What Others Think

Are we affected?

For many of us, our life crumples in moments when we hear someone say something odd or bad about us... And in such times, we feel low, upset and worthless. But the question we often forget to ask at such times is, ' is it worth being even bothered about what other's think?' Here is a good story  that I happened to read from an email sent by a friend, some time ago. Thanks to the author (unknown to me) and above all thanks to the Mighty God for allowing me to read it... Now here for many more to read... Enjoy and prepare to feel great about yourself.

Once upon a time, a thief hadn’t had any luck for many days in a row. One night he went out with a resolve that he wouldn’t return home empty-handed. He scoured the streets looking for the right home, the right opportunity, without any success. Tired and dejected, in the wee hours of the morning, he sat on a footpath and fell asleep. A few minutes later a drunkard was passing by. He saw the thief and felt sorry for him thinking he was also some drunk who had passed out on the street. He stopped by to see if there was any bottle lying nearby because that’s what he was interested in — more liquor. But, there was none. Feeling angry, he left. Hardly had he gone when another man, who happened to be a gambler, saw the thief. “Poor loser,” he thought. “He must have lost so much that he’s scared to go home.”
An hour passed and another thief happened to pass this way. He looked at the sleeping man and thought, “He must be an unfortunate small-time burglar like me who couldn’t get his hands on anything tonight.” Dawn was breaking over the horizon when a yogi was going to a nearby river for ablutions. He looked at the thief and began admiring him. “This is a real yogi,” he thought. “Unlike me, who’s still caught up in rituals, he’s just lying here carefree, without any belongings. This is the way of a yogi.” He derives deep inspiration from the thief, bows before him and gets going. Another hour later, the sun, now warm and bright, wakes up the thief and he leaves for his home empty-handed.

This is how our world operates. It doesn’t matter who, how or what we are. Each one will see us according to their capacity.THEY WILL FORM THEIR OPINION BASED ON THEIR PERCEPTIONS AND PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS. OFTEN, MOST OF WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT US IS DEPENDENT ON THEIR OWN CONDITIONING. IT IS NOT AS MUCH ABOUT US AS IT IS ABOUT THEM. The more we realize this, the less bothered we will be by other's opinions., When people do think about us, often it is more along the lines of what they want to think about us. As they grow and evolve, as their priorities change, they begin to think differently. Right from the day we r able to intelligently perceive this world, we have wanted the approval of others. And the very funny thing is, the other person too wants our approval. Everyone wants to be in the good books of others. Agreed, we cannot totally ignore the opinions of others, but the question is how much r we willing to stretch ourselves for the opinion of others? At some point it is good to turn inward and see who we actually are. It is absolutely possible to sit high in others opinion if we turn inward... the magic is not making others feel high about us, but in the fact that WE WILL BE LESS AND LESS BOTHERED ABOUT WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT US. As we turn inward and cultivate positive qualities, we develop even more beautiful qualities and we will soon find that it is possible to be contended within. HOW WE SEE OURSELVES IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOW OTHERS SEE US,bcas our happiness purely depends on our own honest opinion. So now, it's time to decide if we must be bothered about what other's think!

The Mighty Trickster

Our Mind

Our mind is the biggest trickster and most difficult to control. Mahatmas (great realized souls) compare it to a mad drunken monkey that is bitten by a scorpion. Imagining a mad monkey is difficult, now one that is mad, drunk and in excruciating pain, can we even imagine one such? That is how crazy our mind is... Now that kind of a mind has some powers too: the veiling power and the power of projection. First, the mind veils the true nature of a phenomenon, and then it misinterprets it. It covers the truth and makes us mistake the truth for something else. 

A man was walking alone along a village path. It was getting dark, and he was struggling to find his way in the dim light. Suddenly, something bit him in the foot. He felt the area with his hand and discovered a small wound. He could also feel that it was bleeding. He suddenly froze when he saw a snake lying coiled in a bush next to him. He must have been bitten by the snake. The panic stricken man screamed at the top of his lungs, ‘Help! I have been bitten by a poisonous snake! I’m going to die! Please, someone come and take me to a doctor!’ The man was hysterical. He called and he called. He was now beginning to feel terribly tired and his head was spinning as if he were about to faint. He sat on the ground and continued to call for help. Within a few minutes, a man appeared out of the dark. He was carrying a torch. ‘What is the matter? What happened?’ he asked. ‘I was bitten by a poisonous snake. I am dying. Can you take me to a doctor?’ ‘Don’t worry. Of course I will help you. But where exactly did it happen?’ asked the stranger. ‘Right here, on this very spot,’ replied the man. ‘Look at that bush. There’s a snake there!’ The stranger turned his torch towards the bush, and what did he see? A thorn bush with a piece of rope entangled in it. The stranger said, ‘Take a good look! It’s a thorn bush. A thorn must have pricked your foot. The unfortunate thing was that you simultaneously saw the rope in the dim light and mistook it for a snake. Thus you were convinced that you had been bitten by a snake. But now that you know the truth, you can calm down.’ Once the man realized the truth, all symptoms of tiredness and dizziness disappeared, and he began to relax."

