WHEN SEARCH FOR KNOWLEDGE DRIVES LIFE..

In life we need a driving force. Without such a driving force we are destined to lead a somewhat stagnant life. Earlier I have talked about importance of an aim in life.You can read more about it here..
https://archishmansardar.blogspot.com/search?q=importance+of+aim

Aim is indeed a very strong driving force. But in due time I have stumbled across a trait that drives me more deeply. When I began this blog, I wanted to be informed more about life and all that surrounds us and supports our existence. This search can be simply placed as a search for knowledge and I can not deny this fact. What has astonished me is how strong this drive can get. My life has got itself wrapped around this intrinsic force which seeks knowledge of life itself. Everything that I do now reflects this drive. This force had a dramatic effect on my senses. They remain more aware of the surrounding and leech out facts for my subconscious to feed upon.

This needs special mention because this force involves both the conscious and the subconscious mind. You start to notice everything. Speech becomes rare because hearing serves the purpose more than using the mouth and tongue. Such silence and awareness of the surrounding floods your mind with facts that eventually become knowledge. This is best understood using the term deductive science which I stumbled across watching Sherlock Holmes series.

The benefit of having knowledge as the driving force is that you get away from mindless social media scrolling. That time which was wasted is now used mindfully. This change has really been beneficial. Another thing that this lifestyle has changed is that I value time more now. Time really is our most valuable asset. Being mindful opens up time for a lot for tasks that have value in our life. Time spent performing such tasks adds value to our lives. The best thing is the feeling of being busy because you always have something of significance to do or achieve.

Search for knowledge brings you more closer to life and living. The heightened senses serves a greater purpose and brings closed ones more closer. This enlightens you and drives you even when life puts you down. This added responsibility and drive to push harder lets you accomplish targets and set new ones that are more soul enriching. The byproducts are determination and insight of life which people strive hard to achieve in a lifetime. This new year gift yourself the power of knowledge because in the journey of achieving knowledge you will change your life for the better in ways you could never have imagined.  

DELAYED GRATITUDE..

Our world today is filled with materialistic attractions. People today live paycheck to paycheck to fulfill their lust for such materialistic demands. They are not needs. This is true because such materialistic distractions are outcome of capitalism. These things are advertised in such a way that they grab sudden attention. People are made to believe that they absolutely need it. Thus these luxuries become needs rather than being just demands.

There have been studies that prove keeping cash away every month can result in good wealth accumulation. While this is true but the sad reality is that people spend this money on such luxuries. This results into stagnation and they do not move up the financial ladder. People believe that they could have better lives if they would get a pay hike. But this does not solve the problem. Once this spending habit gets embedded in our life style, with a pay raise we just increase our spending, thus remaining financially stagnant as earlier. The money is just a tool. It becomes powerful only if we give it the power.

The method or may I call it the practise of delayed gratitude is a habit when incorporated can do wonders in our life. This in the most simple way means postponing the wants for a later period so that we can concentrate on securing the future first. It does not mean that we should give up our wants. This practise in turn tells us to have conscious purchases. To give our purchase some time so that we can categorise it properly as a need or a want.

The categorisation is crucial. When a thing is a need and we can afford it we should do it right away. But once the thing falls under the second category we should give it time. We should ask ourselves whether our lives would be better when we incorporate that thing? Whether we have any alternative for that thing which is cheaper but can do the task equally well? Such questions will give us time to think about our purchase decision. And as seen, most of the times people avoid buying that thing. Thus hard earned money or soul kept savings is saved.

Some individuals may argue that we have one life and we should live it to the fullest. YES, we should. But having material possessions does not always make one happy. Happiness is a choice and we should only allow those things into our lives which can compliment our joy of living. Being financially deprived leaches away happiness and no one wants that. That is the reason we see people working soo hard to secure a living. But then these people give away their hard earned money is search of happiness in material things. They come out depressed.

We should have a balance of everything. We should delay possessions but not happiness. In the race to obtain more materialistic things people forget to live and end up having a half life. A life of regret at the end is what they get. Thus practising delayed gratitude can do wonders. Incorporate it as a habit and see dramatic changes in your life and personal finances..

IMPROVISING..

Improvise simply means to act in the flow. ACT being the center of this thought. We achieve the greater success in life not by avoiding the hurdles but by struggling through them and improvising at each and every point. Yes it is important to have a plan but we all know life is uncertain. It rarely goes according to our thoughts. Things often fall in the right places. In such a scenario, improvising becomes crucial. But there are limits to it too. Those limits can only be known with experience.

