LIFE

Parts of our life have become so 'LESS'

Our phones: wire LESS

Our cooking: fire LESS

Our food: fat LESS

Our tea: sugar LESS

Our dress: sleev LESS

Our youth: fresh LESS, job LESS

Our leaders: shame LESS

Our Govt.: hope LESS

Our job: thank LESS

Our police: clue LESS

Our policies: aim LESS

Our labour: effort LESS

Our conduct: worth LESS

Our relations: meaning LESS

Our attitude: care LESS

Our feelings: heart LESS

Our education: value LESS

Our arguements: base LESS

Our future: direction LESS

But....

But....

But....

Our expectations: end LESS

Who packed your Parachute?

Charles Plumb was a US Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a communist Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience!


One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your parachute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."


Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he had looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat; a bib in the back; and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you?' or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor." 


Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent at a long  wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't know.


Now, Plumb asks his audience, "Who's packing your parachute?" 


Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. He also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory - he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason. 

As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachutes.

Missing a perfect life

"What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals." - from Act II, scene 2, of Hamlet

I was reading on WWW about the aspects of human behaviour and their psychology towards life (behavorial economics) My office work sucks now a days so I utilise my time in reading and understanding the human mind in a better manner. The quote made me wonder and think more about what amazing acts our minds and bodies are capable of doing. We learn new languages as young children. We recognise so many faces with ease without getting confused. We can identify our friend's voice over telephone etc. Sometimes I feel I am one of those supercreations by God (I broaden my chest and giggle a bit). But I miss a perfect life. I dont know yet what is it?

What according to you is a perfect life? Is it a life free from hassles; controversies; guilt, full of hope; luxury; pleasures ? I think that the perfect way of living a life is by being rational. I mean, won't the life be perfect when your own reasoning abilities are perfect? Won't it improve your decision making and change your life for the better?

I look at my life and see a big distance from perfection. May be I am irrational. Rather predictably irrational; because I often repeat the same mistake again and again. Perhaps that is how the human nature is supposed to be. I dont know how do the economists, policy makers come up with their findings assuming that there is perfect reasoning for everything. As of now, we human beings seem to clear defy it.

This blog would seem to be incomplete and unclear as of now because I am still searching for my basic question, "What are the hidden forces that shape our decision making?"

Ever wondered Why do we often promise ourselves to diet, and our thought vanishes when we see a dessert plate passing by? Why we are happy to do things only when we are not paid to do them?

Life is a game

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit … and you’re keeping all of these in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for Balance in your life.

How?

Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live all the days of your life.

Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each together.

Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be pave.

Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings!

Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going.

Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way…

Self healing process of God

Our life is surrounded by problems … Some problems take a heavy toll on our lives in a very short span; some problems seem to be never ending. They keep running after you just like our shadows till you find out ways to resolve them. Par apni parchai se bhagne ka raasta banaya hai Bhagwaan ne? I wonder why we have problems in life. Who creates it for us? Are we self- responsible for it or is it associated with the surroundings, environment and people around us? The answer to this is not yet known to me. This blog would be another effort to find this out.

Everyone is different in their own ways; different perceptions/opinions about the same thing; different lifestyles in the same world; different behavior at the same moment and at the same time. God has his own ways of creating people. After his creation, he has left the entire onus on us to deal with each other till we are alive; some people are not left in the discussions even after they are dead. Don’t you think God should have left us with some Self – healing process to cure it? He is quite intelligent and foresighted; he must have left some hidden treasure somewhere for sure. All we have to do is to search for it.

We actually have our own ways of creating problems. Isn’t it? With my experience with different genders, the love/ hate relationships have had a similar problem patterns. They all start with great promises, enduring care and end up in hatred for their partner when they leave. In recent years, I seem to have developed a capability to understand people better. I have become mature in handling people and their tribulations. People feel better in approaching me with their problems and sharing their concerns to me more often now. I won’t say that I enjoy doing it or I am being boastful but it gives me satisfaction in helping my friends who are in need to some morale boost and motivating lectures. My friends say that you have to be in a relationship in order to empathize. And then…. what after that? Update my personal details on orkut “From Past relationships I have learned”? Not that I am against love but may be I am too skeptical about it. Leave it; this is not about me right now.

I remember my friend sending me a quote from Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not envy. It is not proud. It is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves, never gives up, and never loses faith.” There is so much said and so much unsaid here which we individuals need to realize. Finding few of my friends in not-so-romantic state in their lives; I try to apply my findings of the above quote to their circumstances. Each and every word said by Jesus Christ is right and every bit to it if applied to our lives can solve all the problems.

We lose our patience if our ego hurts or our expectations are not met by our partner… and kindness obviously goes into the drain after that. Considering our partner, the best amongst others in this world, we can’t leave our over possessiveness and insecurity over them. We can talk a lot about trust, faith, love; hopes with our partner sitting with him/her but what else are you thinking when you are saying that? Is whatever you are saying, truly coming from your heart or is there something else which is bothering you when you make such statements?

Before this problem eats us up, can we bring a change in ourselves to muddle through it? Can we change for a person totally whom we love? It’s very difficult but it’s not impossible. If both lovers change for each other, won’t this world be a happier place? Won’t this relationship last forever? Can we stop hating our partner who leaves us and goes away? Can we become selfless once in our lives? Remember, we have only one life to do it; why not start now?

God has given each one of us a self-healing process which we can use for our own good. Life is too short to hate anyone. Every time you push yourself to blame your partner for what all wrong happened, you end up thinking more about them.

Marne ke baad bhi meri aankhen khuli rahi

Aadat padi thi inhe intezaar ki

Jab se tumhe bhulane ki kasam khayi hai

Aur pehle se bhi jyaada teri yaad aayi hai