Assiduity

In your day-to-day life, you perform a number of activities but not all of them match your expectations, going by their results. Do you wonder why it is so ?

Well, there may be many reasons for this but one certain reason is that all those activities, failing to meet your expectations, actually lack your assiduity i.e. the quality of being very careful to ensure that something is done properly or completely, with great interest and attention. It is true that if you don't give your best, you can't expect the return to be the best. If you do something half-heartedly, the result will often  be disappointing. In fact, your time, energy, resources and everything else that you employ almost goes waste when you don't do things with great interest and care. All the great works of the world are the results of people's assiduity. 

In the real life situations, there may be occasions when it may be somewhat difficult for you to maintain assiduity as, in the words of J. J. Rousseau, "Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains." But, you mustn't forget that 'something worth doing is worth doing well'. The great thinker and motivator Mr Shiv Khera also writes in his book "You Can Win" that whatever you do in your life, do it wholeheartedly or don't do it. He further writes that when you do something wholeheartedly, you get some result but when you do something half-heartedly, don't think, you'll get half the result; the fact is that you'll get no result. So, make it a rule that whatever you do in your everyday life, as a student, as a parent, as an educator, as an artist, as a labourer, as an official or whatever you may be, do it with great interest and care, whether someone notices it or not. Eventually, the beauty of your work will be a source of pleasure and satisfaction for you and, sooner or later, this beauty has got to be recognised and appreciated. This appreciation will further motivate you for more beautiful work.....leading to more appreciation......more motivation......and so on......  . You'll be well on the road to success. But, all this is possible only when you are assiduous.

So, every time you take up some task, make sure you are going to do full justice to it with your assiduity,  will you ? 

Best of luck ! 👍😊

Manoj

Positive vs Negative Thinking

"Our life is what our thoughts make it.", says Marcus Aurelius. It is true that the way we think determines how we live, grow and respond to the things around us. Our thinking may be positive or negative. 

A person with the positive thinking always

tries to see the good in everything whereas one with the negative thinking always finds a fault with everything howsoever good it may be. 

If our thinking is positive,we'll try to get the best even out of the worst and if it is negative we'll fail to appreciate even the best. With a positive frame of mind, we can find a solution to every problem, sooner or later but with negativity in our mind we often miss an opportunity and fail to get the solution.A person with the positive thoughts explores the possibilities amidst all the limitations and one having negative thoughts always finds a problem and some excuse. A teacher with the positive thinking instills good values in the students and helps them become dutiful and responsible citizens whereas the one with the negative thinking keeps looking for the ways to disturb the system, sometimes also involving the students and taking them on a wrong path, not to talk of making them dutiful and responsible. A worker with the positive thinking always tries not to be reminded of the task and is often dependable but the one with the negative thoughts keeps everyone doubtful and is hardly dependable. If we think positively, we are generally appreciated and supported in our cause but if we think negatively, we are usually avoided by the majority in society and we often fail to get their support when in need. 

The persons with negativity in their mind are bound to manifest their malafide intentions and evil designs, sooner or later, howsoever they may try to look good and positive. Julian Huxley also says, " Sooner or later, false thinking brings wrong conduct." On the other hand, those who think positively are bound to find a way out of all difficulties because they feel motivated and energised from within and also, sooner or later, they get support from different corners as people have faith in them and their intentions.

Thus, we see that the positive thinking gives us courage,energy and motivation to go ahead and keep improving and bettering things whereas the negative thinking only ruins our spirit and enthusiasm and leads us to a condition where there can't be any good - personal or social.

Now, the choice is yours - whether to go with the positive thinking or with the negative thinking. Thank you ! 😊😊

Manoj

Tactfulness

Human life is very complex and the complexities and intricacies of the various aspects of life keep multiplying as we grow older. Amid these challanges, we have to explore the possibilities to keep going. So, we need to have different skills to deal with things and people such that  not only should our life go smoothly but things around us should also, as far as possible, be happening the way we want them to happen. This is possible only when in addition to some other skills we also have tactfulness i.e. ability to deal with people and things effectively.

As a matter of fact, in the real life situations, the more tactful we are, the better the outcome of our efforts. Though it does matter in personal life, its importance in social and professional life increases manifold. Every day, we meet and interact with scores of people, we exchange ideas and other things and often expect direct or indirect favour from them for winning at some task. How far we are able to get their favour or support depends on how tactfully we deal with them.

A shopkeeper who deals with the customers tactfully is often able to increase the number of his regular customers.An administrator who is tactful is usually able to get the required support of the public. A boss who is tactful can get a work properly done even by the staff who has a shirking attitude or an escaping tendency. An officer responsible for maintaining law and order may be more successful by tactfully handling an irate mob and, thereby, preventing a bad condition from getting worse. In fact, tactfulness pays in normal times and pays more when the condition is not favourable.

