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