Passion and Career

Most of you are familiar with the proverb “A jack of all cards but master of none.” But do you know it's in-depth meaning? Let us sink in deep into its connotation to connect with this article intensely. Customarily, this proverb is used to signify people who have some knowledge in many fields but do not have expertise in a specific domain. More often than not, people use this proverb sarcastically. It is more of a taunt to tell you that you are good for nothing. Yes, this proverb is used by others to demean you intentionally. It is quite a negative connotation of this proverb and in this post, we shall try to explore the positive side of it... My personal realizations: There was a time when I used to get extremely demotivated by this proverb. I was going through a rough patch in my life. I was facing some serious difficulties in discovering my domain of passion. It was the phase when people used to shoot this proverb at me the most. These people were no one but my so-called loved ones. My ears got tired of listening to it. They used to tell it casually, never realized the intensity I got affected by it. You know why I used to get hurt so badly? It is because somewhere I knew they were not wrong by saying so. It felt like someone is rubbing salt in my open wounds, and I am bound to bear it. I could sense this proverb pointing fingers at me and saying “ You are a loser.”  I started feeling depressed. It is because there wasn’t any field in which I could feel that I am the best. One morning I sensed that overthinking has started taking a toll on my mental health. I realized that before it entirely ruins my mental health, I need to alter my outlook towards life. I started to meditate, which was not easy initially. I kept on practicing it daily. Gradually, I started enjoying it. I sensed my way of thinking change and began to feel optimistic. One day when I was meditating, I fathomed a realization. It made me feel positive, energetic and excited. It was nothing but the positive connotation of the proverb “A jack of all cards and master of none,” which shouted: “A jack of all cards can compete with four kings.” The connotation of  "A jack of all cards can compete with four kings" Even if you have little knowledge in every field, it implies you have all the choices available to explore the domain which pulls your interest the most. Of course, you would find many people better than you in every field. But if you are a jack of all cards, surprisingly, it means all the choices are available to you. It can turn out to be a blessing in disguise for you. You don't need to do anything special. You just need to have a positive mindset. You just have to explore your inside and target the right field, which you have been neglecting till...

When people don't fulfill your expectations, you get hurt. Your undue expectation from people has become one big reason to feel negative.  Therefore, it is imperative to find out why these expectations and from whom are these expectations? Why do you expect and from whom do you expect? In today’s world, you expect from people because you want them to ‘Return the favor back.’ It is an obligation you anticipate from others in exchange for the good things you assume you did for them. It is the reason why you expect a reciprocation. Quickly, you need to understand that if you are counting on every acquaintance to fulfill your expectations, the matter of fact is that you are unreasonable and foolish. Supremely, your expectations could be from the ones whom you love, who are important to you. It might be from the people you care for, whom you respect, the ones with whom you share a strong bond and an active connection. Let's say, people are fulfilling every expectation of yours. But, what we need to comprehend is that everything is perfectly fine until people keep responding as per your expectations. The question is how long you will keep on getting your expectations fulfilled by others? How long will others carry the burden of meeting your expectations? The never-ending expectation process: Be mindful of the fact that the fulfillment of one expectation leads to the urge of the other. Gradually, it leads to an endless flow and to tell the truth, the chain breaks down one day. Yes, your feelings get hurt one day. Sometimes, the volume of that pain soars high to an extent where you tend to shift your perception of people who belong to you. By and by, you even form a negative opinion about those people. You begin to judge those people based on that particular situation in which they did not raise up to your expectation. You start to forget the positives associated with them. In due process, you don’t realize the value of that person in your spirits before this particular incident. And eventually, you lose that person.  Let me bombard a few questions on you... If you are demanding the ideal condition out of a person, are you an ideal person to demand it? How will you feel when you are on the other side of the table? Are you not wrong on your part if you are expecting people to respond according to you? Are you not judging people calling them wrong without knowing about their problems and situations? Maybe, they could have been in their world of problems when you were expecting from them. Or maybe they are the ones dwelling in their own aura and you are not able to perceive it. Sorry for being brutally honest but when you start putting conditions on expectations from others, you are wrong. Put it to yourself and ask yourself how do you feel about those people who impose their expectations on you? And when you are not able to meet their expectations, how do you feel about those judgemental...