This is how the mind plays its tricks on us. Thats precisely why, we need to be calm in times of distress . We need our mind to be our friend to help us make sense of a situation. But well... As Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavatham Gita, the mind is our best friend if it is in our control and our worst enemy if we are in its control. And most of us are... Slaves to our own mind... Jumping to its every like! We are all well experienced in the 'slave to our mind' scenario! No proof needed! And yes... I know the feeling! So how then can we make our mind to guide us rather than misguide us when necessity arises? I think it's  possible only through constant perseverance and loads of positivity. 

The mind is like a big bucket of salt water. Every positive thing we read, hear, speak, share... all helps. They r all like the small drops of fresh water we continuously add into our bucket of salt water, which is currently our mind. The more fresh water we add, the less and less the salty taste. The more often we add, the faster we clean the saltiness. As we continuously do it, we bring down the saltiness of our bucket and eventually there will be nothing salty but fresh water in the bucket of our mind. And that is when, we can make our mind our friend! But beware, not to add more salt back in for every few drops of fresh water!!! Well, if we begin today, probably we can accomplish the magic of getting our own mind to be our own dearest friend before we bid goodbye to this place and this existence. It's a treasure worthy the try.

Can we wait.... I think we can...

No (Mind) jumping ! No Judging!

Today a quick post and let me start with the story....

A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mother came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile: " My darling, could you give your mom one of your two apples? The girl looked up at her mother for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one apple, and then .... quickly, on the other. The mother felt the smile on her face freeze. She tried hard not to reveal her disappointment.Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mom,and said: "Mom, here you are.This is the sweeter one." 

Now, how many of us had come to conclusions at the point of the child taking her bite? I wish I could say "I didn't !", but the truth is I did too!!!. There is always a reason why someone behaves a given way. There is a lot more to ones life and situation than what catches the eye... But in spite of knowing all this, when a situation presents itself, we just go ahead and judge people! We judge the words, and actions of others and we do it with as much ease as we breathe. I remember reading somewhere that because judgement has become so much a part and parcel of us, we cannot see anything, even ourselves without its influence!!!!

No matter who we are, how experienced we are, and how knowledgeable we think we are, we must never jump in and judge people and situations. We must at least give them the privilege to explain themselves. What we see may not always be the reality., so let's never never hurry to conclusions... And that much I think we can all do..... 

Let's fly and soar high...

Ready to fly?

It's often happened in our life that when we come face to face with adversity, we find ourselves weak and looking for all types of support. Many a time, we end up loosing the battle. Then we retire to brood and worry. At such times we never miss a single chance to point out how tough our life is.  We all come to this world as soldiers.  Every single one is here to fight something. But the problem is we are so mesmerized by the unreal that we do not recognize our real enemy.  Often we mistake the adversities to be our enemy when in reality our own attitude to the adversity is the true enemy. We hold tight to our enemy that keeps us from soaring high, all the while fighting the adversity which was, in the first place there, to lift us higher. What a pity! Here is a story, I would like to share at this point...read on...

Once there was a king who received a gift of two magnificent falcons. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained.

Months passed, and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers and sorcerers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to the member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch.

Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, “May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem.” So he cried out to his court, “Go and get a farmer.”

In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, “Bring me the doer of this miracle.” The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, “How did you make the falcon fly?”

With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, “It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting.”

We r all like the falcons...Most times we sit on our comfort branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless out there, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered because of many reasons. We hold tight to the familiar, the comfortable, and the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are dull instead of being exciting, thrilling and fulfilling. 

When we refuse to give Life the best, Life will make us all fly... by cutting the branches of comfort... pushing us to extremes only to help us realize our incredible potential .  So let us try to learn and attempt to destroy the branches of comfort... that we strongly cling to and free ourselves to the glory of life . .. Let's soar high!

Seeing the Beauty in our flaws

Lets find our Strength in our Weakness...