Our life becomes meaningful only when we fix an aim. This gives direction to our efforts. Without aim we can only flow with life. In such case improvising becomes impossible. Life is uncertain and it is never a one door/ direction phenomenon. It is filled with opportunities of growth and success. These opportunities are disguised and hence a mind which can improvise each scenario can recognise it and act on it. Without such a mindset we will struggle and make the journey hard.

Allow me to use a famous line from the movie series named harry porter. It goes as "There are always two choices, one is easy and the other is right" . Improvising in a situation never means to leave the morality and gulp the chance available. Life has a bad habit of testing peoples characters. The ones who truly shine are the ones who have chosen the right. Such wisdom to choose the right comes from experience.

In every situation the first thing that needs to be done is analysing the situation with a calm mind. This will let us screen out the opportunities. After this, an impartial analysis should be done. This will make us avoid getting into traps and doing the thing that is right. Finally the most important thing is to act. Without this final step we cannot move ahead. Thus improvising is easy to hear but in reality it involves many crucial elements. When we look back on our lives we can easily make out the linkages. These linkages are based on our decisions which are related to our skills of improvising. Practising slow living can really help with this. As per every skill, improvising can also improve with practise and experience. Thus keep living and keep improvising.. 

HAPPINESS IN LIFE'S SIMPLICITY..

Happiness is perhaps the most desired feeling. People do a great extent of things so as to achieve happiness. Some people work very hard and accumulate a lot of riches in search for happiness. These people associate happiness with riches. They consider happiness to be a destination. When they accumulate riches and still don't feel happy, they spend those riches on materialistic possessions in hope to find that long desired happiness. But most often than not they get disappointed.

Happiness is a very powerful feeling, this is true. But what else is true is the fact that happiness is a choice. Every situation of life offers us two choices. One is to get the negative side and react accordingly. The other is to look for the positive side and choose to be happy. The second trait is rare. People react easily and showcase natural feelings like anger, sorrow etc but rarely choose to be happy. This is probably because of the misconception they have about happiness being a destination.

Some people live a more fulfilling and happy life than others. This is because these people choose to be happy. But the most important thing about them is that they do not associate happiness with some costly materialistic possession rather they know the secret of finding content in the small things that life offers. Simple things like birds chirping, sight of the rising sun, feeling of the wind blowing on the face, smile of a baby etc are abundant and can fill the soul with happiness only if one chooses to recognise them.

Life is a journey. Its short. The purpose of life is to live happily. If we postpone happiness to the later years in search for materialistic happiness, we are destined to die unhappy, having never lived at all. All other feelings are natural reactions but happiness is a choice. God had this planned for the souls to be fulfilled even in the harsh conditions that life throws at them. At times of war people see destruction. But the souls that are enriched can etch out happiness in such harsh scenarios because they have the eye to find the smallest of things that can make them happy. The simple sight of a grass growing on a war torn land can fill them with happiness and re-affirm their faith on God's will. 

Life is a flow chart of simple events. It is upon the individual in charge to direct the flow towards happiness. Simple things of life are very fulfilling. It requires no riches to be happy. The person who has understood this has enlightened his/her soul and is destined to have a satisfying death after a life heavenly lived. There is heaven where we want there to be a heaven, There is happiness where we want there to be happiness..Nothing suites better to end this flow of thoughts than this saying,"SIMPLE LIVING, HAPPY LIVING"

HUMILITY..

Our life is a beautiful play of opportunities. These are the chances that life offers to us so that we can change our circumstances for the better. The people who have an eye for detail can pick up these opportunities and utilise them. The form of this varies from person to person. The opportunities depend on the goal set by that individual. These lead to achievement of goals and success in life. They take us to the top but remaining on the top requires some effort and changes to our behaviour. The most important behavioural change needed is the inculcation of humility in our personality.

Humility is rare. It gets rarer as one starts to climb up the ladder of success. It is a prized possession. A person who is humble and down to earth even after being on the top is a person with deep ethics and enriched soul. Humility at first is a choice. A person can choose to be humble and down to earth even when he/she need not be. This is a character trait symbolising strong personality. This trait is the one that keeps a person on the top protecting him/her from the dazzles that often blind the masses that make it to the top.