The extended lockdown period... is it taking a toll on your mental health? Are you yearning to step out of lockdown to fulfill your desires? Is the pain of world outside transiting into your suffering? Do you struggle to utilize the Me time you never got before? Do you foresee uncertainties, leading to dilemmas, on the other side of pandemics? If any of these is happening with you during the Corona outbreak, your mind is turning into a theatre of psychological dramas. High time mate! You better stop engaging with your thoughts. Let’s understand what’s cooking A hell lot is happening around you, infact the whole world is suffering. Like too much to take! And amidst all these, the viral pictures of grief, remorse, sorrow, helplessness, are everywhere, in social media and news channels, making worse for the mind to sail smoothly with this life transition. The normal routine... regular thinking patterns... all disrupted! Nothing is motivating, nothing seems inspiring about the world right now. To add final nail to the coffin, this extended lockdown period! What all of it is resulting to? Overflowing thoughts... conspiring against each other, causing severe damage to your sanity. I was hit hard by lows during this quarantine. And as I always do, I consciously chose to explore the dark. I walked out in a better headspace! A few mindshifts pulled me out from the slumps of my mind. I am happy sharing these as my suggestions; hope you find them useful. 4 Mindshifts for a better headspace A mere acceptance of your pain Human race is mourning to bereavement, Eyes around reflect deep down fears, Destitution struck so hard the poor are starving to death, Economies gravely affected; savings vaporizing than never, Future looks ambiguous... the other side under dilemmas,  Like everything brought to a standstill! Difficult time this... as there is only pain to attract from the outside world. You never stood here before, and your mind is clueless about the way out. The result: A chaotic mind that produces anxiety. But my dear friend... you need to realize: Not only you, your family, your city, or your country... It’s the entire world that’s unsettled right now. So what you are going through is fine. It’s the current normal! Yes you need to accept this right now... Better said... you might wonder: How should I gracefully accept this change? Just acknowledge you are not battling alone. It's not only about you this time... we are in this together! This offers you strength to stand in solidarity, as we people are kind of sharing identical pain. It brings the acceptance you need! Trust me... Acceptance of pain is that reliever that never allows your pain turn into suffering. Consciously experience the biggest blessing — You are Alive! You are blessed to be alive, sitting at home, comfortable with your family, away from the virus, getting enough luxuries for a healthy living. You got to feel grateful for this! You are fortunate than millions suffering in this pandemic. Please don't let that feeling of gratitude die in your sub-consciousness. If I ask you:  Did you experience the fear of being asymptomatic to Covid-19 at any point? I think many of us would admit: Yes... I felt that... just for a little... but I did! If...

No, you are not. You are just going through a rough phase in your life. Maybe, you are overthinking in matters which do not require much of your attention. It also might be the case that you are going through the process of self-realization and self-actualization. Remember, nothing hits you harder than the process of self-realization and self-actualization. Do not try to overdo things. Do not expect too much out of you. Things will happen. Let it take its time. Everyone has their good and bad times. You need to respect the time zone. Try to indulge in any productive work. It will keep you away from thinking. Remember, most of the times, overthinking because of idleness is the cause of negativity. It is equally important not to fear the unknown. Welcome it. Don't fight with it; Face it. Apprehensions are also the cause of worry. Always remember that most of the time, the problem is not the Fear, but 'The Fear of Fear.' It is also imperative to take pride in whatever you do. Try to do whatever you feel. Moreover, it is equally important to feel whatever you do. Feelings are the essence of staying happy, which are evoked and revived by mediation. Meditation keeps you away from apprehensions and negative thinking. Moreover, always express whatever you feel. Speak out then and there to flush out negativity. Retaining negative emotions inside you is a definite cause of negativity, where you start taking everything in a wrong sense.    

