willed into existence. It must come from the depths of an individual's desire to be the best. - Melanie Erickson

The person who is a master in the art of living makes little distinction between their work and their play, their labour and their leisure, their mind and their body, their education and their recreation, their love and their religion. They hardly know which is which. They simply pursue their vision of excellence and grace in whatever they do, leaving others to decide whether they are working or playing. To them, they are always doing both. - Zen Buddhism

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything be excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. - Philippians 4:8 

When you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it. Don't just set out to do a good job. Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: 'Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.' If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley. But be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle

My new favourite word is 'awkward'. The reason we need to be in search of awkward is that awkward is the barrier between us and excellence, between where we are and the remarkable. If it were easy, everyone would have done it already, and it wouldn't be worth the effort. - Seth Godin

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavour. - Vincent Lombardi Only undertake what you can do in an excellent fashion. There are no prizes for average performance. - Brian Tracy

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. - Michael J. Fox

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself. - Henry Ward Beecher

The most splendid achievement of all is the constant striving to surpass yourself and to be worthy of your own approval. - Denis Waitley

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. - Abraham Lincoln

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude. - Colin Powell

f you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing lessthan- excellent work. -Thomas J. Watson

It is a wretched taste to be gratified with mediocrity when the excellent lies before us. - Isaac Disraeli

If you don't do it with excellence, don't do it at all! Because if it's not excellent, it won't be profitable or fun, and if you're not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there? - Robert Townsend

Anyone can be anACE:Attitude + Commitment = Excellence - Robert Inman

Sow the Goals in the Field of Hope!!!!

“What is the thing which is continuously driving you in your life?” I would say HOPE. To achieve any goal or to become successful in life, one needs to have the motivation. The word motivation itself has got the meaning within it. ‘MOTIVE’ means aim or goal. Hence motivation happens only when one is driven towards a motive. The motive or the goal combined with hope ignites the fire within you.

There are some people who have goals but no hope; means they cannot see themselves achieving those goals. There are few others, who have high hopes about the life but no clear goals. Even during my School days, what made me to move ahead was some kind of hope in my life. During my higher secondary school days my teachers and friends used to ask me what I would want to become, for which I never had any answers. I never had any goals. But still I was very sure that I would become something in life. This was a hope. I used to dream myself to achieve something high in my career.... In my dreams I had become a doctor, pilot etc etc etc. I knew that one day I would become someone! A great hope, which kept me dreaming all the time. But there were no goals. Even there was no one to give me proper guidance during those days.Finally I got admission for my engineering graduation. Those period made me learned lot and set a goal to achieve in the career...............

Yes, I could achieve it only because I had a goal. But what gave me the confidence to set such a goal was the hope I was having in my life. The hope that there was something big and great in store for me.

One needs to sow the seeds of GOALS in the field of HOPE to harvest the desired results. Ultimately if destination is clear then path can be found out. Most of the people among us has no clear destination. Hope and idea are the main fertilizers to grow a better dream and reap the success.

True Meaning of TRUST.. FAITH.. HOPE!!!!

1. Once, all villagers decided to pray for rain, on the day of prayer all the People gathered but only one boy came with an umbrella...THAT'S FAITH
2. When you throw a baby in the air, she laughs because she knows you will catch her...THAT'S TRUST
3. Every night we go to bed, without any assurance of being alive the next morning but still we set the alarms in our watch to wake up... THAT'S HOPE
4. We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future or having any certainty of uncertainties...THAT'S CONFIDENCE

An old man's T Shirt quote,"I am not 60... I am 16 with 44 years of EXPERIENCE" Think Different!!!.

Tips to Beat Stress at Work!!!

Often we come across people who complain that their work is full of stress. Am sure anyone who works and who has work to do, will have stress and would have come across a situation that is stressing. Do not worry or panic if you have stress, that is absolutely a NORMAL thing. Why stress is a normal thing?

              - It is an indicator that the particular work is vital at that point of time
              - It gives an extra boost to do the job quickly
          - Sometimes, stress does help you arrive at faster and smarter decisions, based on your past experiences.
              - Stress is one factor that reminds you that you are at work.

 How positive stress can be!! Eustress can do a lot of good to you..... But if utilized in a wrong way, it can be harmful and dangerous.

Train yourself well at usual times to perform effectively at stress. Some tips to beat negative stress at work. 

1 . Don’t panic that the situation at stress. Think that it is a normal one. Tell yourself that there’s nothing to worry. 

2 . Talk with your colleague about the stress and make a joke out of it. Fun is the best de-stresser.

3 . Take two minutes to get out of the work station, it may be the rest-room where you can wash your face or it can be outside the room where you get new air.

4 . Do not smoke. People think that smoking de-stresses, but science says, it adds up to the stress. Instead of smoking, you can think of cold water.

5 . If you feel that one particular aspect of the workstation is adding up to the stress, try getting rid of it. It may be that pending file which requires attention later. Keep it out of sight.6 . Clean or organize your desk. This has proved to be very effective, because when you organize your desk, you indirectly telling your mind to organize it’s thoughts. That will reduce the workload to half.

7 . Play music. But only if you are comfortable. The music should not become a noise to you and it should not leave you stressed more. If you are a person who thinks that music is soothing, play soft ones.

8 . Art therapy can be a great way to beat stress. By art, I don’t mean you to draw great paintings or do pottery etc., (If you have those talents and if you can bring out something in two mins, you can). You can just scribble on the paper and make a shape out of it. This has proved to be therapeutic.

9 . Split the stressing work into fragments. Take one by one.

1 0 .Take a power nap. Works wonders

These may sound ordinary, but have given extra ordinary results to many people. Stress is necessary. You just need to use it in a very constructive way. Exploit stress and you will be the most productive person at work.

Define the Thoughts, Decide Your Destiny!!!!

Define your thoughts which will aid you in deciding your destiny.

Believe in yourself: Nothing can be more fruitful than this. Self-belief is a must before you define your thoughts. Believe that the entire universe is waiting to help you, to achieve your desired and deserving goal. Believe that you are the maker of your destiny.

 Understand Yourself: Take a stock of what you do on a daily basis. Think of the thought processes that flow in your mind during work, interactions etc. If you’re sitting alone, do not take those thoughts for granted. In fact, they are the most important thoughts to capture. Understand the person in you.

Assess and Accept Yourself: Assessment of the thoughts compared to set standards, is essential. Standards are those which you think is ideal, i.e., your super-ego state. After assessment, do not get discouraged that you have flaws, for there will be NO man in a usual world who will find zero-flaws in his mental system. Accept the flaws.

Plan and Practice Yourself: Planning involves, inner-questioning. The expectations that you have from yourself. Continuous reinforcement of positive thoughts is a must here.
 

Sustain Yourself: Always be conscious of the thoughts. Sustain the practice.

This will shape your thought process. I wish you, all confidence and courage to strongly define your thoughts which will ultimately lead you to a destiny of strength. “Thoughts become things, Choose the good one”