Trouble with reality

Have you wondered why people love watching these soap operas. Full of drama, politics and what not. The flashy dresses, make up, perfect scenarios, imperfect situations, filmy dialogues... Somewhere they drive me crazy, I have never have had the patience to watch even one single episode in its entirety. 

I remember the first time when I happened to be a party to its viewership index, in my late teens in the middle of a family get together where there was absolutely no escape but to watch everyone's favorite television serial. How by the end of it I was simply left exhausted and I kept thinking to myself, well all this anyways happens in our families, whats the fun in watching it on television again and that too with special background music, focussed close ups of actors and then the most annoying part were the replays of a certain moment with dramatized expressions. Everything was so freaky and in slow motion and it made you want to rip your hair apart, while everyone even after the episode comes to an end, wants to 'discuss' what and why and actually 'relate' situations and people within the family! Urggghhhhh.....

What makes it different anyway from our real life scenarios. Well one of course is the background music. Second, replays, I can only imagine what would happen if we had to say 'What?' (with your head turning to the left) repeat 3 times to highlight a certain effect of acute shock. 

Maybe people love to watch them precisely for these reasons? Well, will need some patience to do a research on that. Till then lets assume that everyone does have trouble with their reality, therefore they prefer to watch it happen to someone else.

Procrastination

There are times when inspite of the fact that you have goals in place, you give in to the mundane day to day activities and 'forget' what you are aspiring for. Gradually, over a period of time as days pass by and you slowly get engulfed with the mundane, frustration creeps in. You are busy doing things which 'do not' make you happy or make you reach even a step closer to your goal. That is the ultimate scenario of 'procrastination'. 

When we wait for the perfect time and space to do something that makes us happy. What I have realized is, we have to create that time and space. There is nothing called perfection. There is only the 'now'. If you want to do something therefore, do it 'now' even if small, but do it.

Get up and move, before this day also lands up being just another day.

Virus

A virus will spread, no matter how clean the environment is. A virus is a virus, it's infectious, and its very essence is pollution.

Beware of the virus, specially the human kind. 

Step by Step

To have a goal in life is really important, it's something which will help expand one's own potential. At some point in life, we feel stagnant, everything becomes repetitive, without a goal, this situation may come sooner than you would expect it.

Have a goal, both short term and long term and go for it! There's nothing better than the sense of accomplishment after achieving a target.

Explore

Exploring different avenues can be interesting, be it learning a new language, a new skill, a different cuisine or anything that one has never tried before. When we are younger, the ratio of new is to old is much higher, where we are constantly striving to acquire new skills, are encouraged and applauded, even if we just pass the first step of learning it.

But as we grow older, gradually this ratio, before we begin to realize, starts reversing, where the old occupies more of our mind space and time. The desire to learn something different slowly reduces, or is probably not encouraged or lets say we tend to make excuses too. Picture a situation where you go out with a group of friends and they decide to explore some off the beaten mountain track, how would you react when you are in your teens or 20s or lets say when you're in your 40s/50s. The answer would be very different for most people, the reversal of the ratio of the desire to learn/explore/take risks is quite evident.

The key to remain ever youthful therefore is as simple as trying out something new often, if not everyday, the excitement and the thrill will not only keep you energy levels high, but as they say, there is too much to learn and explore in this world. Let's keep learning, one step at a time!

Its all about the Voice

The way we speak can make or break relationships, it can encourage someone or demean someone. A mother's sweet lullaby can put a child to bed, or a neighbors loud quarrel can take our sleep away.

We are the only species on the planet that have a language which can be modified according to our emotions. A loving hello to a crush, or an arrogant greeting to someone we don't like. 

If you observe, people who are at peace at themselves and are compassionate, generally have a soft voice which one wants to listen to, versus someone who's selfish and mean could have a hoarse voice with an air of arrogance to it. 

We as human beings must be watchful of the way we speak. As a Napoleon Hill said, "Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another". And another wise person also said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, better to keep quiet".

To put it simply, how well are we using this wonderful gift of the 'Voice'? Checkpoint.

The Perfect Plan

How often do we 'plan' to do something? Be it new resolutions, short term career plan, long term plan, life plan, study plan, marriage plan, children plan, insurance, we can go on and on and on.

Planning can be quite a tedious task at times specially when one has various options, multiple processes and a zillion permutations and combinations. For example, if this happens then I want to do that else something else. It can get heart wrenching and by the end of it the head might start spinning too. 

Bottom line is, no matter how much planning we may do, its the action that really matters. Ultimately you might spend hours and hours in planning (in the corporate world, meetings) but if you don't put it in action, you're not getting anywhere. 

Its great that you're organized, it's great that you 'plan'. But also take out time for the 'action'.