There may be situations when we have to be audacious but even in audacity, there should be tactfulness because lack of tactfulness may sometimes cause huge loss.For example, the annoyed or angry crowd may turn violent if not dealt with tactfully and the result may be shocking. To quote Jean Cocteau, "Tact in audacity is knowing how far you can go without going too far." 

So, all in all, it may be said that we can make our life more successful and meaningful by being tactful. What do you say ? 😊😊

Manoj

MOTHER

Mother - an impeccable creation of God and the source of all human life on the earth - can hardly be described in words for the place she occupies in our life.

A mother comes into our life even before we come into this world, takes care of us for thousands and thousands of minutes, every minute, when we are in a different world lying within her viz the womb and, bearing the severest pain that we can think of, paves the way for our safe arrival in this world. This world can't provide another example where someone will only think of the best for you even when you cause unimaginable pains and exertions to them. What a sacrifice !

After our entry into this world, the mother dedicates all her days and nights for weeks and months to our care and comfort; there is hardly a day when she has full hours of sleep. Day in and day out, she keeps busy, at least in our culture, looking after all in the family, managing her personal and professional life and hardly caring for herself. We can't think of a single day in which the mother is not present, directly or indirectly. Even during her physical absence, the lessons we receive from her as our first teacher continue to be us, guiding us and helping us in our journey of life. The never-ending love that she showers on us keeps giving us a soothing feeling even when physically she is not around. When we are with her, we are often demanding and fail to realize how she leaves all her comfort aside, without showing any sign of chagrin on her face, just for our happiness. She is an epitome of love, devotion, dedication and sacrifice. No wonder, since time immemorial, in Hindu culture, she has been worshipped as "Devi", the goddess, in various forms like Durga, Kali, Saraswati, Laxmi, Sita, Parvati and Prithvi. It has been said in our scriptures that the place where the females are worshipped becomes the home to God. " Yatra pujyante nariyasya, ramante tatr devta " and  " Matri devo bhavah " are the teachings that our religious texts have given us.

Let's extend our heartiest thanks, with the deepest sense of gratitude and respect, to every mother of the world for making our world so beautiful and worth living in.

Wish you all a very happy Mother's Day !

🙏🙏

Manoj

Faith and Courage

If you want to win at anything in your life, two things that you must have in plenty are faith and courage. Actually, your faith in yourself gives rise to courage.

You may remember the story "King Bruce and the Spider", where the spider makes six unsuccessful attempts to climb the wall of the cave but in the seventh attempt it succeeds and its success gives new hope and energy to the king who is watching the incident in his hideout, after escaping the English enemy in a battle. How does the spider turn repeated failures into success ? The  simple answer is the spider's faith in its ability, which gives it courage to keep attempting till it is successful. Take another example from the world history. In the Six-Day War of 1967, when Israel was attacked by the joint forces of the neighbouring Arab countries Egypt, Jordan and Syria, she was not even half her enemy nations in respect of number of soldiers, tanks, fighter planes or arms and ammunition but just by virtue of her faith in her ability and undaunted courage, she badly defeated those forces and even today, though surrounded by all the enemy nations, she is not afraid because she has full faith in her capability and immense courage to face any challenge. Amazing..... isn't it ?

Yes, the effect of faith is mostly amazing.It is deep faith that enables the pilgrims to walk for hundreds of miles. In your day-to-day personal life, your faith in the Almighty gives you courage and energy to cope with every situation. The basic reason for the prayers sometimes resulting in miracles is nothing else but unflinching faith in the invisible power. It is faith that gives people courage to scale Mount Everest or dive deep into the Pacific ocean. It is said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but this first step can't be raised in the absence of faith and courage. The toughest part of any venture is to begin and your faith in yourself gives you courage to initiate and go ahead.Faith also gives you a sense of security. When you are with your loved ones, you feel more secure because you have faith that if anything untoward happens, they are there to take care of you. Faith strengthens your relationship. A family or a society where members lose faith in each other disintegrates. A system where mutual faith is lost ceases to work effectively. A nation where citizens lose faith in the government undergoes chaos,instability and sometimes even toppling of the government; Libya, Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan are the examples. A loss of faith means the growth of doubts.History is replete with uprisings, battles and wars resulting from the loss of faith and growth of doubts, which themselves may be the consequences of some undesirable

factors. Without faith, peace and progress are jeopardized. Faith is necessary for the growth of  an individual, a family, a society, a nation and entire humanity.

So, do have faith in yourself, in the Almighty, in the system and go ahead to be a reason for peace and progress- individual, social, natioal as well as global. Thank you !😊😊

Manoj

Improvement and Betterment

The world we see today is far different from what it was like a few centuries ago and will definitely be different from its present state in the coming decades and centuries.

 Actually, change is the law of nature.

Right since evolution of life on the earth, things have been changing. Changes are  natural as well as man made. We don't have much control over the natural changes, but we can, by and large,  determine the nature and magnitude of the changes which are due to our activities.

