Tag: awareness

Knowing Yourself

Wanna quit?

“I just hate this job.
I’m gonna quit!”

Have you ever felt this way about a job / client / internship?

If you have, we all are a part of the same boat.

However, here’s a few question:
– Do we want to quit because of envy?
– Is this the same way with every job?
– What kind of life do you want?

I came across this startling realisation while reading “Your Next Five Moves” by Patrick Bet-David, and the enormous clarity he offered in an instance in the book.

And when you do, here’s another piece of advice from Mark Manson: “The person you marry is the person you fight with. The house you buy is the house you repair. The dream job you take is the job you stress over. Everything comes with an inherent sacrifice — whatever makes us feel good will also inevitably make us feel bad. What we gain is also what we lose. What creates our positive experiences will define our negative experiences. This is a difficult pill to swallow. This is why our problems are recursive and unavoidable.”

Finding answers to these questions isn’t easy, however, that isn’t what you signed up for in the first place, right?

So, what kind of life do you want?

Knowing Yourself, Life

One art that makes all the difference

If there is one skill to learn forever, it is the skill to say “no”.

No to the colleague who makes fun of our values.
No to the activities that you don’t want to sign up for.
No to the client that anyway doesn’t respect your material.

However, the people that say the most “no’s” are the people that say a lot of “yes” to the right things. And if we have not mastered the art of saying no to others, we are ultimately saying “no” to ourselves. Is that the life you want to live?

Knowing Yourself

Flipping rotis

Flip rotis with patience.

Eat with patience.

Drink water with patience.

Warm-up and cool down with patience.

Also, be patient with yourself – because if being critical could help, it would have helped by now.

Life

Are you suffering?

While you are suffering in your life, someone’s parent is struggling hard to breathe.

While you are suffering in your life, someone in a worse position than you is owning their life.

What’s your excuse?

Knowing Yourself, Process

No one will walk the journey for you

You have your loved ones with you.
They are supporting you in your journey.
Accepting you for what you are doing.
Loving you unconditionally.
And that’s beautiful!

However, there needs to be an additional element: Of accepting and appreciating yourself.

Too often when we are in the hustle and grind, we forget to be appreciative to the one person who needs it the most: Ourselves.

And that causes a deep lack that no one could ever be fulfilled.

It’s as important a habit as brushing your teeth. When you are self aware, working on what’s not working, appreciating yourself holds equivalent if not greater importance.

Right now. Starting today.

Will you?

Emotions

The truest love story

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me!”
“Who me?”
“Your love…”

The one behind the gate doesn’t respond.

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”
“You.”
“Who ‘you’?”
“I am You…”

The one behind the gate doesn’t respond again.

“Knock knock!”
“Who’s there?”

This time, no response comes from the other side.
That’s when, the one behind the gate opens it up.

I usually equate this story to the love for work.

Back in the day when I used to be unhappy in my corporate job, the most fulfilling moments were the ones when I got beyond “I hate my job” and did the work because it brought moments of joy.

Right now as I am a freelance writer, the discipline is still required despite I love this work the most. And the days I just work and let it flow, are the days that I enjoy the most, instead of pondering about “I have to be disciplined to write.”

“Work is God made real,” said Kahlil Gibran, in The Prophet.

Whenever we have gone beyond the realms of “someone else” and “me” and allowed the joy to emerge, is when we have felt most fulfilled.

Fulfillment isn’t a miracle that shows up. It’s something that shows up when we don’t allow our lower faculties to play the game.

Thoughts

The tragedy of death

Death has taken bigger toll on 2020 than we had ever expected.

It has become a daily feat to conquer instead of facing it at the end of the life.

However, when death comes with a possibility threat, it also comes as a reminder:

1. That if it comes to grab us, let it take us away with our happiness, instead of letting its fear take away our happiness.

2. That there are people who need our support and just our emotional presence. We can always be there for them, even if we are not around them. Let our loved ones know you care. Because you do. And because they need you.

3. This moment is all we have. We don’t know what’s next, however we do own what we have now.

Knowing Yourself

What to do when you feel empty?

When we feel empty, most of us navigate to social media.

Except that it doesn’t help.

Instead, what really helps is appreciation.

Whenever we are appreciated by someone, we feel a sense of validation.

Except, that it won’t come always.

So why not appreciate ourselves every time?

Why not be grateful for what is working?

Why not, be our own cheerleader?

Of course we can, when we can do it all the time for others.

Knowing Yourself

If you feel lack…

If you feel lack of love, talk to your Mom.

If you feel lack of understanding, talk to your best friend.

If you feel lack of health, watch an influencer’s video on YouTube.

If you feel you lack happiness, talk to a kid.

If you feel away from yourself, talk to yourself.