Success is hard earned and often fought for. Humility is a choice for many but then there are those people who have been humbled by the struggles they have faced in life. Hardest of struggles result into the greatest of success. A person who had to go through such hard struggles values success like no one else. That individual knows what it takes to achieve that height. This enriches his/her soul and makes the person humble towards life. They value their position and do not boast about it. They also are sympathetic and encouraging for those who are in their struggle phase working their way to the top. 

 Life offers us opportunities.We recognise them and put in our hard work. The end result is success. But this is also a soul enriching process. The struggles and opportunity that life offers us make us humble. Whenever we get overwhelmed  by our success, the experiences from our struggling days bring us to the reality keeping us down to Earth. Such is life. Humility is a prized possession. One should search for this quality in persons they want to get inspired from. Because being humble is a choice that people make when they have everything which requires a mindset that is worth its value in gold. Be humble and down to earth. Ending this with the words of Steve Jobs is appropriate because he was an epitome of humility.. "STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH"..

INSPIRATIONS AROUND US..

The Sun is our primary source of  energy. This energy is important directly or indirectly for all life on Earth. This drives the life force within every organism and brings about crucial changes in the non living components around us. Sun has been shining in the same way for billions of years and sustaining life on this planet we call home. It will keep shining in the same way for billions of years to come.

When the sky is covered with clouds we loose the sight of Sun. The intensity of light decreases and life on earth receives a set back. These are temporary and by no means it reduces the capability of Sun to shine and give life a boost on Earth. The Sun never deviates from its duty. After every darkness, light is a must. After gloomy days , sunny days follow. This natural phenomenon has kept inspiring cohort of poets, writers and philosophers. The philosophies of life have not been thought of by aspiring minds, rather they are the results of deep observations of phenomenons that surround us. The inspirations and teachings that we need in life is all around us. It's just the eye for detail that is necessary to draw from them.

A person who draws inspiration from the above will gain the urge to bring some changes into his/her life. The Sun teaches us to be bright, dutiful, diligent, caring, silent and most importantly resistant to temporary set backs and experiences. The clouds come and go, but they do not influence the Sun's ability in anyway. Similarly a person should not loose his/her path due to temporary set backs. These times of turmoil are temporary and has no power on someone who is fixed and sincere with a clear thinking. The other characteristics like duty, diligence etc are important milestones of one's career. In the long run, only those succeed who have been able to draw inspirations and enriched their souls. We do not need to dig into books for inspiration.They are no doubt great sources of inspiration but are well below those from which we can draw inspiration via experience. Souls are eternal similar to the wisdom around us. We just need to have the urge and the eye for detail in life's inspirational processes to draw from them..

INDIAN EXTRAVAGANCE

Celebrations are an important part of life that makes life interesting. We Indians have unique festivals and unique ways of celebrating them as well. The festivals in India are times of extravagance with most people spending huge sum of money so that they are accepted in the society as a rule abiding citizen. The celebrations can be social phenomenon or family phenomenon. But in both the cases society plays the determining role. 

India is a large and diverse county. The festivals and celebrations are different all over India. The ways of celebrations are also different. The festivals of same religion also varies from region to region in the way it is celebrated. Thus it is clear that diversity is vast in this subcontinent. The social festivals include religious festivals or some kind of community celebration. Such festivities are celebrated together. If someone tries to avoid such festivals they are often branded as anti social and are discriminated in the society. Similarly there are several family celebrations like marriages, birthdays, annaprasan etc. This sect has a mix of traditional as well as festivals that have been burrowed from other cultures such as anniversaries, birthdays etc. Although they are family celebrations they are hyped and the whole society gets involved. This helps in creating bonds that are crucial for a social being like the humans. But this also creates competition that leads to more spending and extravagance. Such spending is just to get social recognition and respect. People show their money and resources at these functions. From decorations to guests invited, all are planned and carried out with precision. Such behaviour is acceptable when a person is well off but when people with limited resources are pushed to spend on such extravagance then the problem starts. 

Such stupid game of showing off has put many under financial stress. Some have gone into debt for lifetime due to such spending. And such things are not exclusive to some, it is spread far and wide among all the societies in this subcontinent. This thinking of competition drives a very healthy business in India. People who are involved in event management use this ideology to get their clients spend more on the events just to look cool in the so called judgemental Indian society. This ideology is like a virus which spreads and is not limited to the current generation. The coming generations learn as they see,thus expecting a change is foolish and radical change is even more so.This drives many homes but extinguishes the happiness in many others.