When we talk of the human controlled changes, we may refer to two types of changes - those taking place in our body and mind  and those that take place outside us i.e. the world around us. The nature of these changes, whether inside or outside us, may be governed to be positive, desirable, enriching and beneficial. This is possible only when we believe in and keep working for improvement and betterment of things in and around us.

Improvement and betterment are the facts that can't be dispensed with if we think of development. It is through these processes that development at personal, social or national level is possible. Actually, they are long continuous processes and our guiding force for development. Development often doesn't take place in a short period; it requires a fairly long period of time. We have to keep improving and bettering things to realise the fruits of development. To develop our personality, we have to keep identifying and removing our weaknesses, which is not a short term phenomenon. To ameliorate the condition of the people and things, the  society and the nation have to work for years and the social or the national efforts for improvement and betterment have to be backed by our personal efforts. 

For our personal inside development, we may do yoga, meditation, exercises, morning walk, lots of reading and writing and practice of the things we want to be well versed in.These things will make us physically and mentally sound and enhance our overall efficiency. For the outside development, at personal level, we may ensure conservation and optimum use of resources, do our bit as a part of solution to the problems, create awareness in the people, contribute to various schemes and programmes going on for development, help the  people, especially the poor and deprived ones, to get their due, encourage peace and harmony in society, take initiative to better the cleanliness and hygiene condition in our locality and lots of such other things to improve and better the overall condition.lt is only through the well concerted efforts at all levels for improvement and betterment that we can enjoy the present more and make the future happier. "Ensuring improvement and betterment of things" has to be the catch phrase for all.

So, wherever you are, with whomsoever you are and in whatsoever condition or capacity you are, keep doing your best to improve and better the condition- both inside and outside you. Wish you happier times ahead !👍😊

Manoj

Politeness and Humility

"He that is down needs fear no fall,

 He that is low no pride;

 He that is humble ever shall

 Have God to be his guide."

These lines of John Buniyan speak volumes of the importance of being polite and humble.

Really, politeness and humility are the traits which not only win you appreciation and respect but also facilitate your journey of life by averting or reducing problems and challenges on the one hand and securing support and co-operation from the people around you on the other.

When you are polite and humble, you send a positive signal to the people around you and they usually develop a liking for you, which is helpful to you, directly or indirectly, in your efforts to fight the day-to-day challenges. Your politeness and humility makes other people feel at ease when they are in front of you. They communicate with you freely and are able to understand your point of view better. This results in greater amount of support coming from them, which in turn makes things easier for you. Many a time, your politeness and humility prevents a bad condition from getting worse as it enables you to deal with the things more tactfully. It often reduces the anger and aggressiveness of the people meddling with you on some issue. In the office, your subordinates feel comfortable in sharing the issues with you and you are more accessible to them. This helps you in establishing better personal, social and  professional relationships, which opens more avenues for you and paves the way for your success. 

On the other hand, if you are impolite and and rude, hardly anybody will like you; you can't have good relationship with the people around you and consequently you won't be able to get much support from them. It is also possible that people may create problems for you and you may experience too much difficulty in tackling the issues. Your impoliteness or rudeness, whether in personal or social or professional life, only deprives you of people's acceptance and co-operation and you happen to be a loser in some way or the other. There are a number of cases when the employees have been fired by their bosses just because of impoliteness and rudeness. You can't expect to be selected for a job if you are impolite or rude during the interview. Your impoliteness and rudeness prevents a business deal from being settled. Thus, impoliteness and rudeness pays you nowhere; it only costs you, sometimes too dearly. There may be times when it is really difficult for you to remain cool and calm, but there also, you  must remember, "Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of man."

So, try to be polite and humble as far as possible and allow your life to go more smoothly and meaningfully. All the best !👍😊

Manoj

Appreciation

Though sounding very simple, 'appreciation' carries a lot of weight and significance in our life. Human beings are, by nature, fond of acceptance, recognition and appreciation. We feel pleased when our ideas are accepted, our work is recognised and our efforts are appreciated. Appreciation adds value to our efforts by  enhancing our spirit and boosting our morale. We feel encouraged and more enthusiastic when we are appreciated for our work/efforts. Through proper appreciation of the positive aspects, teachers can encourage and motivate the weak students and discipline the problematic ones. An office where efforts of the workers are adequately appreciated is more likely to progress. A society in which people are openly appreciated for their honesty, labour and good work is exected to prosper more. A nation in which enterprise of the entrepreneurs or good work of the citizens is properly recognised and appreciated can feel more secure about its development. 

Any society, organisation or nation where proper appreciation for good work is missing, expecting a high level of people's morale, loyalty and devotion will probably be too much. Lack of recognition and  appreciation for good work is one of the  factors responsible for brain-drain i.e. exodus of skilled persons from one nation to other nations of the world. In fact, lack of proper recognition and appreciation, in spite of all our devotion and dedication, causes frustration, lowers our morale and hampers our efficiency as well,  which is definitely not good for any organisation and any nation.