Before evaluating the differences, let's find out the similarity between both the attitude.  Did you notice that both the attitude have four consecutive letters in common-'LOSE'? You know what does it mean? It means that both the attitude(loser/nothing to lose) are provoked by a loss. Now, there are two possible conditions involving a loss.  You are on the verge of losing. You have already lost. Subsequently, when you encounter any of the above-mentioned situations,  it provokes either a 'nothing to lose' attitude or you develop a 'loser attitude'.   An example involving sports where you are on the verge of losing... Two players are playing a game of squash inside two different courts.  The game is of 5 sets. Both the players lose the first two sets. Obviously, the recovery seems extremely difficult hereon. Now, let us try to compare and analyze their respective attitude where one develops a loser attitude while the other develops a nothing to lose attitude.  The one with the ‘loser attitude:’ After losing the first two sets out of five, the person with a negative mindset starts considering himself as a loser even before the result of the game. It evokes fear inside him and he begins saying to himself that he cannot win from this particular game-situation. Eventually, he surrenders to a situation and showcases a ‘loser attitude’ in the subsequent game-set. This attitude fails to deliver miserably, no need to mention the outcome. The one with the ‘nothing to lose attitude.’   A person with a positive frame of mind sees things differently. After losing the first two sets, he sets himself free. Even he starts considering himself as a loser but with a different mindset. As soon as he accepts his loss, he starts seeing it as a different ball game altogether. It evokes a fearless attitude within him as he is already considering himself as a loser. He starts feeling that he cannot go down anymore and plays the rest of the game carefree and stress-free. Trust me, most of the times he is able to turn the tables around from nowhere, and an evident lose turns out to be a surprising victory. Let us consider a monetary example where the loss has already occurred: Two businessmen suffered a huge financial loss in their respective trades. The one with a loser attitude: The person with the loser attitude starts feeling embarrassed and ashamed. He is not able to sink that loss inside his mind. As a result, it never lets him overcome that loss or defeat. That fear of losing refrains him from starting again. As a result, he always considers himself a loser.  The one with a nothing to lose attitude: There is the other businessman who considers it as an opportunity, the opportunity to start from scratch, where he cannot go down beyond it. This attitude allows him to realize his mistakes so that he never repeats it again. Time for some Happy Realizations!!! Friends, we all lose on something at some point in time.  But what makes us a loser or winner depends...

Is your monkey mind guilty of attending only distractions? Is your desire to consciously sync with the life-flow remain unfulfilled? Are you tired of your ego playing the same psychological drama? All are signs we are less in the moment, and more under powerful influence of the Mind’s unconscious projections. The following exercise is a doorway into the now. Well, the word writing may sound boring to you, but I request you to try out the suggested way. Please experience it yourself to give a reason to your logical mind to believe it.  It's a tried-tested by me for quite a while now, and I promise writing won't be boring this time. Scribble without a backspace Bring out that 'old school' journal where you blindly express shrugging off your ego-generated identifications. A conscious 30-min effort every day where you scribble whatever thoughts and emotions you encounter beyond thoughts of publishing it or even reading it again. Not on the modern-day mediums like computers and tabs, but that 'old school' journal which remains your manuscript holding your deep-dark-dirty secrets. Build that writing space where even if your mind has questions and no answers, you flush out. There’s no clarity but the void, you still discharge the rawness. Treat those pages not as your possessions, but as trash, which you would dump it anyway someday. Pouring words over self-judgments Leave grammar, style, structure, just vent out the vulnerable expressions of originality by total surrender, no judgments. Just begin and speak out both the meaningless or the meaningful. Affirm that’s not editorial content, just a practice to reconnect with life. Beginning, and then cultivating this habit may not be enjoyable always, but need not lose love in the process.  As you scribble, you feel a little tide of contentment gently hitting the shores of kind awareness, as your words flow at a slow but consistent pace. That’s where you feel the source of life flowing from a deeper consciousness, beyond the intellectual concepts of the mind. I find it the best way to clear my monkey mind by an overwhelm. The best about journal writing is it doesn’t have a backspace to renovate the past. That generates willpower to flex creative muscles, to unlock the awareness in the present moment, so that life cruise through instincts. Summary Self-judgments labels living as a task where your egoistic mind is racing to reach the finish. That’s where the love in the life process fades away.  This way, life only happens accidentally. So how do you enter the now? Pull out the 'old school' journal. Flush whatever’s inside — your painful emotions and dirty thoughts, or the present moment expressions and subconscious nostalgia. Write guilt-free, over the fear of judgments, not for anyone but maybe for yourself, to recall those souvenirs somewhere down the memory lane and laugh over it. Irrespective the language, dedicate a 30 min session to journal writing expressing your original vulnerability. Go slow as a snail, but scribble in that journal to reconnect with the joyful road, without a reverse from the past, naturally sailing on the wheels of now. This practice brings clarity, and your future flows from the source of your creative imagination. Most important,...