 Change to this has to be gradual. People should know what is important and what is not. The concept of judgemental competition should be eradicated. The rule that all should follow is that the primary goal of living happily is to be rich and fulfilled, not to look rich and fulfilled. Think over it and change the deep seated ideology that corrupts most minds here in this society..

HOPE..

To go through any situation two things are necessary. First is an aim to achieve something or reach at a particular point. The second most important thing is HOPE to achieve that aim. Without hope everything would seem impossible. Every situation would become a burden in life. Life is meant to be lived with joy. This life becomes interesting when we direct it towards something. When we accomplish this first step the only thing remaining is hope and then we can achieve anything.

From the above it must not be concluded that hope to gain something would emerge from the very first moment. Well it is better if it does. The things when have a beginning from a hope are meant to go good. But hope may emerge at anytime. Some have set goals but gain the hope to achieve that goal only after a certain time or completing a certain path towards that goal.

A tired soul is always eager for something to lift it up. Hope is that thing that has saved many tired souls.When a person tired of failures gets a ray of hope, he is filled with energy to get go again and give his/her best.This ray of hope is often disguised. This is the reason many miss it. This varies from person to person.Life may through up many opportunities that lead someone out of a difficult situation. That opportunity serves as the ray of hope for that person towards a better life or anything he/she desires.

Hope is thus a feeling and going from the above discussion we can say that it is quite a strong one. But it is also true that this feeling depends on the person. Some people have the optimistic view point in life. These people are filled with hope because they are always etching the good things happening around them and consider them all helping them out. Thus quite evidently we can tell that hope is all around us. Well there are some cases in which it is more evident but it is always around. Its on us how we look at things and circumstances. Adopt a optimistic view point and see the magical changes it brings with it. BECAUSE HOPE GETS US GOING!! 

ETERNAL LIVING..

Life is brutal. It is brutal because it has people who cant understand the sacrifices people make to keep them happy. Life lived for someone else gives a happiness that cannot be felt doing anything else. But when you decide to go on this path you must be clear that this path offers no gifts nor appreciation. You do not get recognised nor anyone talks about you. Yes that's the sacrifice you have to make if you want to keep others happy.

The path is full of hardships and everything opposite of calm is waiting for you. You need to know that you do this because this is what can get your soul pure and fix the mistakes that you have made in the past.Well you don't get to taste the fruit of fame but at the end you will get something more divine than all this. Something that is not fake nor can be faked. That is called true happiness. You get to come close with who you are and built yourself in a new way. You will change but guess what you will be thousand times better off than the souls that get grinded in this fake world.

People will never understand and will never be able to. You will be off their limits to judge. You get to answer to yourself. That day you become free. You become eternal being because you are in line with the best, you become rare. The society does not understand rare, it only knows to exploit but when they finally know the value they conserve. Thus become someone who is worthy enough to be conserved. Even if you are not conserved you will have the feeling that you have achieved something which is very rare on this Earth  i.e SELFLESSNESS..
Be you..work for your goal.. help others..be selfless..and as a gift take the most valued possession of this eternal presence..i.e a soul one with the higher being..

JOURNEYS ARE IMPORTANT THAN DESTINATION

ENJOYING THE JOURNEYS.

In life we all run behind an aim which we think can give us the satisfaction we seek.In the race towards that point we forget to understand the deep wisdom that the journeys have to offer. The destination is important because without having a fixed goal we cannot live a fulfilling life. But the journeys are more important. The journeys which consist of ups and downs, Success and failure,have a lot to teach us. These are the experiences that matter and enrich our lives.

The journey towards a goal has many mesmerising events. One experiences many bitter truths. He/she learns the importance of living, and most important being the satisfaction that living for others has to offer. We call these as experiences. They are important because life does not stop when one reaches ones goal. It goes on. The wisdom that we have accumulated help in the journey that's ahead. It enables us to choose wisely and set achievable goals. One who learns from the experiences can avoid making the same mistakes and can in turn leap ahead in the race called LIFE.  

We feel happy when we achieve our goal. But when we reach our dream destination it does not feel that satisfying as we expected it to be. If one has not paid attention to the journey he/she has to go through to reach that dream destination , then he/she has missed the major chunk of his life and the experiences he could have gained. This would result in post success depression, when one feels aimless and looses interest in living. That is a real curse. Thus to avoid that void in the later part of life, its important we gather the courage to go ahead and pay heed to the journeys we go through, learn from them and enrich our mindset....DESTINATIONS ARE BEAUTIFUL BUT JOURNEYS ARE HEAVENLY..