In our personal life too, if we are in the habit of appreciating anything good, howsoever small it may appear to be, we are sure to have goodness bounced back to us. For example, if we like someone's way of talking or dress sense or helping attitude and we sincerely apprciate him/her for it, our relationship is sweetened and a stronger bond develops, which may be helpful in various ways. But, unfortunately, we are rather miserly in openly apprecaiting one's goodness. Our life may be more pleasant and this world may be a better, more conducive and more harmonized place to live in if we start appreciating the positive things more frequently than criticise the the negative ones. Of course,  the shortcomings should also be pointed out and talked about but less frequently and less publicly than appreciation for the strengths and all the positive aspects. 

So, ask yourself, "Do I really appreciate people in my life as much as I should ?"

Thank you !🙏😊

Manoj

Integrity

Defined as "the quality of being honest and of always having high moral principles" by "Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English", 'Integrity' plays a very important role in our life. 

Actually, there are many factors that determine our achievements, integrity being one of them. If we are honest and have high moral principles, we can influence people and win their trust and support more easily. It is well known that our achievements in life are not just the result of our efforts; they owe a lot to the support received from the people around us. If they trust us and our intetions, they are more inclined to extending their helping hands to us. If the people we are interacting with are doubtful about our acts and intentions, we can hardly expect them to be supportive or doing us a favour. Without the support coming from different sections of society, we shall feel handicapped in whatever we wish to do. Even if in authority, we can't be sure of our sobordinates' co-operation from their heart. If our integrity level is low, it is quite possible that we may have hidden enemies, who may interfere with our scheme of things or impede our progress indirectly. 

We can enjoy respect from the majority, wherever and in whatever capacity we are, only when we have good integrity level. Generally, the higher the level of integrity, the more is the magnitude of respect from others; Mahatma Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda, APJ Kalam are some of those who enjoyed an amazingly high level of respect from the people and influenced them deeply because they had very high level of integrity. Only a person with high level of integrity may be a true leader, who knows the way, shows the way and goes the way. An administrator having Integrity is more successful in dealing with things because of support from the people. A teacher having high Integrity commands more respect from the students and parents and usually has more influence on them. A worker with high integrity is loved and appreciated by the boss. Sometimes, a high level of integrity pays us unimaginably e.g. out of turn promotion, public accolades etc. Similarly, a low level of integrity can leave us fighting for survival, for people often doubt our acts and look down upon us. If we pretend to have integrity but really lack it, sooner or later the truth will come out. Julian Huxley also says, "Sooner or later, false thinking brings wrong conduct."

So, to influence people and win their support for success, let's ensure that we have high level of integrity, shall we ?😊😊

Manoj

Regularity and Continuity

Out of all the things that matter significantly for ensuring success at something, regularity and continuity occupy a very important position. Mahatma Gandhi has also said, "Continuity is the key to success".

Many a time, it happens that you start working at something, you go with it for some time and then for one reason or the other you leave it and switch over to something else. When you discontinue, your spontaneity of thoughts gets disturbed and a gap is created between your spirit and action. This results in incompleteness of the work at hand. Thus, all your time and energy used goes waste. Suppose, you have joined a dance class. You may be attending it regularly and punctually. After some days or weeks, you start feeling that you can do better in painting and you stop being regular in the dance classes. By and by, you start losing interest in the dance class and some day you decide to discontinue it and focus on painting - your new area of interest. What happens here is that all you spent on your dance class becomes useless. In your new area of interest also, it is possible that you may be finding it difficult to maintain concentration and sit for hours at a stretch. If it is so, it is quite possible that after some time you start feeling fed up with the minuteness required in this art and you take a new work in hand, leaving painting. Again, wastage of everything and break-up of the flow! 

There may be various factors responsible for your irregularity and discontinuity. Sometimes, the reason for leaving may be unavoidable and justified, but most often it is your weak resolution, fickle mindedness, lack of dedication and escaping tendency which make you run away, leaving something incomplete. Remember, such a tendency to flight will always give you one excuse or the other and lead you nowhere in life and you'll remain an ordinary person, maybe, with some extra-ordinary qualities.

So, make it a point that your decision to take up a task should be well thought about and once you start working on it, don't leave it midway for small reasons. Be regular, be continuous and make sure that you won't let your time, energy and resources go waste. Enjoy the happiness of completing your work with regularity and continuity !👍😊

Manoj

Mind your Mind

Our mind, it seems, is the controller of all our actions. It is the mind that apparently seems to decide what to do and what not to do. The mind gives us the feelings of pleasure or pain, loss or gain, satisfaction or frustration, love or hatred, acceptance or refusal. Directly or indirectly, the mind seems to govern all our decisions - good or bad. But, the fact is that it is not the mind but the state of mind which is responsible for the nature and magnitude of our actions.In other words, how we respond or react actually depends on how our mind has been tuned over the period.