Emotions

Why do we hide our emotions?

What if a recruiter found a profile of gold and expressed the candidate clearly how good they were?

What if an influencer thanked a fan from the bottom of their heart when they did a nice gesture for them?

What if a boss voluntarily thanked an employee for the contribution they brought on the table?

We don’t express our truest emotions in our work because when we were on the receiving side of things, this is how the world worked.

The world we live in, is the world we have so meticulously created. So does the power to change vest onto us. How will we use it?

Knowing Yourself

How to save years of misery?

1. Never type an e-mail in an impulse.

2. Attend lesser (read: no) parties.

3. Don’t assume, simply ask.

4. If at all you assume about people, assume the most positive outcome. Assuming about work isn’t even allowed until made clear.

5. Read Naval Ravikant daily.

Thoughts

A note on remote thinking

For almost half a year, we’ve all been working remotely. While the new world comes along with its advantages and disadvantages, there is something under the covers we fail to see:

Since we lack communication, we fall in the trap of assuming. That assumption is often towards the negative side.

Perhaps we can’t have more communication with others anyway.

So why not start having those with our own selves? Why not start figuring out the most powerful meanings, when the meaning is up to us? Why do we have to just go the negative way?

Self Love

It’s okay when it’s not okay

It’s okay to have unanswered emails.

It’s okay to miss a Zoom meeting on purpose.

It’s okay to not follow a schedule once a blue moon.

It’s okay to disagree with your loved ones.

It’s okay to buy and have things in way less than what you earn.

It’s okay, to be okay when it’s not okay. Okay?

Knowing Yourself

How to deal with anger

When you are angry, don’t respond.

When you are angry, trust yourself it will get better.

When you are angry, go outdoors (yes, even balcony would help.)

When you are angry, do NOT reach out to your phone.

And next time when you are angry, and you calm down, ask yourself, how to protect yourself from the same thing next time?

Success

How I broke an old habit

For several months, I’ve been trying to change a habit of mine, which is: to not check work related WhatsApp messages and emails on Sundays.

However, despite multiple efforts, wasn’t able to get off the habit.

Same thing happened yesterday. I attended to work messages in the first half.

In the second half, I went to play badminton with my nephews and nieces. As a result, when I came back, still I didn’t open their WhatsApps. I didn’t have the urge in the first place!

It shows the power of physical activity on our mind, and how much controlling power we have.

No matter how important or urgent the work is, nothing is more important than the much-needed nothingness.

People

The meaning of mistakes

One of the most fascinating things about life is mistakes.

More interesting than mistakes, is about studying people who make mistakes.

There are three kinds of people:

1. Who realise they have made a mistake, admit it, and try not to make the same mistake twice.

They are the top 1% of the world. Even if they are not famous, they are indispensable in whatever they do.

2. Who realise they have made a mistake, and don’t admit it.

The three-letter word comes in. However, there is still hope that they will learn from their mistakes, even silently.

3. Who do not realise they have made a mistake.

They are the people in deepest pain, and aren’t aware of it.

As much as we’d hate admitting it, we all are surrounded by someone in each category, the third one being the most vulnerable ones.

Small tips:

a. Bless them.

b. Focus on the good in your life versus the opposite in their life.

c. Chill man!

Everyone is fighting a silent battle we aren’t aware of.

The joy of life, is learning to deal with these people in an effortless manner, that you be responsible for not allowing anyone to take your happiness away.

Effortlessly.

Process, Success

When will things go right?

Nothing will go right in our lives unless,

a. We start appreciating what we have right now.

b. We understand that our positivity has the power to change people.

c. We believe that when people show us who they are, we need to believe them as Maya Angelou said.

Knowing Yourself

How to make a different choice

If you want better results, make better choices.

If you want the same results, make the same choices.

If you want worse results, do nothing.

We are not what we do. We are what we choose to do. And that makes a world of difference.

Success

Five simple steps

1. Five simple steps to focus in life.

2. Three strategies to be more productive.

3. How to grow your business.

4. What to do when you feel confused?

5. How to get fit and lean.

We all know the answers to these questions. Why don’t we execute them still?

Because deep down we still believe we don’t deserve the goodness that will follow. Our current state of mind has made us believe we are doomed for this little life. So, we make efforts and those efforts are never followed by self belief and trust in our own selves.

You have it all within you. The question is: What are you doing in order to remove the extra stone from the beautiful sculpture of your life?

People

Why should you hang around the right people?

1. They give us the confidence that we, too, could be them.

2. We understand how things work versus how we have been doing them.

3. We learn to measure things, instead of beating around the bush.

4. Life is energy. Not the words or broken promises.

5. We are always, always the product of five people we spend our time with.