Success and Happiness

Do you pick up and eat whatever life throws at you? Does submission to destiny define your monotonous life? monotonous life: If you could sense any bit, let’s unlock the unsung reality. Nobody knows what’s coming, but what worse than settling down with customary existence; as repetitive as a seconds’ ticker. If your life ride is sans the three E’s- Exploration, Endurance, Expressiveness; you are an overplayed song on the radio. I am sure we are dying to break the boring monotony of your mere apparent existence. Let’s unlock the first step: Exploration Life enthusiasts define life as an exploration journey. Have you ever introspected your life travel? In case you don’t know: You are responsible to explore two journeys: The one is a reciprocation to the outside world The other is the response to the inside world This may sound like a boring topic of a lengthy lecture but trust me it’s all-important. Your outside world comprises people and situations. And your inner sphere revolves around you as an individual regardless of anyone and anything external.  Do you know what happens if you aren’t a curious explorer of your inner world? People’s expectation overburdens you with obligations, which bows you down to a boring monotony. I was a part of this sad story; I’m trying hard to write my individual script.   Let me ask you a simple question good enough to make you realize the significance of inner-self exploration: How do you start your day? By getting out of the bed... right? Wrong... there’s something you do prior to it. You open your beautiful eyes which simultaneously activates a certain level of consciousness of your mind.  Subsequently, a primary thought of the morning takes a small stride to initiate your inner exploration. Do you realize it? Because that’s the biggest problem: Most of us are unaware our inside travel engine is leaking fuel. How ironic: The outside world concerns most of us; the pull of the inner world is seeking experience. The reason it is untouched by many is it does not have an apparent existence. But what you don’t comprehend: If you are a puppet to the outer world due to a lack of the inner world exploration- the monotony prevails... Why? Because you didn’t explore your ability to break it!  The best solution: Liberate your inner world to take the call for your outer world. Never allow people and situations to dictate your monotonous life. To reach that level of consciousness, you need to meditate. Just because you never meditated, it doesn’t mean you cannot. Check out 8 meditation techniques for complete beginners... And when you succeed in a better exploration of your inner world, you define happiness your way.  This is when you are ready to unveil the second E. Endurance Wikipedia defines endurance as the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from, and have immunity to trauma, wounds, or fatigue. Yes... it is all about continuing to move forward bearing hardships. Do you endure? If not, it’s a sensitive indicator you live a monotonous life. Ever wondered who endures? The one who explored the inner world beautifully to find a dream;...

I wish you undress. Watching you nude would be a wonderful treat. Now before you judge, it’s your mental body I’m talking about! Sounds silly? it’s not: Unwrapping your mental body is as vital as wrapping your physical body. Let's unwrap!   Differences between Nude and Naked  I’m sure your mental body doesn’t wear clothes. It's lying nude but people cannot see you for a simple reason:You don't express your vulnerable originality. (It can be need of your hour), but at least accept your nudity than to live in fear of exposed naked.  I feel: When you unveil your orginality by yourself, you are nude.  When others expose it, you are naked. Seems nuance, but there is a huge difference between the two.   John Berger says:   Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display. The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress.   The journey to nudity is a painful transformation where you learn the subtle art of giving a damn about people.   Still Confused?   There’s one beautiful citation by MENTAL FLOSS illustrating the difference between naked and nude:   “If you doff your duds to pose while descending a staircase for a tasteful painting done by a respected artist, then you’re nude. If a bunch of paparazzi suddenly burst in through the studio door and take your picture without permission, you are suddenly naked.”   Nude is better than Naked You age, you mature, you ripe while growing in age. Your personality flows with time! Your ‘then and now’ might have a discrepancy.  And now: You want to adapt for own good; Wish to age like a fine wine.  You strive to flow with time; Want to experience your journey consciously. Like to become more and more you!   What's holding you to unleash? People already have an opinion about you. They recognize you a particular way.  And you want to break that monotony! You know you have changed; you want others to accept it. But the grey:  You are afraid of how people will perceive your transformation!!   As bitter as it gets People cannot take it if you grow more than them. They are jealous of your self-awareness.   They crib over your maturity. Your clarity offends them.   People piss off when you attend them less.   No denial, even you have been guilty. But it’s human to commit mistakes; right? This is how we learn. You are probably wondering:Is showcasing nudity that easy? No, it’s not! People restrict you. They try every way to intercept your transformation. Cry, yell, request, they do it all!   But before you quit Showcase one performance where you go all in to become nude. Yes, gather courage to express yourself only once.   Reach out to them and let your soul scream — This is my originality; Accept or Leave!   Trust me, you’ll never have to cover your face with an illusory mask of fear again.   One firm step towards finding yourself is worth giving a shot. One bold attempt to get nude is always better than getting your exposed by people.   Wondering why nudity is paramount? To breathe freely!   Because today or tomorrow they find the real you hiding. You cannot run away from yourself for long.   A few sympathize, most of them call you a liar.   The unbearable suffering is hard to deal with. Your self-esteem reaches...

Yes, it all starts with your mind...

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...