It is now scientifically proved that the mind has immense power. This power can be used for both creation and destruction. The world has seen countless number of magical feats of this mind-power. Similarly, it has also witnessed the series of devastations caused by the same mind-power. It is everyone's observation that in a fit of anger sometimes an irrepairable loss is caused.Needless to say what damage is being caused by extremism and terrorism throughout the world. A leader can't get the best from the followers, a teacher can't get the maximum from the students, an army commander can't expect the army to win and a nation can't get the most from the citizens if there is lack of sufficient mental tuning. So, one thing is clear that what matters is how this mind power is made to work. It implies that this mind power is required to be regulated and kept under control; otherwise, it may be dangerous. It is, therefore, important to learn and practise the techniques of mind control e.g. Yoga, Concentration, Meditation etc, so that mind may be tuned positively and its power may be beneficial, not harmful - personally or socially. The sooner the steps for mind control are taken, the better it is. If we fail to control our mind, it will control us and then we can't say how we are swept away, which is definitely not advisable.

So, let's make sure that we mind our mind and also help others mind theirs to get the best of everything everywhere.😊😊

Manoj

Our Thoughts, Habits and Life

"You can't change your future but you can change your habits", says APJ Kalam. Actually, he wants to say that what our future will be like depends on our present habits. 

Our habits are reflections of our thoughts and as it is said, 'Our life is what our thoughts make it.' It is true that we usually do things the way we think. If our thoughts are positive, our habits will be good and conducive to a life with positive vibes. We don't have a direct control on our thoughts; they are controlled through our mind control. But, our habits can be directly controlled by us, though not very easily. We have to assess our achievements/accomplishments very honestly and look for the connection between them and our habits. If we feel that they are not enough, it will have to be taken for granted that we need to change our ways of doing things. Here, it won't be out of place to say that even a single bad habit can sometimes mar or overlap the gains of many good habits. I have met many persons who could have accomplished much more if they hadn't been in the grip of one or more bad habits. For example, there was a person who had been fired from six jobs just because of one bad habit of going to office often late. There is another person, known to me for more than four decades, who has had the bad habit of using tobacco too frequently viz eight to ten times a day and so inspite of being intelligent, honest, faithful and loyal, he is not appreciated because he fails to concentrate on his work and it often remains incomplete. Some people are in the habit of putting off the current work for future; the work keeps on piling up and some day the huge size of the piled up work becomes a source of embarrassment and worries to such people and they start feeling nervous or disheartened. There are some students who remain very casual throughout the year and when the examination is round the corner they are too worried and often get nervous. Out of helplessness, they resort to unfair means during the exams and risk getting expelled. 

So, we see that what we are getting now is the result of what we are actually giving by way of our habits. If we want our receiving end to change for the better, we'll have to change our ways i.e. habits, shan't we ?😊

Manoj

Interest, Knowledge and Performance

It is said that what matches your interest catches your attention. Equally correct is the fact that what catches your attention sooner or later comes upto your expectation.

Actually, your interest, attention, involvement, enjoyment and expected performance  are very closely related to each other.  You generally take care of or pay attention to what really interests you until you are otherwise forced to do so. As a result, you get involved in it, which enables you to understand it better. Your better level of understanding boosts your morale and encourages you to go ahead with it. Take the example of a student who is too weak in a subject. It means, he/she has little or too low understanding of that subject. Obviously, his/her knowledge in that subject being low, the performance is also poor. In such a condition, you can notice that the student lacks interest in that subject. Why is it so ? The answer is simple - because his/her understanding/knowledge of the subject is too low. So, one thing is clear that there is a direct relationship between interest and knowledge. Actually, they both go side by side. If you somehow raise the level of one, the other will also go up sooner or later. In the example cited, if the teacher/guide is somehow able to arouse the student's interest in the subject and get him/her involved in it, sooner or later his/her level of knowledge will also increase and so will be that of performance in the subject. Its vice-versa is also true. If, with deliberate efforts, the student's understanding of the subject is enhanced, by and by he/she will start having interest in the subject and eventually the performance level will also go up. I have experimented it with hundreds of students during my journey as an educator and  always found a positive result. 

When you have interest in something e.g.acting, singing, painting/drawing etc, you enjoy doing it and you are automatically involved in bettering your performance by doing it again and again and thus you are into practice. This practice takes you to a higher level and your performance gets better. It is also true that your interest and involvement in something sooner or later catches people's attention and more often than not they themselves start paving your way to success through their direct or indirect support and thus helping you better your performance. 

So, I believe that if you want your performance to be good, you must have proper knowledge and  for this you must have keen interest. If you lack interest, acquire proper knowledge deliberately;  sooner or later, interest will automatically follow, pushing you into practice to maximize your performance.

What do you think ? 😊

Manoj

The Power of Imagination

Imagination is a word which is often misunderstood as something related to utopia. You may often hear people making expressions like "Don't live in the world of imagination", "This is just your imagination, which has nothing to do with the reality" etc etc. In all such expressions, the term 'Imagination' connotes a negative implication or something not desirable.

