Srikumar Rao's Blog, page 32
February 22, 2017
Kill That Child! Your Life Depends On It!
When I was young I went to a Jesuit school. We began each day
with the Lord’s Prayer and the first class was “Morals.”
There was an illustrated book for that class and it was full of stories.
I vividly remember one that had some pictures I found somewhat
frightening as a child.
The tale was one about a king who used to ride alone to clear his
head. One day a small child accosted him and tried to stab him
with its play sword.
The king laughingly brushed aside the weapon and kissed the child.
The next day, the child appeared again and it was a little bigger
and stronger but the scenario repeated itself. The king laughed.
Each day the boy grew in size and his sword in heft.
The king protected himself easily and spared his opponent.
He quite enjoyed this diversion during his solitary rides.
The boy became a young man and wielded a tempered blade.
There came a day when the king had to expend all his skill and
strength to parry his strokes and he was wounded when he
finally subdued his adversary.
He was angry now but the other cried piteously so he sheathed
his sword and spared his life.
The following day the muscular man jumped from a tree and
knocked the king from his horse. In a flash he disarmed him and
bound his hands.
The king was bemused and complacent. “Okay, you finally won,”
he said. “Tomorrow will be a different story.”
“There will be no tomorrow,” the man said sourly as he lopped
off the king’s head.
A somewhat gruesome story for a seven year old but the lesson
it conveyed was powerful.
We have many destructive tendencies and addictions. They all begin
with a vague and comforting desire like the tendrils of some tropical
plant. Let’s have one more cigarette because it feels so good and I
need it to calm my nerves. One more drink to relax after this horrible day.
Surely one cigarette, or one drink, or one serving of junk food or
one whatever can’t hurt?
And that is where you are wrong. ‘One’ will not hurt. But many ‘ones’
piled on top of each other will be devastating.
The tendril becomes a thick cord that can strangle you. The small
child becomes a man and decapitates you.
You did not become fat with a single bite or a single meal. Your life
did not stagnate because of a single ill-spent day.
Recognize the child that, when grown up, can raze your dreams.
Odds are that your foe is not a child anymore. But he is still
weaker than you.
Kill him right now.
The language is horrific but the message is not. It will bring you
Peace!
The post Kill That Child! Your Life Depends On It! appeared first on The Rao Institute.
February 7, 2017
You Don’t Die Because of Illness. You Die Because You Were Born!
For many years I was in thrall to ‘some day.’
My wife and I are both tennis fanatics and regularly tune in
to the Grand Slams and most of the Masters. We knew we
would go to the French Open ‘some day.’
And Wimbledon.
And the Australian Open.
Last year a friend asked me when ‘some day’ would come.
I reflected and then bought tickets to the Men’s and Women’s semifinals
and finals. I told my wife and she was able to re-arrange her schedule.
We went and had a grand time.
There is something we forget – we are all on an inexorable journey that will
end with the obliteration of our individual ego.
The change is all around us but we try to ignore it. I vividly remember bringing
my daughter home from the hospital. Her foot was half the size of my palm.
Now she is married and co-founder of a tech start-up in San Francisco.
I taught my son chess and he was amazed at how the pieces coordinated to
produce winning combinations. Now he beats me routinely and is about to
graduate from Columbia Law School.
I walk up flights of stairs that I would once run up.
I am glad that there is a handrail and previously I would never have noticed it.
Life is like a drop of water skittering around on a lotus leaf. It can fall over the edge
any minute. An oil slick on the road, a madman with a knife, a mutant bacteria and
our best laid plans gang aft agley.
The end is inevitable. The journey is irreversible.
We die because we are born and that begins the unrelenting odyssey. We don’t
know how long it will last. Illness, accidents, mishaps do not cause the end –
they merely dictate the timing.
So what matters is what you do with the time you have. In fact, with each day.
Don’t fall into the ‘some day’ trap.
Use the best china.
Go on that vacation.
Call your friend who you always wanted to keep in touch with but life got in the way.
Do it now.
Peace!
The post You Don’t Die Because of Illness. You Die Because You Were Born! appeared first on The Rao Institute.
You Don’t Die Because of Illness. You Die Because You Were Born!
For many years I was in thrall to ‘some day.’
My wife and I are both tennis fanatics and regularly tune in to the Grand Slams and most of the Masters. We knew we
would go to the French Open ‘some day.’
And Wimbledon.
And the Australian Open.
Last year a friend asked me when ‘some day’ would come.
I reflected and then bought tickets to the Men’s and Women’s semifinals and finals. I told my wife and she was able to re-arrange her schedule.
We went and had a grand time.
There is something we forget – we are all on an inexorable journey that will end with the obliteration of our individual ego.
The change is all around us but we try to ignore it. I vividly remember bringing my daughter home from the hospital. Her foot was half the size of my palm.
Now she is married and co-founder of a tech start-up in San Francisco.
I taught my son chess and he was amazed at how the pieces coordinated to produce winning combinations. Now he beats me routinely and is about to graduate from Columbia Law School.
I walk up flights of stairs that I would once run up.
I am glad that there is a handrail and previously I would never have noticed it. Life is like a drop of water skittering around on a lotus leaf. It can fall over the edge any minute. An oil slick on the road, a madman with a knife, a mutant bacteria and our best laid plans gang aft agley.
The end is inevitable. The journey is irreversible. We die because we are born and that begins the unrelenting odyssey. We don’t know how long it will last. Illness, accidents, mishaps do not cause the end – they merely dictate the timing.
We die because we are born and that begins the unrelenting odyssey. We don’t know how long it will last. Illness, accidents, mishaps do not cause the end – they merely dictate the timing.
So what matters is what you do with the time you have. In fact, with each day.
Don’t fall into the ‘some day’ trap.
Use the best china.
Go on that vacation.
Call your friend who you always wanted to keep in touch with but life got in the way.
Do it now.
Peace!
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February 1, 2017
WATCH THE VIDEODr. Rao’s TED talk
“Plug Into Your Hardwired Happiness,” has been viewed more than a million times on the TED website and others on which it is hosted.
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Dr. Rao’s TED talk
“Plug Into Your Hardwired Happiness,” has been viewed more than a million times on the TED website and others on which it is hosted.
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Dr. Rao speaks at the Awesomeness Fest in 2010
Dr. Rao speaks on “How to Build a Life and Not Just a Career” at the Awesomeness Fest in 2010
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