Shaikh Ashraf's Blog: Shaikh Ashraf Writes, page 11

One Body, Many Souls

I have people living inside me,

Telling their stories,

Their pains, struggles and desires,

I take a pen in my fingers and take a page,

Cut myself open, let those people come out through my fingers.

To tell their stories, to tell their pains,

They take charge of me. They control me,

After a while I loose sense of self.

Yes, I am a writer,

With no sense of self,

With so many lives living inside me,

Waiting to come out anytime,

Word by word,

Sentence by sentence,

Book by book.

Yes, I am a writer.

© ASHRAF SHAIKH

That Name, That Face

I sat near my window looking the rain,

Looking at the drops formed on the glass,

Looking at the fog formed from my breath,

I drew some letters on that fog,

I kept drawing letters, and realized I wrote a name,

I wondered whose name this was.

I sat near my window looking at the rain,

I drew the same name from fog of my breath,

Looking at the drops on the other side of the window,

I wiped it off, thinking which name that was.

The rain stopped,

But I still sat,

The glass of window turned into a movie screen,

I saw a face, She looked beautiful.

That face made me sad,

That face hurt me,

That face reminded me of that person that I was once very close to.

© ASHRAF SHAIKH

That Name, That Face

I sat near my window looking the rain,

Looking at the drops formed on the glass,

Looking at the fog formed from my breath,

I drew some letters on that fog,

I kept drawing letters, and realized I wrote a name,

I wondered whose name this was.

I sat near my window looking at the rain,

I drew the same name from fog of my breath,

Looking at the drops on the other side of the window,

I wiped it off, thinking which name that was.

The rain stopped,

But I still sat,

The glass of window turned into a movie screen,

I saw a face, She looked beautiful.

That face made me sad,

That face hurt me,

That face reminded me of that person that I was once very close to.

© ASHRAF SHAIKH

Lost

Sitting in a class, alone,

The boy kept looking at the girl,

She had a pony tail,

Sitting in the class, alone,

The boy kept looking her smile,

She had a beautiful smile,

Sitting in the class, alone,

The boy kept looking at her eyes,

Those were big bright,

Sitting in the class, alone,

The boy kept looking in her eyes,

The longer he looked,

The deeper he went,

As he looked,

He got lost in her eyes,

He got lost in her fantasy.

The boy went home,

And, He wrote poems,

And, He wrote novels,

And, He wrote essays,

And, He is still lost in her eyes,

Finding a way out…

© Ashraf Shaikh

Mountain

On the peak of the mountain,

There I stood, eyeing the horizon,

Watching the sun rise,

Watching the birds fly,

Watching the sky turn to orange.

On the peak of the mountain,

There I stood, eyeing beneath me,

Seeing roads like tiny belts,

Watching people move like ants.

On the peak of the mountain,

There I stood, shaking by the wind,

Watching clouds close to me.

On the peak of the mountain,

There I stood, with myself,

No one around, only me….

© Ashraf Shaikh

Illusions

I looked at my past, I realised,

All that I ran after was just illusions.

Illusions that movies and novels show us,

Illusions that we believed would come true,

Illusions that our soulmate is waiting for us in other part of the world,

Illusions that we will get a perfect job,

Illusions that we will have a perfect life.

All that I have done in my life, is chase illusions,

Chasing what seems to be perfect in movies, novels and stories.

© Ashraf Shaikh

Song Of Nature

Song Of Nature

I now see the beauty in everything,

I see trees big, bright and green,

I see the stream running down the mountain,

I see the fog forming on those mountains.

I heard the bird chirping,

I heard the noise of the stream,

I heard the noise of wind meeting tree’s leafs,

I heard the song of nature.

If only I wasn’t busy in my own little world,

If only I wasn’t busy in my own little life,

If only I wasn’t busy in my own little paradoxes,

If only I wasn’t busy in my own little traps.

Then, I would be seeing,

Then, I would be hearing,

The beauty of nature,

The song of nature…

© Ashraf Shaikh

Surrender

Don’t try to change through force,

Don’t try to change circumstances through effort,

Don’t try to forget who you can’t through pain,

Don’t try to change your reality through living in a distortion.