But, the truth is far different. The fact is that it is often imagination which is the base for acquiring knowledge about something. Hundreds of inventions and discoveries have been possible because of imagination. Since time immemorial, imagination has made human beings curious about the various phenomena around them and consequently they have been trying to know their 'Why' and 'How'.

Whether it is Newton's "Laws of Gravitation" or  Einstein's "Theory of Relativity"or Wright Brothers' Aerodynamics or James Watt's Steam engine or Archimedes' Principle - they all were conceptualised through imagination. Imagination made humans do experiments and experiments led to new learnings. Of course, there have been trials and errors. So, it can be undoubtedly said that evolution of knowledge has its roots in human imagination. Knowledge is, no doubt, power but this power is often activated by imagination. Sometimes, imagination of young children, who may not be very knowledgeable, produces amazing results, which are really hard to believe. Most of the creative work is the outcome of someone's imagination. "The better the imagination, the more effective the acting" is the mantra for those in the film industry. Imagination often helps development of Life Skills like Creativity, Critical thinking, Empathy etc. It also leads to the need for planning. Dubai in the UAE  is a dreamland on the earth today because of the imagination and planning of Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. All in all, the developmet of the entire world owes a lot to the imagination of human beings.

Don't you now think that imagination plays a great role in our life ?  Will you accept the 'Power of Imagination' now, won't you ?😊

Manoj

Faith, Optimism and Hope

These three things keep us going even when we have lost everything else. Things happening in our life are mostly uncertain. We can't always predict what will happen next. As long as life is going the way we want it to and we are comfortable with it, everything seems to be  fine but the moment it takes a bad turn we start losing things, one by one. It is here, in such a situation, that faith, optimism and hope work wonders.

Not only during abnormal times do we need to have them but also in our day-to-day life, they are indispensable for our success. It is said that the journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step and faith gives us that courage to raise the first step; hope and optimism keep us going till the end. There are hundreds of occasions in history when wars/battles have been won by a comparatively small and less equipped army against an immensely large and highly equipped army just by virtue of faith, optimism and hope. Many a time, in our personal life too, we encounter a situation when our faith results in miracles. A young baby tossed in the air is not afraid but smiles and laughs because it has faith that the person tossing him won't let him fall on the ground. So, faith also gives us a sense of security, which enlivens our hope and optimism. Prayers done from the heart are said have magical effects sometimes and the basic thing at work there also is faith. Alexander the great wouldn't have been able to conquer the world if he hadn't had faith in himself and his army. Even after losing her leg, Arunima Sinha decided and scaled the heights of the Himalayas just because of her unshaken faith that she could do it. So, faith in our ability and our mission is an essential requirement for breaking the ice and hope and optimism ensure that our faith is never shaken amid challenges and difficulties. The entire fabric of our personal, social and professional life is woven with the yarn of faith; if it is not there, the fabric will lose its existence. Neither any system can work nor can there be peaceful co-existence for lack of faith. So, take care of it.

Let's have complete faith in our ability and support of the invisible power, stay optimistic and hope for the best,  shall we ? 🙏😊

Manoj

Relationship

Apart from air, water and food, which are essential to our survival, there are certain other things that facilitate this survival and add value to it. Relationship is one of the most important among them.

Everything in this universe is in direct or indirect relationship with some other things. Here, I'll be talking of human relationship. This relationship starts even before our birth. A mother has relationship with her baby still in the womb. Modern research has established that in case of a baby girl this relationship is even older, going by the fact that the related chromosome is already received by the mother from her mother. When we come into this world, we start having relationship with others, apart from our parents. This relationship keeps evolving, growing and undergoing different levels and shapes with the passage of time and the changes in the circumstances and, undoubtedly, affecting our life and achievements in some way or the other.

Broadly speaking, we  have Personal, Social and Professional relationships. Each one of them plays a vital role in shaping what we are or what we shall be like in future. The strength of bonding in our personal relationships determines how positively and strongly we are growing and facing the challenges of life. The stronger this bond, the more positive and morally strong we happen to be. Then comes our social relationship i.e. how we are getting on with the members of society. A good level of social relationship creates more opportunities for us to grow and prosper. It also enables us to get people's co-operation for a cause and lets us serve our society/nation better. Whether personal or social,  our relationship is often influenced by how much we care and share and involves varying amount of sentiments and emotions. Professional relationship, though important, is somewhat different from the other two. In this relationship, our emotions and centiments often take a back seat, though their importance can't be ignored. I've seen hundreds of teachers and thousands of students having a strong emotional bond between them. Our professional relationship determines how far we are able to make our strategy work for the organisation/institution. Howsoever good at planning things we may be, we'll be able to let the plan work smoothly only when our professional relationship is good; otherwise, there will always be an atmosphere of doubt, criticism and even backbiting. It goes without saying that honesty, truthfulness, understanding, devotion and chivalry are the traits that always pay when it comes to maintaining good relationship of any kind.