All of us want to be the best and have the best of everything. However we have hindrances in being so and for many of us, they come in the form of our own self... as small little flaws in the way we are... physically or mentally. Often with the wrong way of looking at it, we see the saw unique flaws greatly enlarged. As a result we feel down and upset and often feel ordinary or even worse, handicapped! But have we ever thought... May be there is a reason we are the way we are... Here is a story... Read along...

A water bearer had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole whichhe carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfectly made andnever leaked. The other pot had a crack in it and by the time the waterbearer reached his master's house it had leaked much of it's water and wasonly half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer deliveringonly one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course,the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor crackedpot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was ableto accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoketo the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, andI want to apologize to you." The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path."

 Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowersonly on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That'sbecause I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while wewalk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I havebeen able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table.Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beautyto grace his house."

 So, may be everything is the way it is for a positive reason. Each of us have our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. Agreed! But by acknowledging our faults, we too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength....  Like the cracked pot, we all have our own unique flaws. But it’s these cracks and flaws we each have that makes our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. With the right attitude, our flaws will turn to be our blessings. Happiness is never impossible with the right attitude. No matter the cracks and dents, we are still unique and special beings. Feel special and learn to see each other around with that same idea... Doing that will sure make us feel extra special, no matter the cracks!!!

Life in my own words... A new try!

Life is life after all... Twists and turns on all sides. It's ups are always enjoyable but we humans never like the downs, but well they just keep coming. Recently I have been thinking... Life is very much like reading an adventurous book.... And here's a tribute to that adventurous book waiting to be read further...in my own words... A small poem!

As I turn every page,
In my book of life...
I get to read....
Amazing chapters!

The ones I wished to skip...
Turned out to be the most exciting!
And the ones I dreaded ..
Happened to be the most magical!

The good pages give me joy...
While the not so good ones give me lessons.
Every chapter done, signs an experience,
Just incase of a future reference!

This book of life is so mind blowing!
No wonder the  best readers go on...
Refusing to quit reading...
Until the very last page is done!

Well... Hope you loved it. So gather up and keep reading the book of your life. There are many mind-blowing chapters to be read! And in your leisure, see you here...

Life and it's confrontations...

For many, and personally for me, Yes, Life has always been the most fascinating, with its myriad colors, lengths, the varieties it presents itself with, it's many faces, it's many ideals, it's dark and bright sides and the list goes on. But no matter how fascinated we are, it's still hard when our's confronts us with negative walls and fearful possibilities. I am sure many agree. We do realise that in life, no matter how hard we try, sometimes, things do happen the other way around and the best thing we could do then, is just to surrender to the moment and give it , all our best, for when we do that, Life itself steps in to help us... It's my precious experience and sure many of yours too. In any case, the one lesson I have always learnt again and again, is 'Life is ALWAYS worth living!'

Here is a story am sure, you will love to read... So go on...

In a forest, a pregnant deer is about to give birth. She finds a remote grass field near a strong-flowing river. This seems like a safe place. Suddenly labor pains begin.At the same moment, dark clouds gather around above & lightning starts a forest fire. She looks to her left & sees a hunter with his bow extended pointing at her. To her right, she spots a hungry lion approaching her. What can the pregnant deer do? She is in labor!
What will happen?
EWill the deer survive? Will she give birth to a fawn? Will the fawn survive?
Or will everything be burnt by the forest fire? Will she perish to the hunters' arrow? Will she die a horrible death at the hands of the hungry lion approaching her? She is constrained by the fire on one side & the flowing river on the other & boxed in by her natural predators on the remaining two sides. What does she do? (Well, it's not a trivia question ... It's story and here is what she does! )
She focuses on giving birth to a new life. The sequence of events that follows are:
- Lightning strikes & blinds the hunter.
- He releases the arrow which zips past the deer & strikes the hungry lion.
- It starts to rain heavily, & the forest fire is slowly doused by the rain.
- The deer gives birth to a healthy fawn.
-----
So as we proceed on with out life, let's not forget, that with any situation, no matter how confronting and stumbling it seems, we always have a choice to make. Just like the deer,  lets get to focus, know our priorities and then make a worthy choice and give it the best. Life itself will take care of the rest! No harm giving it a try, when all you could otherwise do is brood and curse life... As the saying goes, if we win the situation, we merge victorious and if we loose we still have gained valuable gems of experience. In life, no situation is a loss, if we learn to  pick the gems out. And not to forget, the best of gems are manufactured in the worst of ditches! Well, smile and get through you day. Live and celebrate life.