Surrender, completely to what is,

Surrender, completely to what might be,

Surrender, completely to reality,

Surrender, your whole self.

When you don’t accept reality,

Then you try to change it,

You keep trying to change it,

But, Reality doesn’t change.

Trying hard will bring pain,

Trying hard will bring misery,

Trying hard will bring an end,

Surrender, yourself to what is, what might be.

© Ashraf Shaikh

The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck | Author

“The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck” by Mark Manson is a book that everybody is reading nowadays. They liked the rant inside the book that is giving them a new perspective. This book is good and it is also a must read, but, it only got sold because of the title of the book. In every page, there is “F*ck” that loses the context of the book. “Not giving a f*ck” means to get disconnected from everything that shouldn’t bother you. The author talked about this well enough. There are many things that bother us, many things that stress us out and we don’t live the life we want. The art of not giving a let me say, damn! Is quite simple, disconnect. Disconnect from people who are toxic. Disconnect from things that distract you from your goals, not give a, damn! About people who you loved, cared a few years ago, they left you, okay, now don’t give a damn about them. Don’t give a damn about that politician who spreads hate speeches. Your work is looking after your goals and achieving them. This book should have got titled, “The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Damn!” but for marketing purposes, they went with a title like this. This book explores other interesting stuff. Like the niche of self-help that grew in the 90s and everything in those books was the same. Those books taught us to think highly of ourselves to achieve a goal or a dream. After reading what kind of books even if a person hasn’t achieved anything in life, he gets a with a delusional image of himself. I also had problems with books like this so I connected with this topic. Then the author talks about how pain makes us grow. Easy wins don’t matter, a goal or a dream that gives us a lot of pain, hurdles, anxiety, that matter, because that lets us grow into a good human being. This book taught me to always accept pain, no matter what, don’t reject or neglect it. You will learn something from it. There were a few things that pained me. Then I got this new perspective, and I look back, at things that pained me, I am glad that these things happened. I learned a lesson. Pain makes us grow. Accept our life and don’t be a delusional egoistic freak, who hasn’t achieved anything in life. The other good stuff I liked was taking full responsibility for your life. This started with a story of a failed doctor, who hasn’t done anything in his life. He was always a failure, but he decided to take full responsibility for his life and he transformed. I had always taken full responsibility, but I often deal with acceptance. I have problems accepting defeat. Now, I tell myself that I am responsible for whatever happens in my life, and I have to accept and work towards it. This book won’t change your life. This book doesn’t discuss things in a deeper context; also this is not an interesting book to read. But once you read it, you will be able to change your attitude about some issues.

“Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience. Any attempt to escape the negative, to avoid it or quash it or silence it, only backfires. The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is a struggle. The denial of failure is a failure. Hiding what is shameful is itself a form of shame.

Pain is an inextricable thread in the fabric of life, and to tear it out is not only impossible, but destructive: attempting to tear it out unravels everything else with it. To try to avoid pain is to give too many fucks about pain. In contrast, if you’re able to not give a fuck about the pain, you become unstoppable.”

― Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

“The desire for more positive experience is itself a negative experience. And, paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience.”

― Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .

