What is the sign of life? If someone is alive, a clear sign is that of the person responding to stimulus. If spoken to, a reply; if smiled at, a smile returned; if hurt, a cry, etc. If a person does not respond, he/she may as well be dead.

But a response is not just about reacting. It is also about reacting with some thought around it. Reaction is negative. Reaction is impulsive. Reaction is instantaneous. For example, if someone insults us, a normal person would react with another insult or a feeling of hurt. Responsiveness is to go beyond the normal pattern. It could be, in this example, to introspect and understand the reasons for the provocation and form a positive response to address it.

The two extreme positions to avoid are complete lack of response and an instant reaction without thinking. The middle path as recommended will bring you a better understanding of the world around and better relationships with all.

Forget and forgive!!

Life is short. With an average age of around 70 years of which a good 25 years spent in sleep and resting, we have hardly 40-45 years of waking time. If one takes off the time spent in childhood pranks and old age sickness, one hardly has 20-25 years of productive time. This is just too short to be wasted on undesirable pursuits and practices.

When we feel hurt and remember the hurt, we are only re-living the experience over and over again. And when we hope, pray or plan to hurt others or take revenge, we are going through the same pain again. Anger is like carrying a burning coal in your hand with the intent of throwing it at others. You are only hurting yourself.

Instead, if you can ignore, forgive and forget, you are instantly relieved of the burden and find instant peace. It gives you more time for productive pursuits, ideating or creating things that bring joy to yourself and others around you. It creates a positive image about you and makes you irresistible to others.

Think of children and this is what distinguishes them from adults. They have no ego and forgive easily. This is what makes them so lovable and endearing to us. So do yourself a big favour – start forgiving and forgetting from this moment onwards. The past hurts will fall off immediately and you will reap the benefits form this instant onwards. Enjoy Life!!

Spread positive energy !!

There are times in life when, whether we want it or not, we do feel low and depressed. It could be due to some expectation or desire not being fulfilled or some other disappointment. At such times, we need some help in getting over our misery and we need someone to cheer us up. And when such an event happens, we feel great and relieved.

If we can tune ourselves to get this sort of positive energy from within, how wonderful life could be! We could rid ourselves of our pain points in no time. If we choose to be positive and look at everything with this outlook, not only do we help ourselves but we also ensure that our misery does not get transferred to people around.

By being positive, we can also help people who interact with us when they have similar moments. And thus we can create a great environment around us. People will value our company and seek us out. We will have more friends and eventually benefit in more ways than one!

What is the secret of being positive? Well, in my opinion and experience, positive attitude comes from the realisation that worrying and fretting and fuming and being anxious do not help in any way. Rather, such emotions have a negative and adverse effect. Being positive helps us look at the brighter side of things, become more energetic and enthusiastic and come up with solutions to every situation.

So, what do you think? Be positive and see it for yourself!!

Treat everyone equally!!

The world comprises of so many different people and characters. I have always found it useful to watch with the curiosity of a child and observe the differences in people without attaching a value to them. Some people are frank, some bold, some stupid, some secretive, some faithful, some suspicious etc.

Initially, I used to get attracted to people with positive and desirable attributes and used to detest the rest. However, time and grey hair have taught me that it takes all kinds to make up the world. In fact, the world would be a very boring place if everyone was alike or if everyone was nice. As they say, all five fingers of the hand are different but together they can do so many useful things, I have come to believe that diversity is not only good but also necessary. It is but natural that I tend to appreciate differences and prefer to encourage them.
Also, at the core everyone is the same. Each one has similar set of physical endowments, similar desires and similar dreams. Each one is striving for the same thing and it is better to recognize this and appreciate everyone.

Treating people equally and well also has its advantages – people respond positively to you and the amount of reciprocal behaviour is well worth the effort (if any). So, if you have a cranky neighbor, a nasty acquaintance or a naughty child, go ahead and smile at them and let them know that you accept them as they are. And see the difference!

Vish is a chartered and cost accountant who works with a leading bank in Mumbai, India, looking after their risk management. His interests are reading, travelling, spirituality, thinking and physical fitness (not necessarily in that order). Contact vish.sesh@gmail.com.

