Success and Happiness

Allow me to begin with a small composition of mine: Speak Speak speak... you speak SPEAK WITH AUTHORITY, SPEAK WITH CLARITY... make sure you get heard when you speak Irrespective of the language YOU SPEAK... as long as you have a voice, you speak don’t wary the criticisms and the questions ... as long as you are right, you speak Don’t worry about losing them, FOR THE SAKE OF FINDING YOURSELF, you speak. To spit out the negativity, for the sake of positivity... gather courage only once to speak on their face and never behind, as long as they are wrong, you speak FOR THE SAKE YOUR RESPECT AND ESTEEM... SPEAK SPEAK SPEAK... YOU SPEAK Hope you liked it! Let's jump right into the nitty-gritty of expressing: Expressing is an introduction of your true self to the outside world. Whatever you are inside, just exhibit it outside. What you are and whatever you feel, just express yourself. Never feel afraid of it. Always remember: “You were born to be real, not to be perfect.” - Claire Baker And this applies to everyone. When you have the freedom of expression, use it to your advantage. You are probably wondering: Why is expressing important? Expressing is your deliberate attempt to convert the negativity felt into positivity. In the world full of lies and betrayals, it is difficult to stop feeling negative. But you need to understand that feeling negative is not a problem.  The problem arises when you keep that negativity within you and do not express it out. But when you express out, you unburden yourself and flush out the negativity.  To maintain transparency between your physical and mental appearance. In case you don't know: There are two facets of your appearance- physical and mental. Expressing acts as a mirror between the two. It ensures that whatever you feel from inside, you present it outside. This way, you are true to yourself and to others. There is no retention of negative feelings inside you to attract other negative energies. You always ride high on yourself via expressing. When you express your true self to others, it means you value your ideas, thoughts, and beliefs. No wonder, expressing is one of the best ways to develop self-love. The quote above says it all... When you express, you expose yourself in front of others. You reveal your true identity to them. In the process, people might get hurt. Many people might not like you. They can call you rude, offensive and aggressive. They might misunderstand you. However, the ones who deserve to be in your life will understand you gradually. They will accept you the way you are. No wonder, these people will be less. But they will be the ones whom you will find by your side every time you need them. It's your identity, this is the way you always are, independent of the person, time and situation. Feel proud! Look: Being nude is always better than being naked. Sounds silly? It's not: Being nude is your choice. It is when you uncover yourself by yourself. It‘s your discretion to expose yourself to others. It is the transparency you...

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...

Not only an intriguing title; I'll also make sure that the article is worth reading... Step by step, we shall try to get into it. First of all, let us try to approach the word ‘SUCCESS.' How does one define success?  Commonly, Success can be defined as the accomplishment of goals and objectives. For some people, the definition of success could also be the triumph over the competitors. What else? Yes, for some people, success could be reaching the top in their respective work fields. Everyone perceives success in their own peculiar way. The definition of success keeps on changing with people, time and situation. Finding it boring??? Hold on, some interesting observations about to begin!!! There is no denying the fact that only a few feelings can match the magical feeling of being successful. All the positive emotions can be attached to success such as happiness, rejoice, pleasure, satisfaction, euphoria, jubilation, etc. Let us sink in deeper to unlock the other side of the story...  A few heartfelt questions: Is the journey en-route all that beautiful like the results? Does success come all that easy? Are there any shortcuts to success? Do the successful people undergo the same emotions en-route success journey like they feel after succeeding? Let us uncover the darker side of success A few successful realizations: 'Success is that lively and elusive mask of realization, which covers the various lifeless faces of failures.' Baffled? I shall explain it to you... One success story comprises of many stories of failures. Yes, there is also a dark and gloomy side of every success story. It is that phase which nobody is aware of, except for the person who has traveled that journey alone. Only a few get out strong and victorious from this phase... And those few individuals are called 'Successful People'. We all get attracted to successful individuals who are related to our respective fields, right? But how many of us have tried to figure out that why do we get attracted towards them? Let's find out... Some in-depth realizations!!! Success comes along with many luring elements with it. Some people get lured by the money, which comes along with success. Some get drawn towards the power. Some get fascinated by the glamor attached to it. Some get attracted towards the lifestyles of successful people, while some get attracted towards their achievements. There are also some individuals who get attracted towards the passion of the successful people.  Everyone has their reasons to get drawn towards success and successful people. But let me ask you... Have you ever tried to follow the path to success of our idols?  Have you sought to find out how painful their success journey has been? Have you tried to find out the sacrifices they had made to reach there? Have you sought to find out the hardships and failures they had to face before succeeding? Are you ready to endure and struggle like they did? These questions indeed induce a painful realization. It is because everyone wants to succeed, nobody wants to fail. What we want are results....

