Purity in heart, clarity in mind, sincerity in action, and contentment are the formula for happiness.
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Ionce bought three books about life. ‘Life is difficult,’ said the first line of the first book. The second stated, ‘It is difficult to admit that life is challenging.’ ‘Life is easy,’ said the third. We add to the confusion.’ All three claims are correct. Everything is determined by how you view and live your life.
People live their lives in various ways. Some people, for example, borrow books and never return them. “Never lend a book to somebody since it is never returned,” a man cautioned a buddy. ‘How do you know, friend?’ “That’s how I built my library,” he said. Some people return the book in poor shape, with scribbles, frayed edges, or torn pages. Some return it in the same condition as originally borrowed, while others return it in better condition.
An unusual grocery list included 20 cockroaches, 15 spiders, 3 lizards, and half a kilo of dust. “The landlady has requested me to leave the flat in the same state as when I initially walked in,” he answered when asked.
A teacher was showing her class the negative effects of drinking. She placed several worms in an alcoholic beaker. The worms fought and eventually died. “What do you take away from this?” inquired the teacher. A student concluded. “Drink alcohol whenever you get stomach worms!” The lessons of the wise assist us in validating our knowledge.
So how do we go about living our lives? Do we live well and leave the world better than we found it? Do we muck up our lives and ruin them for others? Do we make things more difficult for others by complicating things? Do we create problems, solve problems, or are we the problems? We should live in such a way that we make life simpler, easier, and more enjoyable for ourselves and others.
Lessons from Life
Life is the finest teacher. However, a smart man learns from the mistakes of others, a fool from his own, and a bigger idiot never! Instead of learning by ‘trial and error’ or ‘hit and miss,’ we could learn from the wisdom of others and then put what we’ve learned to the test through our own experiences. Knowing how to live effectively is insufficient. We must apply the things we have learned; only then will life become easy and enjoyable.
Taking on Life
Every day of our lives, we are confronted with new scenarios. They can be enjoyable, terrible, surprising, frightening, scary, amazing, dull, challenging, profitable, agonizing, and so on. We don’t have a choice except to confront them. What matters is how we respond to life’s trials. What attitude do you have? Do they dominate and overwhelm us? Are we capable of playing our parts with poise? Will we be bowled over or will we hit a sixer? Do we trip, moan, and collapse, or do we recover and move on?
A man won the jackpot for $250,000.00. He was afraid his wife would pass out after hearing such startling news. His acquaintance offered to inform her. ‘If you win a lottery for $250,000, what will you do?’ he said. “I will give you half the money,” she said. The man’s companion passed out! We must learn to smile our way through life’s challenges. In truth, hardships in life should test us and bring out the best in us.
Making your life better
Life isn’t just about dealing with problems. There’s more to it. We can attain our goals fulfill our aspirations, build ourselves a better future, and shape our destinies should not become so exhausted or preoccupied when facing problems that we lose energy or e sight of our objectives. Indeed, our objectives should be so motivating that the hurdles become part of the ‘fun’ of the route to our destination.
Those without a goal or goals, on the other hand, spend their lives simply dealing with situations. His astrologer predicted that the man would face challenges for the next seven and a half years. He questioned, hoping, “Will things improve after that? The astrologer stated, “No, but you will become used to them by then.
Taking Charge of My Own Life
I can live ‘for’ another person or a cause, but I cannot live another person’s life, no matter how close I am or how intense my desire is. No one else can live my life.
This may seem simple to many, but its ramifications are not always well understood. We frequently wish that someone else would confront unpleasant situations for us.
We sometimes desire to protect people from difficult situations. When their children have tests, parents become uncomfortable and concerned. This has no meaning. Exams for their kids cannot be given by them.
You may be admitted to several colleges at the same time. You must select one. If someone else makes the decision and it is incorrect, you will blame others for your problems. We must take charge of our lives and face them alone.
Empowering
Yes, we can make a difference in the lives of others, and they are in ours. We may encourage, motivate, and assist one another. This assistance is also possible to a limited extent. ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force it to drink.’ A person with a legal problem seeks legal counsel. He may be given several options by the lawyer. He will then have to decide and live with the repercussions of his decision. A doctor questioned a lawyer at a party, “get troubled even at social occasions with people requesting medical advice.” How should I proceed? “How do you deal with such a situation?” The lawyer stated, “After consulting, I sent them a bill.” That puts a stop to them. The next day, the doctor received a bill from the lawyer!
Also, assistance is not always available. As a result, one should not always wait, seek, or become dependent on outside help to deal with life’s challenges. One should not seek favors needlessly or make others dependent while assisting them.
However, when help is, we should not hesitate to take it or give it. A student with financial limitations gets a scholarship and later on when he prospers in life, he supports the education of others in need. Such mutual help leads to progress and prosperity for all.
Getting assistance
We should not become dependent on others, nor should we ask for unneeded assistance or make it a practice to do so. “Are you going to play hockey today?” a habitual borrower inquired of his neighbor. He replied, “Yes! “, expecting him to ask for the hockey stick. “Good!” said the man. Could I then borrow your cricket bat?” However, when there is a true need, we should not allow our pride to get in the way. Some people refuse to ask for aid but accept it when it is offered voluntarily.
Providing Assistance to Others
Some people believe that the giver’s hand is always held higher than the receiver’s. They offer with a sense of superiority, humbling the receiver with their words and gestures. They believe they have fulfilled their obligation to the recipient.
People have varying attitudes toward assisting others. Some give with pride, some with sympathy, some with selfish motives, some indifferently, some when compelled, some as a habit, some with humility, some when requested, some unasked, some grudgingly, some when instructed by others, others as a societal obligation, and some as a virtuous act.
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