I was talking to a friend the other day about the ill effects of smoking and why he should give it up. I took great pains to explain and gave examples of people who have benefited by abstaining and those who have been harmed by continuing to smoke. He seemed convinced and when I finally popped the question to him as to when he was going to ban it from his life, he said, “This is going to be my last year of smoking. I will stop smoking for 1st January.”

I knew it then that he was not serious. There is a saying in Hindi: “Do today what you have planned to do tomorrow, do it now what you have planned for today.” If one is serious about anything, one need not wait for a specific day and time. If one is not serious, one will always find excuses and reasons for putting off action.

I have never believed in new-year resolutions. For me, it is always ‘now’. Who knows whether one will be alive in new year. Life is so uncertain that all good intentions must be put into effect immediately.

If I were to draw up a list of resolutions, it would be as follows:

•    I will be more loving with everyone and especially my near and dear ones.
•    I will be happy irrespective of what happens around me.
•    I will make efforts to spread joy, happiness and love around.
•    I will take more care of my health by eating right and being physically active.
•    I will share more with less privileged ones and be more charitable.
•    I will spend less time on wasteful activities.
•    I will give up any vices that I may have cultivated over the course of my life.
•    I will spend a lot of time reflecting, introspecting and meditating on God.
•    I will trust in God and work on building my faith stronger each day.

Any resolution made must be for improvement and betterment and should be followed through with discipline and rigour. One good way to stop one from slipping would be to put away a small sum (say, a dollar or ten rupees) into a jar every time one falters and use the money thus accumulated for some charitable purpose.

Finally, resolutions are to be made only if one is completely convinced about the need for and the benefits of the resolution, and one needs to be action-oriented and implement them immediately. There is a Japanese proverb: “Vision without action is only a dream.” Action is the path by which we realise all our dreams.

Vish is a chartered and cost accountant who works with a leading bank in Mumbai, India, looking after their risk management. His interests are reading, travelling, spirituality, thinking and physical fitness (not necessarily in that order). Contact vish.sesh@gmail.com.

Dear friends, it is imperative that we be conscious of the fact all the time we need to put effort to enjoy a healthy body. We need to remember that our body is like a machine which needs to be taken care of.

Nutritious and balanced diet taken at regular intervals coupled with good fitness regime and adequate sleep are pre-requisites. Abstinence from things that can damage health should be strictly followed. Right kind of exposure in form of friends, reading, life style, thinking will all help in forming healthy habits and give you longer period of problem free life.

God has endowed many of us with good natural health and it is our duty to take care of this asset that will remain with and support us till the end of our lives. Neglecting it will only be detrimental to our happiness. With good health, we can strive to reach our goals and have fun along the journey.

As Robin Sharma so nicely put it “Care for your health. Don’t be the richest person in the cemetery.”

–

Vish is a chartered and cost accountant who works with a leading bank in Mumbai, India, looking after their risk management. His interests are reading, travelling, spirituality, thinking and physical fitness (not necessarily in that order). Contact vish.sesh@gmail.com.

At every point of time, we are doing things. Sometimes for ourselves, sometimes for others. Actions, words, deeds, thoughts flow from us all the time. What should be our approach? How should we deal with the flow?

I feel that one have to always “Do Your Best” (DYB). Why DYB? I think that this is the only way to ensure that one’s output is of the highest quality. It is an obligation on each of us to carry out. It is a commitment to ourselves and to others to expect the best from us – nothing less.

With God’s grace, each of us is blessed with a certain level of talent and a mind which has no limits. “The only limit to achievement is in our mind” is a saying I heard long ago. It is imperative therefore that we open our minds to achieve great things. We also need to make up our minds that anything that comes out of us will be the best possible.

When each of us is in this DYB mode, the world will become a much better place. Quality of output will improve, there will be more self satisfaction and joy. When we are in DYB mode, people will sit up and notice us, appreciate us, recognise us and celebrate us. It is a great feeling.

Try it !!

–

Vish is a chartered and cost accountant who works with a leading bank in Mumbai, India, looking after their risk management. His interests are reading, travelling, spirituality, thinking and physical fitness (not necessarily in that order). Contact vish.sesh@gmail.com.