I observed a drastic increase in Google searches revolving around hiring a life coach. Searches like best life coaches, life coach near me, find a life coach, get a life coach, are trending. It intrigued me to get a deeper insight into life coaching. Allow me to present my perspective on life coaching, for you to discover if you need one. Who is a life coach? The role of a life coach is the mental boosting of clients, guiding them on right path, instilling that self-belief so that they find their dreams or realize their goals. It is through counseling sessions through one-to-one interaction, oral communication, any means suitable and possible in a deeply personalized way. Good life coaches use their practical experience, sublime clarity, powerful instincts and supreme ability to uplift to motivate their clients and make them realize their true selves. Be it a personal or professional goal, life coaching is multi-dimensional. A good life coach is a guide, motivator, counselor, mentor — all in one!  Consider a life coach as a gym trainer who does both: Help you burn belly calories; help you gain bicep inches Whether you are looking for a business coach to attain your materialistic goals or a relationship coach to dilute the bitterness in your personal relationship, a life coach is your go-to man. Let us understand the role of a life coach involving two major spheres in a person’s life  — as a business coach and a relationship coach. Life coach as a business coach Almost everyone battles hard in our materialistic careers.With the unfortunate ones, the fight continues till their last breath. There’s distinctness as each one struggles in their peculiar way. Some need motivation to continue with existing job/business, some need pieces of advice pursuing a dream career. There are many who need strength to recover from losses and there are individuals who strive to double their profits. So you see, goals are different, but each one wants to sail smoothly in this money world than to be forcefully driven by it. Motivation to endure is the need of the hour! While many lose hope and belief at some point, the role of a life coach is gaining popularity to guide and make you realize materialistic goals. Life coach as Relationship coach One busy lifestyle, the same old bread-butter fight, and the newly dominant social environment — all are contributing to the distress and differences in a personal relationship. Be it parent-child relation, life partner connection, best of friendships, even our connection with ourselves — relationships are bleeding profusely! The trust factor, compatibility issues, judgmental comparisons, time constraints, are one of the many reasons causing the differences.  But unlike before, there is certain level of awareness in people where they could address the reasons for their unhealthy interpersonal relationship, but just cannot figure out the solutions by themselves. With that, is arising the need for a life coach for a desperate fix. Let’s jump straight into: Pros and Cons of having a Life Coach Advantages of a life coach There is someone listening to you, the one to whom you speak your heart out. Be it a...

Contentment is the realization of a beautiful soul. It is a feeling which resides within every individual, but only a few are able to explore it. It's completely different from materialistic happiness dependent on the outside world. Counting your blessings is the best way to reach there! A hungry person when smells the aroma of food, it is contentment. A mother while feeding her child sees a smile on his/her face, it is contentment. Father, when he sees his daughter in her wedding dress, is contentment. Contentment is not a thought. It's an unmatched feeling that awakens the lively buds of your soul. You cannot buy contentment; you earn it! When you see a flower, it's beauty and scent fills your heart with positivity. At times, you want to become that flower by aromatizing the life of others and spreading happiness. When one small act of yours brings a smile to someone’s face or a tear of joy in those eyes, that compassion within you is nothing but contentment. Even in your work sphere, the feeling derived from doing work that makes you happy is contentment. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail. When you succeed, you feel a sense of joy, it is contentment. Even when you fail, a proud feeling must arise that you fulfilled the demand of that particular situation by giving your best. That feeling is nothing but contentment. However, you have to make sure that blissfulness derived out of contentment should never lead to complacency. It must always make you stress-free rather than making you carefree. It must push you further than to pull you back. Remember, standing water gets dirty quickly. So, never stop and keep flowing.             

