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October 9 - October 22, 2018
Our association is powerful: it can uplift us or bring us down.
Intimate dealings are built through the exchange of things, food, thoughts, values and belief systems. Our lifestyle is affected more by another person’s value systems than their habits.
At work we tend to compare and compete with others, instead of comparing and competing with ourselves.
‘Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful . . . that’s what matters to me.’ —Steve Jobs
If you want to grow, you have to compete,’
‘People with a closed mindset want to grow by beating others in their field. Open-minded people, on the other hand, grow by developing themselves. They know that nobody is their competition. They are their own competition.
‘We should imbibe this thought pattern of self-competition, rather than feeling insecure about others going ahead.
If we compare ourselves with others too much, we succumb to ordinariness. We can start blindly imitating others and even lose our essence.
To find your purpose in life, you must go on a journey of self-discovery.
the foundation of growth, it is understanding who you are. You can only compete with yourself if you have a clear idea of your potential, your capacities and certainly your limitations,’
if we offer a gift to someone without wrapping it, there is no element of excitement involved. Concealing a gift creates suspense, and when it is opened there is excitement and thus great joy.
God covers our talent, skills and potential only so that we have the chance to discover it.
Self-discovery is not a one-time event but an ongoing evolution,
‘If you do what you love, you will never have to work a day in your life.’
There are many psychological models that can aid us on our path to living fulfilling lives, one of which is the Japanese concept of ikigai.
According to this concept, to find purpose in life, you have to answer four questions,
What do you love? What are you good at? What does the world need? What can you get paid for?
Which parts of your job do you love? Focus on those parts.’
‘The second thing is, make time in life for what you love to do.
We have to take a calculated risk to start adding what we truly love to do, our ikigai, into our lives.
‘Earn with integrity, spend with compassion.’
‘Spirituality helps declutter your mind. This clarity gives you the ability to understand your purpose at a deeper level.
In one sense, spiritualists should be satisfied within themselves. For their personal needs, they should be happy with the bare minimum because they know that things don’t bring happiness. Nevertheless, when it comes to working hard with the aim of serving others, they should not be satisfied. If they are docile and passive, things which could have been used to uplift humanity will not be.
spirituality does not kill our ambition; it redirects it towards the service of others.
To be ambitious and entrepreneurial for yourself is not wrong. There is nothing wrong with having more, earning more and living in luxury.
If by the blessings of God we have the ambition and the capacity to achieve more, we must fulfil our potential, not suppress it by force.
What is wrong is if we just live a luxurious life;
the important asterisk after ‘living in splendour’ is to assess if we are givi...
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when God blesses us with more because of doing so, we should not only increase the standard of our living but also the standard of our giving.
spiritual people do not intentionally harm others, nor do they cheat others in business. However, at the same time, they do not behave timidly when it comes to work. Humility or meekness does not mean you are a pushover, it means you understand how to behave properly in all scenarios.
people are touched more by what we do than what we say. We feel inspired by those who live with the right conduct, character and integrity, sadachar in Sanskrit.
Life is a journey from being selfish to becoming selfless.
Painful situations are easier to deal with when you have friends by your side to support you.
the ideology behind the ice cream is: enjoy your life before it melts. It symbolizes hedonism; to savour every moment of your life through personal enjoyment.
On the other hand, the candle is symbolic of another ideology: to give light to others before it melts.
This is the selfless nature of a candle.
The journey of life is moving from being an ice cream to being a candle. That is the purpose of everyone’s life at the core: to share, give and contribute to others.
Make sure that your mask is securely fastened before you help children, infants or others.’
it should be understood that unless we help ourselves and breathe in oxygen, we cannot be of any real help to others. We can only share wealth with others if we possess wealth. Similarly, we can love others only if we know what it feels like to be loved.
In conclusion, we can only give to others what we possess.
revealing the mind and allowing another person to reveal their mind to you breeds deep friendship.
‘You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.’
Relationships at home can work well only if all parties have low expectations of each other, but high expectations of themselves to help the other.
Selflessness starts with our family,
To expand our circle of selflessness, we should help those outside of our immediate care and affection too.
We can increase our scope of selflessness beyond our family by serving our community, city or even nation.
It’s in moments of great grief that we understand what people mean to us,
quote by Sir Richard Branson, ‘If someone offers you an amazing opportunity, and you are not sure you can do it, say YES, then learn how to do it later.’
Your passion is for you, but once you figure out how to use it to serve others, it becomes your purpose.