The past is gone; The future is unpredictable. What you have and what you can control right now is your present. It is imperative to feel it to enjoy it. As they say, time and tide wait for none; likewise, you should appreciate the present moment rather than making a hue and cry of your past or worrying about the future. On the contrary, what you do is either you ponder upon your past, or you are busy making plans for future. As a result, you neglect to feel the essence of the present moment.You need to realize that 'now' is the moment to cherish. These small moments in the present moment can only make your life happy. Awareness in the present moment makes every moment memorable in a way where you don't need memories to cherish later. When you enjoy the present, the future is bound to be good. One foot in the past and one foot in the future is just like keeping your feet in two boats and trying to make a balance to stay safe. This way, you will not only hurt yourself but also will lose the precious moments of now. STOP HERE. Take deep breaths. Enjoy the NOW. Don't run away from it. Don't allow your thinking to take control over your feelings. Things will happen. You are neither early nor late. Respect the 'TIME ZONE.' Just flow with each passing moment.  Relax and enjoy the present moment. Learn the art of Meditation to stimulate your feelings, which will keep you away from overthinking. Life is beautiful. Start cherishing every moment now.  

Failure or Success- A perspective… When a coin is tossed, there's a 50% chance it will land upon the side you bet. Similar is our outcome in different chores we perform in our life. One major difference that differentiates our life with tossing of the coin is that we put in a lot of devotion and hard work in our efforts.  "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." ~Winston Churchill But similar to the tossing of a coin, those chores may result in either success or failure. Sometimes even after extreme hard work and perseverance, the outcome is a failure, leaving us shattered. What happens when failure is the outcome?  Failure is the outcome of mere bad luck or a minor fault which we don't realize while enduring. We regret about failures when all our efforts go in vain and nothing fruitful comes out.  We get disheartened, thinking we will never succeed and then delve into the domain of negative thoughts. Students failing in competitive exams, people facing rejections while seeking employment; Life has become a battlefield where success is adjourned as the winner, while failure is looked with pity, remorse, and guilt. This outlook needs tweaking. What to comprehend? Success is a destination, but it is the journey full of failures, that deserves an appreciation. ‘Success is that lively and elusive mask of realization, which covers the various lifeless faces of failures.’ Happy Realization People fail to realize that they would never commit that same mistake again in their lives ever. If they had tasted success in that only attempt then maybe this mistake would have cost them severely.  We need to realize that the failure causing such heart-wrenching grief to their heart, is just due to a minor mistake, a temporary glitch that can be rectified in the next attempt.  We need to realize quickly that we are not failures alone. Everyone, and I repeat, everyone who is successful has failed on numerous occasions to reach where he/she is. we just have to accept those glitches as normal, without overthinking about it. and move on, and move on. Obviously, it ain't easy, the reason we have fewer success stories. People have to take a huge leap of faith to do that. Even though society may blame you, criticize you at an unbearable level, trust me, you can bear them all, provided you compete with none other than oneself. The course of action: Analyze: This is the most crucial tool to avoid failures in the upcoming future. The secret to success lies in your failures. People have to just analyze them carefully and draw the point of errors or flaws, and vouch to never repeat them. Plan: Devise a new plan of approach omitting the mistakes you have analyzed. Use new techniques that you will be able to apply. Avoid sticking to the customary ones which have stopped delivering results. Enact: Apply the whole plan step by step and execute it as per your calculations. Don’t deviate in the greed of achieving more. In pursuit of greed, you may even lose what you aspire, which...