If you an Indian, I am sure you could relate to any of the two emotional phrases in the title.  Say... you are the one for whom Cricket is Life...it means you are the one who plays cricket, who knows cricket, who is passionate about it. Now let’s say Life is cricket for you... it means you may not be the one who plays cricket or who knows much about cricket. But whenever India plays a match, you are always there in front of the T.V cheering and shouting... India...India. Be on either side, we, the Indians are in love with the game of cricket. To break down further, you gotta be kidding me if you are a Ranchiite and you are not an MSDian. Yes that's my love for this man speaking who has not only made me proud being a small town boy from the same city, but also He has made the country proud by his historic achievements. Gut feeling is all about the experiences that you have had in your life. It is about being in difficult scenarios, knowing what worked, what did not work, and then taking a decision. —Mahender Singh Dhoni Cricket is a religion for some and just a game for others. But irrespective of how you see it, let us expand our mental horizons and relate to India’s favorite sport in our real lives.  Many of us perceive it as a glamorous sport and feel jealous of a cricketer's lifestyle, fit bodies, name, fame, and money. But how many of us know how have our heroes reached the international stage? How many of us know how disciplined they are in terms of their regime, diet, and routine to maintain that level? How many of us are aware of their failures behind their success? And when they have reached here, how many of us know what they go through in and off the field? We only see them playing but you know, there is a lot we need to see beyond the conventional batting, bowling, and fielding aspects. My dear friend, the game of cricket is not less than a life lesson. To be precise, Life is a 22-yard cricket pitch and we all are players who will retire one day...Why am I saying this... Let's find out. Most of the people consider cricket to be a batsman's game, so first, let us find out what can be learned from a batsman?   How does a good batsman build his innings? He comes to the crease, not sure about the wicket. He begins his innings tentatively. He observes, takes time, allows the nerves to settle down. The initial time at the crease is not easy. He is tested by short balls, pacy yorkers, swinging delivering, not to forget the doosras and the googlies. He defends, ducks, respects the challenging deliveries; He does not have answers to every ball but is not rattled by it. He absorbs the pressure and gradually starts playing his shots. Once his eye is in, he manipulates the field, starts dictating the terms to reach a milestone. This is what a good batsman...

Grudge is like holding a double-edged sword; it will hurt you before it could harm others. When a person willingly or unwillingly hurts your sentiments, a feeling of bitterness makes a home in your heart. Sometimes, its roots are so strong that it does not let you forgive others. Nonetheless, always remember that grudges not only hurt your loved ones but it takes a toll on your character as well. Nature of grudge itself is venomous. It takes a lot of your time and energy; the time and energy you could have spent in some other constructive work. It infuses negative thoughts inside you. These negative thoughts alter your mindset. An altered mindset always takes the wrong decision and provokes destructive action. As a result, you get hurt ultimately. So, can you feel that you are still suffering? One way you can get out of this suffering is ‘learn to forgive.' Of course, it is not easy to forgive but just think about the value of it. It will help you to make peace with yourself. Your peace will do wonders; Have faith in it.

 The world is full of negative energies and negative people around us. There are many instances which we see, hear, read and subsequently feel every day. The unnatural deaths due to deadly diseases, sudden accidents, brutal rapes, fatal crimes; moreover the betrayals, hypocrisy, jealousy and many more…you are bound to feel negative. But, this is one way of feeling it. Let us introduce ourselves to another way of looking at things. Despite all of the negativity happening around us, we also have all the reasons to feel content. We have a shelter to shed, food to eat, water to drink, money to spend. On top of that, WE HAVE TIME TO THINK AND TALK ABOUT NEGATIVE/ POSITIVE while most of the people do not have time to breathe freely. Compare yourself, but with the ones who can only dream of living your life. STOP COMPLAINING. You have all the right reasons to feel positive. Start feeling and enjoying happiness NOW. Last but not the least, follow compassion. Helping others and making others happy is a definite way to feel happy and positive.  

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.  

Before starting any journey, one has to know the destination.  Without a destination, the voyage is incomplete.  Let us assume that we have a set of skills. However, until we don’t know what to do with those skills, they are good for nothing. It’s like living life without a purpose. Goals are essential to move forward in life. Moreover, they help us in harnessing our energy in the right direction. Subsequently, they result in productivity from our efforts and energy.  Goals help us realize our true potential. We come to know about where we stand today and what needs to be done to raise our standards. A goal not only helps us in measuring our progress but also helps in maintaining our focus. A goal oriented person never gets distracted.  Moreover, when we subdivide our goals into small targets, it excitingly motivates us and keeps up our motivational level. Therefore, it is vital to set a goal and work for it.