9 Minutes for Better LIFE

No one is given a bad LIFE or good LIFE. Everyone is given a life. It’s up to us to make it good or bad. Here are 9 tips which will make your LIFE BETTER

Be yourself:  Be yourself…everyone else is taken. There was a show in New York & the objective is to imitate & act like Charlie Chaplin. Even the great Chaplin participated. There were 400 participants dressed up like Chaplin. To his shock & horror, he came 7 th position. He writes in one of his book “we live in a world where showmen succeed & real men failed”. For a moment, I was confused whether I was the real Charlie Chaplin or the 6 ones before me. Though they could match my style, look & moves, none of them could match my mind & attitude. I still love to loose on such occasions where I know I am the real champion. Now I understood that more than my style & moves, my mind & attitude gives me the real identity. Quoting Steve Jobs; this life is short, so don’t waste it living someone’s life.

Accept it as REAL: Life is not hallucinatory but REAL. Many time’s logic will not work here. Let me quote an example; you are making a chicken curry & by mistake, you put more salt. What do you do? You cannot remove salt, you cannot remove chicken. Many a times, we waste time by contemplating on how this happened, who put salt etc… & in the process curry gets fully spoiled. What you can do is accept the fact that Chicken curry is more salty & make it edible by doing some “Jugaad”. No point in going back, be at present. Accept what you cannot change & change what you cannot accept is one of golden rules of LIFE

Be a LIFE long student: You know, when we were kids, we asked questions like why sky is blue, why is the bird flying so high etc. But for some reasons, the curiosity goes away when we get older. In a drawing completion held in US, it seems a small girl told the invigilator that she is drawing the picture of God. Invigilator said; but nobody has seen the God. Wait for 10 minutes, everyone will be able to see, the girl replied nonchalantly. We all born with immaculate creativeness & possibilities but for some reason decided to come out of this. We all born artists, the problem is how to remain as an artist once we grow up. 

ACT not REACT: Both are entirely different. Act means “Kriya” & react means “Prathikriya” A man said to other man: Sharma your daughter eloped with some other man. He just jumped from 15 th floor out of shame. While coming down he realized, he is not having a daughter… then he realized he is not married…. then he realized he is not Sharma but Varma. This is Reaction. This is what throughout Bhagawat Gita, Krishna is telling; not to react but to act. In “Act(Kriya)” you operate from magnetic center & while “React (Prathikriya)” you operate from Mechanical center. Machines operate from mechanical center. You & me are not machines but conscious human beings. Another example; in one of the summit in Vancouver, someone asked a question to Dalai Lama, he took almost 5 minutes, took & deep breathe and said; I don’t know. You have to really appreciate the fact that he said the truth, but why he has taken time; he is again thinking whether he can still help that questioner. Had Kumara Dharmasena acted wisely & took technical help during ICC WC Final, the result would have been different. One nation is still suffering because of his impulsive "reaction"

Accept no barriers: Thanniyolam uyaram tamarakku, a famous saying in Tamil means the height of Lotus depends on the depth of water it resides. Water level can be 4 feet, 6 feet, 10 feet or may be 20 feet. So the very purpose of Lotus is to come above that. So what is the height of a human being? It purely depends on his dreams, goals & expectations. If you have big dreams, you are big & you will be small if you have less or mediocre dreams. One poor boy was looking at a rich man's car; rich man took the boy for a ride. Boy; your car is great; isn't it expensive. Rich man; yes, very expensive & my brother gifted to me. Boy; ohhhh (thinking); Rich man; what are you thinking. You also want to have such a car. Boy: no. I want become like your brother. If there is scarcity in life means you have programmed for scarcity.

Be willing to surrender: Duryodana’s court, Draupadi’s sari has been pulled out. She went from man to man & nobody could help. Finally she decided to TRY God, with one hand holding sari (means, if you come, you come, and otherwise I will have to manage.) Reaches a point, where she knew that she can’t help herself. In a state of total surrender, she raises both her hands, help comes. Total surrender means, nothing of me, everything of you. In surrender there is seeking & in seeking there is learning. Willing to surrender is a sign of growing.

Work on your strength: Maharana Pratap & Chtrapati Shivaji both were from the Rajput Dynasty. One was from Rana dynasty & the other was Bhonsle Maratha clan. Maharana Pratap was not successful whereas Chatrapati Shivaji was successful mainly because of 2 reasons. One, he is a great strategist combined with people orientation & the other his ability to respond according to his strength.  He was a practical military commander & didn’t encourage his troops to be martyred for the sake of it. Instead he always asked them to take step back & regroup. Shivaji’s strength was fighting in the mountain. He used to attract all his enemies to come towards the mountain & then organize guerrilla warfare. Organizing Guerrilla war was Shivaji’s greatest strength. We too can take his life as example “A true King knows how to win even when the battle is lost, a true King knows how to live even when his life is lost”

Treat Life as the best teacher:  Would like to narrate a small story here. There were 2 brothers, one was drug addict, he used to drink a lot & beat up his family every day. His blood brother was a great man, wonderful character & running a good business & was respected all over. Some people wanted to find out how could 2 brothers of the same family were so apart. They went to the drug addict and asked. How come you do all the wrong things? Where do you get your motivation from? He said “My father”. When I was young, my father used to come every day fully drunk and used to beat up everyone in the family. That’s what I used to see every day & that’s what I am. They went to the other brother asked the same question; where do you get your motivation from? He said” My father”. When I was a small boy, my father used to come every day fully drunk and used to beat up everyone in the family & do all the wrong things. I have made up my mind that I will never be like him. Both are drawing strength from the same source. One is using for positive reasons & the other for negative, means choice is available.

Please help others lives: Greatness comes not from position but from helping others. Remember, we all have obligations to the society. If you start volunteering your time, money or energy to help others, doesn’t just make the world better – it also makes you better. The very act of giving back to the society boosts your happiness, health & sense of well-being in addition to building up a great society.

Hi friends: please write back to me with your comments on my e mail ID: anil_panicker@yahoo.com,  If you really feel this 9 minute blog has helped you achieve something in LIFE

Cheers

Anil Panicker