Am I right or am I wrong? This question comes to your mind before and after any action. Let us try to find an answer. Dear friend, you have your right-wrong beliefs in different spheres- personal, professional, political, economic and so on. But a person’s life mainly revolves around two spheres-personal and professional. Involving these two spheres, let us take the help of illustrations to unlock the right and wrong beliefs. You can have the right and wrong beliefs about: Situations People Let us take a situation-based instance from the personal sphere... If I ask you... Is God right or wrong? This question sounds weird, but trust me it’s logical. Please answer it… Did you feel that your answer is biased to your current situation? Confused? Let me clear this out for you.  Suppose, your today is a fairytale with happiness all around. No wonder, for you, God is absolutely right! God forbid but assume the other side… You surfaced a sudden loss or a failure. Something shattered your life and there’s sadness all around. If I ask you the same question, God will be wrong. Yes, it happens with almost every individual. Your answer today is dependent on your current situation. You felt it, right? And this happens with most of us. The spontaneity to react to a situation bypasses the concepts of right and wrong.  Let us take the example of people in your professional sphere... If I ask you whether your boss is right or wrong? Your answer will be based on the current tuning with him. The day when he applauds you or offers you incentives or talks about your salary raise, he is right. But the day when he screams at you or overburdens you with work, the same boss is wrong.  The same thinking is applicable when you are the boss...The day you see your employee devoting extra time to work, cracking a deal, achieving targets, he is right... and when he takes long leaves, asks for a salary hike, commits mistakes, he is wrong. One observation drawn is you adjust your right and wrong as per time and situation you are in... Let us find out whether this adjustment is justified… Here’s the interesting part... You are just another person who makes a choice as per your convenience of time and situation. Likewise, others are doing it. And there is nothing wrong with it. My dear friend, you are just a slave to our priorities. Your right and wrong are molded as per time and situation you in. It is all about your priorities and you need not feel sorry for the same. It is the practicality of the real world. And there is nothing much you can change about it. So let us stop judging people and situations, and stop labeling them as right or wrong... An eye opener... When your life is loaded with materialistic options, you might feel that thinking always about the money is wrong. But God forbid, when you cannot fulfill your necessities of life, all you want is money. Now tell me whether you are right or wrong? Will you judge yourself now? I am sure you’ll not… Time for in-depth realizations!!! You...

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...

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...

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...

Some of us are busy equating happiness to the past instances while many are awaiting the happiness in the future. Only a few of us are able to realize that happiness is right here, right now in the present moment. If you don't belong to this minority category, this article is a must-read for you. In-depth Realizations... The past is gone, and the future is yet to come. You know it too. But there is a reason why I am stating the obvious. I say so to make you realize that the past cannot be changed, likewise, the future cannot be controlled. You can only take care of the things happening NOW. It is only the present moment which always stays with you. Anyone and everyone might leave you except the present moment, which will always be with you until your last breath. If you agree to it, then allow yourself to enjoy its company and make it your best friend...How? Let us find out: The essence to feel: To enjoy the present moment, the first thing you need to know is that Feel is the essence of  Happiness. So the first thing you need to do is to revive the feel.  But it is not that easy as it sounds. It is because your thoughts are dominant over your ability to feel the present moment. You need to realize that Feel is inversely proportional to Thoughts. If you are thinking more, it means you are feeling less. And if you are doing so, the upcoming part of the article is not something you can afford to miss:  Look, I am not saying that thinking is not important. Of course, it's important. Unless you think, you will not be able to plan. Planning is important to get ready to face the upcoming situations. Also, your professional atmosphere requires thinking. So yes, positive and productive thinking is important. But you need to understand that it is not thinking but negative thinking, which needs to be avoided. To avoid negative thinking, I just want you to feel more and think less. The process of negative thinking... What is the current scenario? When you are always thinking, you are not realizing that simultaneously, you are less responsive to your sense organs. Let us explore how thinking is taking a toll on your sense organs. Eyes- You are not able to view the beauty of the nature surrounding you. Nose- You are unable to feel your blessed breaths, which itself is a form of meditation. Ears- You are unable to listen to the beautiful melodies...sounds of nature, delicate words by your loved ones, and most importantly, you are not listening to your inner voice. Tongue- You are not able to feel the food bites...You are more concerned thinking about what you are eating than to feel the fact that you are eating. Skin- You are unable to sense the gentle winds which want to nourish you, the beautiful touch of your loved ones, and many such things.  Do you know, just by sensing any of the sense organs completely, the feelings you experience can be as...

Success and failure are brothers from different mothers. You try hard but the end result is not always in your favor. It is the time when people start judging you and even ask for justifications for your downfall or failure. Straight out, you need to appreciate the fact that your actions were inspired by none other than you. You did what you felt was right. People who can accept and understand it will agree to it. They will always back your decision. On the other hand, those who disagree; your hundreds of justifications will be in vain. Trust me, it is impossible to clarify your actions to everybody. People perceive what they want to as per their convenience and understanding. Moreover, why do you need to give justifications for your committed actions? A decision taken can have both the conditions possible. Either it will be right or it will be wrong. Be brave enough to take the responsibility of any condition. Why are you giving justifications to others and authorizing them to take a call on your decision? Also, the definition of right and wrong vary from person to person. Subsequently, neither it is possible nor it is your responsibility to make everyone happy. You don’t owe any justifications to anyone except to your time. Obliging others with your justifications is a big question on your self-belief and self-importance. Therefore, it is entirely your responsibility to take a stand for your actions. Always be loyal to your time as you cannot predict how much you have. Do things what the time demands and not what the people demand. It is the justification for your time, not people, which eases your life journey.