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September 27 - November 28, 2020
Feeling peaceful, happy and content is not about avoiding challenges in our life, but about how we navigate through these challenges to reach the type of life we want to live.
Aldous Huxley said, ‘Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him.’
Just as a car balances on four wheels, we must balance the four crucial areas of our life: our personal life, our relationships, our work life and our social contribution.
‘Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.’ —Democritus
We have mastered how to look successful, but not how to organize our lives so that we feel successful.
Our silent presence can be more powerful than a million empty words. We all have two ears and one mouth; the amount we listen and the amount we speak should be done proportionately. Rarely do people want an active solution to their problems before they have been thoroughly heard and understood.
people don’t care what you know unless they know you care.
‘We all have three things in common: we are all stuck, we all have a journey to complete, and we all have a destination.
Do we see the positive or the negative in a situation?’
when negativity consumes the mind, not only do we lose the vision to see the beautiful things around us, but also the ability to solve the problems that confront us.
when we think negatively of people, we should immediately counteract that energy by contemplating three positive qualities they have.
The mind is like the tongue. It drifts towards the negative areas of our life, making us restless and uneasy.
Gratitude is not a feeling; it is a state of mind that can be developed, and it allows us to tap into a reservoir of unlimited positive energy.
Statistically, we always have more to be grateful for than ungrateful.
‘Even at this accelerated pace, though, the fiddler’s movements remain fluid and graceful; he seems so apart from his audience—unseen, unheard, otherworldly—that you find yourself thinking that he’s not really there. A ghost. Only then do you see it: he is the one who is real. They are the ghosts,’
Context manipulates our perspective.
The construct of the modern world is such that we have less time to press pause, and appreciate beauty.
we must train the muscle of the mind.
The only price is commitment and consistency.
recognize, remember and reciprocate.’
we are spiritual beings having human experiences.
‘When we are overly familiar with people, we forget how important they are to us and the correct way to behave with them.
We should use things for the purpose they have been designed for but should treat them with the utmost dignity, value and respect.’
‘Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.’ —Proverbs 11:27
‘It is strange that sword and words have the same letters. Even more strange is that they have the same effect if not handled properly.’
“Our mutual funds and our relationships have one thing in common: we must invest in both before we can withdraw.”
“It was not what you said, it’s how you said it.”
hot heads do not give good feedback—choose a better time.
in order to practise forgiveness, we have to learn to separate the incident from the person.
That’s why it is said, ‘Watch your thoughts, they turn into words. Watch your words, they turn into actions. Watch your actions, they turn into habits. Watch your habits, they turn into character. Watch your character, it turns into your destiny.’ It all begins with a thought.
‘Earn with integrity, spend with compassion.’ —Radhanath Swami
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.
What great men do, common men follow.
dughda-sharkara-yukta-hima-ghana-gola-gattu.
Both ice creams and candles melt, but their reason for doing so are completely different.
it should be understood that unless we help ourselves and breathe in oxygen, we cannot be of any real help to others.
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.
‘The service you do for others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.’ —Muhammad Ali
In Sanskrit it is called para dukha dukhi, one who feels pain in the pain of others.
as I scrolled online, that I came across a 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.’
should stress that purpose does not mean a grand statement to ‘change the world’. It could mean having grand intentions to change the world in a small way.