So, to sum up, I'd like to say that we must keep striving for cordial relationship wherever we are, with whomsoever we are and in whatsoever condition we are so that overall possibility of progress and prosperity may be maximized.

Looking forward to strengthening our relationship........🙏😊

Manoj

Responsibility

This fourteen-letter word contains the essence of every bit of progress happening in any society and any nation.Whatever happens and wherever it happens, one thing is certain that something or someone is responsible for the happening. So, responsibility is a fact that can't be ignored when it comes to analysing any development.

The progress of a family or a society or a nation largely depends on what level of responsibility its people reflect. By and large, the more responsible the people, the more the progress. Even the best of the programmes and policies can't give the desired result if people don't understand their responsibility.

This responsibility may be either self acquired or bestowed. You naturally take up the responsibility of looking after your children as parents.This is self acquired responsibility. During difficult times, many people come forward/take the initiative out of their own sweet will to help the needy; there is no compulsion. This is self acquired responsibility, which goes a long way, in any society/nation, in solving the problems or ensuring progress. As a citizen of the nation, you have a number of rights to enjoy. At the same time, you have also been given some duties to perform. Whether to enjoy your rights or to perform your duties, you need to reflect the best sense of responsibility. While performing your duties, you may largely be reflecting the responsibilities bestowed upon you, but while enjoying your rights, it is your self acquired responsibilities that matter more to ensure that others' rights are not violated. There may be mechanisms to govern the carrying out of responsibilities bestowed/imposed, but there may hardly be any deliberate mechanism to govern the self acquired responsibilities. So, it is more important and interesting to look into the magnitude of self acquired responsibility, which is actually a better determinant of progress and prosperity of any nation.

Your sense of responsibility, whether bestowed or self acquired, determines how far you'll be impacting people and things around you, thereby,  also setting your own position in society. The more responsible you are, the better it is for all. Won't you ask yourself, "How responsible am I ?" ? 😊😊

Patience, Tolerance and Perseverance

There goes a story that a man expecting gold under the ground started digging it. He kept trying for some days and then lost his patience. He couldn't tolerate any further exertions and so gave up trying to look for that underground gold. A young boy used to watch the man dig the ground every day in search of gold. So, when the man stopped the digging to look for that gold, the boy started trying to find it. He kept digging the ground for some days but only to find no gold. He also started doubting the availability of gold in that area but continued digging, thinking that if he stopped, all his efforts by then would go waste. Again, there was no gold.One night, he started getting a little more doubtful about the existence of gold there but he decided that he'd try one more day. So, next morning, he again started digging the ground again and just after a few minutes, to his utter surprise, he found  lots of gold ornaments there. Would it have been possible for him to find the gold if he had also lost his patience, if he had stopped tolerating further pains of digging, and if he had given up his efforts like that man ? Obviously, not. 

The majority of highly successful persons have had  patience, tolerance and perseverance in their personality. Talk of the mountaineers, players, researchers, actors, writers, social activists - they all become successful and attain their goals because they have these traits; otherwise the stiff competition and challenges may thrust them away from their path. It is these traits that enable them to gather courage for one more attempt even after a series of failures. History is replete with examples where attempts have been made again and again for realisation of the goal. 

There are a number of occasions when your patience and tolerance can avert an impending danger, prevent a situation from aggravation and save you from difficult times; your perseverance keeps you going. Howsoever embarrassing or challenging the condition may be, it can be handled most tactfully with patience, tolerance and perseverance. These three qualities impact your personal and professional life both. They affect your family and social life positively.

So, remember that if you wish to come out with flying colours in your life, apart from other things, you also need to have patience, tolerance and perseverance. Wish you a rewarding life ahead !👍😊

How to achieve OMG moments of Happiness

 

"O My God" in short OMG,  is the expression often made when something unexpected or beyond imagination happens. The stimulus causing this expression could be either pleasant or unpleasant. Though often unexpected or sudden in nature, OMG is often a by-product of our own action. Now the  question here is " How can we  maximize the frequency of OMG expression for our Happiness ?"

Well,  there are countless ways of ensuring  OMG feelings of happiness - different  ways for different persons.You may be a person with kind heart, helping the needy frequently without  expecting anything in return. You may have empathetic and altruistic  outlook  and keep serving people just for the sake of humanity. You may be highly popular with the people and they may love you for your philanthropy. It is quite possible that you may have frequent OMG situations of happiness. So, the rule number one is that the more happiness you share with others the more the chances of OMG situations for you.

You may be trying hard to get something but failing again and again just not to give up your effort; you may start having a feeling of some disappointment but decide to continue your endeavour and not give in. Some day your assiduity and perseverance pays and just when you are about to start feeling broken,  you get what you've been toiling for. That is an OMG situation of happiness for you,  isn't that ? So, the rule number two is that you must keep trying and chasing your passion assiduously and perseverently until you get those OMG moments of happiness.