The Magic Of Thinking Big | Author

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“The Magic Of Thinking Big” is another great book on my list. This book deserves to be there because of its simplicity and efficiency. I am a fan of this book. I read this book three times. I never read a book again but this was a special one. Two years ago while I was still dealing with my hatred for “The Secret” and the whole series, I got this book. This book teaches you to think creatively, remember James Altucher’s “Idea Machine” concept, I think he borrowed it from this book. Thinking big starts with thinking creatively. This book highlights all the aspects of human behavior that stops them to succeed. Like how we humans compare each other with others. Like how we are always limiting our beliefs. How we hate getting stuck in a rut but we are actually the one who has decided to stay stuck. The book starts with belief as the important pillar for change in a person. Belief can shake mountains and can even help you achieve a dream. You have to believe, everything you wanted to be in your life, you have to believe in yourself. That hard project that doesn’t finish, you have to believe that someday you’ll finish it. Everything starts with a belief, whether it is getting fit, or being an Olympian, you have to believe. You are what you think, so whatever you think you become that. If you complain a lot, you’re a complainer. If you gossip a lot, you’re a gossip-monger. The book goes on to talk about managing your environment and attitude. If you have just one person to visit in your weekends. If you do the same thing day in and day out, then you are going to live that same life until you die. Do yourself a favor, take responsibility, learn something new, do new things that’ll change your perspective and help you grow. The book also talks about being active. Setting goals and striving towards achieving them. This book is not, “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” or “The Power of Now” or “The Secret” this book, is about thinking big. Setting big goals, believing in yourself and changing yourself. This book is about self-improvement and growth. It talks about many things, it’s a small book to read, but a lot of topics have been explored, that makes it a fantastic read. Now, this book will certainly not change your life. Or bring you success, as any book doesn’t bring you success, it gives you ideas to succeed. You read this book and implement it, and then you’ll soon start to change your way you think. You will start to see the world differently and positively. That’s what’s important.

“The thinking that guides your intelligence is much more important than how much intelligence you have”

― David J. Schwartz, The Magic of Thinking Big

“Think you are weak, think you lack what it takes, think you will lose, think you are second class — think this way and you are doomed to mediocrity.”

― David J. Schwartz, Magic of Thinking Big

Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .

Emotional Intelligence | Author

What do you think is the greatest gift of life? What super power do you want that could solve all your problems? Many people answer is, “I want a high I.Q” “A high I.Q will bring me good grades” “Make me standout” “Give me a good job and a good salary”. After years of research on human intelligence. We thought that the intelligence of a person is what describes how successful he/she will be in his/her life. We thought that the intelligence of a person decides how well he/she will live his/her life. All intelligent people on this planet have been successful but not because of their I.Q. But because of their E.Q, Emotional Quotient. This book talks about E.Q why it’s important to understand and be aware of emotions. We all want to be successful and live a lavish life. We want a good brain that can memorize answers. We all want a superhuman brain, but what about improving your emotional quotient. In every successful individual emotional quotient plays a big role. Every successful man has become successful with not only an idea but because of his/her attitude. He lost many times, got criticized, failed, and then he trained himself to be resilient and became successful. Ask any successful businessman, “how much has your I.Q contributed to your success”. They will say, “very less” because half of the game is about managing emotions. We are humans we are lead my emotions. Our emotions let us follow something. Our emotions let us buy something. Our emotions even have the power to start a war or bring a revolution. But our brains are there for generating ideas and making logical decisions. The society puts a lot of effort into I.Q. But it has forgotten that E.Q is the other important factor that plays a major role. Our emotions bring us food, money; we work because we don’t want to be starving and homeless and sit in somewhere to beg. Those who have managed their emotions, those who don’t get stressed out. Those who are always calm and even after facing a huge loss they take care of their emotions and show up next time. Only they become successful and live a peaceful life. Only I.Q won’t give you a peaceful life. There are many intelligent people in this world, they pass school, get degrees, get Ph.D.’s, have a nice career, but they don’t get successful. Because they don’t know how to manage their emotions. They know how to manage their minds, handle big data, handle huge tasks that command above average intelligence. But they don’t know how to manage those sad feelings that keep coming out of nowhere. They don’t know how to manage anxiety. They don’t know how to manage stress. Next time whenever you think that you don’t have that great brain while handling a task. Take a deep breath, meditate, relax and try to do it again. Try to understand other’s emotions and feel them, be empathetic. Because our ideas or brains don’t govern us, our emotions do. After I read this book I made a goal to meditate daily for 10 minutes. I have been a lot peaceful. Also reading this book after “The Power Of Now” made it easy to manage my emotions. I was always staying present. I didn’t allow any disturbing thought to creep inside my head. Read this book as it is important to understand emotions. Reading this book will encourage you to think from other people’s perspective. It will make you more patient and less angry.

“In a very real sense, we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels”

― Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

“Emotional self-control — delaying gratification and stifling impulsiveness- underlies accomplishment of every sort”

― Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

Originally published at www.ashrafshaikh.com .