Do your heartfelt articles fail to connect soulfully with readers?  I developed a habitual loser-feeling when my passion for writing struggled to find engaging eyes. Why? I did not know.  I fulfilled the article's demand for sufficient time and fulsome dedication. But the result?It did not grab my readers' attention. It never fell under the category of viral content. Ahh. Pains like a dagger in the heart. And the dreaded fear evolves — Am I capable of living my dream life? Loosen up if you ever come across this fear.  This piece must encourage your typing fingers to slap any thought of quitting, and help you produce the long-due viral content. But before that, let me tell you:There are plenty of sources offering generic (yet important) pieces of advice. They are good! But are these suggestions enough to create your much-awaited viral content?Well, I am not sure!  Let me list the cosmopolitan suggestions readily available, and then step into the five pieces of advice I didn't find anywhere. Generic( but compulsory) pieces of advice already available: Heading: Write a keyword-enriched, emotion-provoking headline'How to' and 'Number' headlines are more clicks-proneNot composite, but address a niche-specific audience  Intro: Draft a tight opening, maybe starting with a questionKeep the intro short and crisp, but intriguing enough Hint at the solution by the end of the intro (Do not offer a direct solution) Body: Break the post into easily digestible chunks — use sub-headingsSprinkle keywords wisely all over the content Illustrations connect well with the readers, use them Closing: A call-to-action offering useful solutions Offer something extra as a respect to the reader. (After all, he read your entire article)Easy social sharing option just after the end of your article Although these suggestions are important, I'm unsure these are enough to create a viral post you have been longing for. Let us jump straight into: 5 suggestions to write viral content (unfulfilled wish of every struggling blogger) Scribble every thought kissing your mind — Wherever whenever You cannot write a valuable viral post at one go; it's a tedious process. It's impractical to start and complete your article in a single sitting. You might observe your mind perceives and generates content-related information in broken bits. Do you ignore any of them?If yes,  you are losing some vital elements needed to wire a viral post. What I feel one good thing about pursuing your blogging passion is you cannot allocate a fixed place to follow it. Even if you do it, not necessarily your mind is receptive enough then to think about what you want it to. Here's the best part: Be it for anything, your passion is an integral part of you. It's never away but always ongoing with you. So make sure you neglect none of your content-related thought any moment.  How do you do that? Scribble that thought — on a piece of paper, a diary, or your favorite phone writing applications. Whenever I come across such thoughts, I note it on my cellphone and Watsapp it to my other number. It's useful! Never forget: Those raw thoughts are the basis of a beautiful piece of viral content. So don't ignore it. You are not a...

A lockdown for bodies, but minds still wandering... And this distance between mind and body — it’s turning the inevitable pain into self-made suffering. But that’s the downside!! Let’s talk about the upside... the positives through this period. Let’s try to experience these happy realizations: 1. Death connecting us to life People are dying everywhere. It provokes fear of death now and then at every heart, no different you and me. But amidst all these did you realize: We literally experienced our biggest fear Death sitting at home? Gracious we are alive!  Is there a bigger blessing? I don’t think so. Let’s celebrate life with a toast to breath as the biggest reason to smile. 2. Higher sensitivity towards poverty and hunger It’s not only about this lockdown when the poor are dying of hunger. Earlier, most of us could only sympathize. We could not take that one step further — to think about doing something for them. Why? Either shortage of time or our own lives in a turmoil. Now as we standstill, there are more volunteers to think about the poor. This lockdown has taken our sympathies to another level. And that’s wonderful! 3. Turning faces towards the real mirror — Self-awareness We are denied worldly experiences ongoing lockdown. But this phase made us dig deep within to feel ourselves.  The deeper we touch, the darker it feels!! But do you know the sunnier part? At least we are facing the real mirror! We are meeting ourselves everyday. We are knowing ourselves more! No matter beautiful or ugly reflects our face in the real mirror of self-awareness, we are experiencing the taste of our company. It is leading to self-acceptance — the foundation of self-love! 4. Inculcating a new interest Earlier we never got this length of me-time. With a lockdown of direct connections with the outside world, the sharpness of the mind has less to dissect. Maybe it’s time for the soul to reach a deeper dimension without self-judgments. Picking up that half-read old book from the shelf, Tuning-in the chords of the broken guitar, Scribbling emotions in our personal diary,  Pursuing the hobby left out of responsibility, Learning different meditation or yoga practices, Let it be anything that pulls our interest! Who knows, we discover an artist within who flares the life-spark rest of our lives. 5. Connection with smiling nature after decades  Neither money is having the last laugh nor the people. It’s nature smiling! We must feel happy for them.  After all this damage, it resurrected! The air turned cleaner; the tress became greener; the water got purer. Guess what? The renewed nature is blessing us with a healthy life! Do we really need anything else? I feel nothing can draw our interest more than getting richer with nature’s wealth. Let’s celebrate nature, preserve the wealth it’s bestowing! 6. Our battle is always in the inside We have been our comparing lives with people, competing against them. Conveniently we have been blaming them for all the wrong happening with us. But about this time, we are not against outside; we are exploring the truth: We have been battling against our illusions. And it is always about the inside! We are meeting our inner critic... the real audience. And it’s an original ball game altogether. No doubt the battle has got tougher but...