You may be giving your best to better the condition of the place where you are, of the people with whom you are and the circumstances in which you are, not necessarily because of expectations of your personal gain but because of your nature and mindset and it just gives you pleasure to be the reason for improvement and betterment everywhere. You don't know when and how the cosmos will have you stand in an OMG situation of happiness. So, the third rule for ensuring maximization of OMG feelings of happiness is that you must be the carrier of improvement and betterment everywhere, for everyone,  in every condition. 

Wish you lots of OMG situations. 👍😊

You and your Attitude

It is said that your attitude determines your altitude in life. Actually, you live and act the way you think. The way you act in life determines how far you go or what height of achievements you scale or how you find things in your life. Your attitude must be positive. A person with positive attitude will find a hundred ways out of all limitations whereas the one with negative attitude will see a hundred problems in every way. During my journey as an educationist, I have encountered hundreds of students, many being average or even below average, who are excelling in some way or the other and are now befitting examples of attaining, through positive frame of mind,  what initially seemed to be impossible or too difficult for them. You must have seen that some people get discouraged, disheartened, disappointed and broken just because of initial failures or small troubles whereas there are others who don't lose their equanimity and are mentally prepared to face and overcome the challenges; sooner or later, such people gain what they have been striving for. It is their positive attitude that keeps them going in every situation. Once, years back, a student of mine shared a line with me and that line was "In your most trying hours, say to yourself that they will also pass away." This line reflects positivity of her attitude. Today, she is the CEO of a company. A positive attitude not only shields you against all odds but also paves your way to success.If you think that you aren't getting what you want, you must want it at the cost of your thinking i.e. change your thinking. Remember, if you wish to pull your socks up, you'll have to turn over a new leaf and make an all-out effort, leaving no stone unturned. Until you change your attitude, your level of achievement won't change. So, it is your attitude that makes all the difference in your life. Stay positive in your attitude and keep going ! 👍😊

Life under Lockdown

The outbreak and fast spread of the pandemic Covid-19 has forced more than half the world to go under Lockdown at different scales in different regions. Life has undergone a sea change almost everywhere.

Activities have largely shrunken. Thousands of production centres are closed and millions have turned jobless, not knowing at all when they are back on the track. Primary and secondary sectors of the economies throughout the world are worst affected. Means of transport have come to standstill. The condition of people engaged in the unorganised sectors and living on daily earning is miserable. Educational institutions and training centres are closed, thereby, adversely affecting the formation of human capital. All in all, there is, by and large, an atmosphere of uncertainty,disappointment,frustration and helplessness. But, this is only one face of the coin.

Amid these drastically changed circumstances, there are lots of things happening to prevent us from getting discouraged or losing hope. Just with one stroke of corona virus and consequent lockdown, the quality of environment has improved beyond imagination, which was probably not possible otherwise. Water bodies have got purified and become more conducive to the growth of aquatic creaturs. One of my friends from the medical profession told me that there has been a sharp decline in the cases of diseases, especially those caused by contaminated water e.g.typhyod. The exploitation of patients by those with vested interests in the medical fraternity has drastically dropped - no need for unnecessary tests, no costly medicine, no fearful exaggeration of the problem. This lockdown has made us realise that we can very well survive with fewer necessities and much less consumption of resources. Under this changed scenario, we are forced to explore possibilities amidst limitations; people are trying their best to find out new ways of tackling the issues. Teachers are learning new ways to transfer learning to the students. Human centiments and emotions  have started getting reset  naturally. Nature is again getting closer to our heart and mind. Ecosystem is again getting balanced. The best in us is automatically coming out in many ways and our passion and aptitude are coming into their own. Various life skills are being learnt automatically. The entire world, undergoing a new experience, is really learning something it kept evading i.e. 'living in harmony' with all that Nature has created.

So, it won't be wrong to say that just as every cloud has a silver lining, this Lockdown is also a blessing in disguise. One day, this lockdown will come to an end and life will continue but, hopefully, with new learning and in a new set-up.

International Book Day

On the occasion of International Book Day, I would like to urge everybody to cultivate the habit of reading books extensively. Books are not only the store house of knowledge but they also provide an insight into dealing with the challenges of life and planning the future. Books are your best friends. They accompany you even when no one is around. They let you know about the past, help you face the present and guide you through shaping the future. There are many different types of books intended for serving different purposes and they all may be important in their own ways, but I would emphasize on reading two types of books especially; the first being those related to history and culture and the second category being related to motivation and inspiration. A love for dictionaries and encyclopaedia goes a long way in enriching your language and equipping you with ideas. They broaden your horizon of thinking and make you serve humanity better. It is also advisable that the gist of a book read be noted down and got published for helping others get the basic idea about their contents and purpose. I wish you all very happy book reading - printed or digital - today and always.