Know Thyself

I was reading a article about high definition TV's that get you the real image, much better quality then the regular TV. It said, now we will have different channels for HDTV flooding the market. Some of the channels have actually been around and many more are on their way to the huge consumer market.

One group of people that found HDTV really troublesome were the actresses. The extent of makeup's they wear is very visible on HDTV, which actually is not visible at all on the regular TV's. Some actresses were really upset that HDTV showed the audience the real images instead of the images they wanted to project.

Many of us do the same when we enter the job market. Through our resumes and interviews, we try to project ourselves as the best suited candidate for the job, which in reality, may or may not be the case. Some of us twist our skills and accomplishments to the requirement of the position, in effect, we project our selves.

Girls have a tendency to wear makeup, they do it to make them look more beautiful, so that smart guys give them a good look and ask them out for a date. I am not implying that all of them do it like that, Some of the girls I have seen over the years have been really gorgeous, really beautiful, others just portray themselves as beautiful. One wise man once told me if you really want to see if a girl or a lady is really beautiful, see her first thing in the morning, If she posses real beauty, it will show right there or it was just artificial

Whenever I go to buy a new car, all the sales persons in all different showrooms I visit, try to convince me that the vehicle they are offering meets my needs and suits my interests then any other car n the face of earth. How can so many people with so many different opinions be right at the same time? I did settle for a Honda Accord. It kept me wondering that projections are not only done in humans, but we also do the same for possessions and things.

Sometimes I just wonder, where does reality fits into all this imaginations and projections, it also makes me wonder about the moments in life, when we tend to be real and true to ourselves. Taking a bath and shaving were some of the moments we used to be closest to our true self, just I, me and myself, no clothes or stuff to make me look someone else, but now with so many hairstyling products, hairstyles, beards, specially the different variation of French beards, projecting ourselves has paved its way into our utmost private moments

There was a time when we used to make love to our spouses, those small whispers, lighting arrangement, fragrances, aromas, special preparations……..we used to love, real love, a process. The goal was to love and be loved, we used to be open and loving, it was said to be the moment one is closest to experiencing the divine. Now, all small talk is about sex, performance and orgasm, the peak, the expectations. I believe we are loosing the real love somewhere in the middle. Every one is different, every life is different, I can not stand in any ones shoes, and you have a better understanding of your own life. If it still is really the Love in your life, congratulations, your private moments are still yours, you do value reality

I can not describe, what it means to be real, but trust me, it does feel great, whenever we are closest to ourselves. It’s a great team work, Actor, Observer and Observed i.e. I , me & myself. May be it’s the first rule to achieve the highest fulfillment

The two words on the top of the sacred Delphi temple

KNOW THYSELF

Its about the REAL self

Try

It was always about trying
tying to do this
trying to do that
trying to be good
trying to quit bad habits
one day a wise guy came to me
He said some thing that didnt make sense to me
He said "When you are trying something, you are not doing it"
and then he said
"When you are doing something, you are definately not trying it"
i was confused
He gave me a example of people who always want to quit smoking
and say, I am trying to QUIT
They are just trying, they are not doing it
................i was little more confused now

all my life, i have been trying so many things
and here this guy comes in and tells me dont try, just do it
didnt make any sense to me

I beleive he read my mid
He said
Rizwan, do yourself a favour
What, i asked
He said, Try to breathe for one minute
What does that mean, i asked
He said, just do it for one minute, as i say
Dont breathe, just TRY TO BREATHE
STOP BREATHING RIGHT NOW
and i did
NOW JUST TRY TO BREATHE, REMEMBER YOU DONT HAVE TO BREATHE, JUST TRY TO DO IT
What, i said
how on earth do i try to breathe
i started breathing after around 40 seconds as i could not hold any more
NO NO NO NO
DONT BREATHE, YOU JUST HAVE TO TRY IT

and at that moment he made all the sense in the world
there is no such thing as trying
you just do it
plants dont try to grow, they just do it
earth doesnt try to spin and revolve around sun, it just does it
we dont try to breathe, see or touch
we just do it

so simple yet so powerful
its a metaphor to live with
Dont try, JUST DO IT!

Garbage

"Every morning when I and my younger brother go to work,

My mom has a bag ready for my brother to throw away, a garbage bag.

Since we live in an apartment complex, there are few big dumpsters

And no one comes and collects garbage from home,

We have to go and get rid of it ourselves,

Otherwise it will keep piling up,

And no one likes to live with pile of garbage in their home,

That’s why we always make sure that it gets out of our home as soon as possible.

Same is true for our feelings,

But we often fail to do the same there,

We just keep on piling up those negative feelings in our heart over the years

And in the end we ourselves end up in dump of negative feelings right in our own heart,

I don't understand when we can’t even stand the smell of physical garbage for few minutes,

How can we accumulate garbage of negative feelings for years?

You’re smart enough to know what’s good for you,

GET RID OF ALL GARBAGE NOW"

Prayer

If I bounce a ball down to earth,

it's going to come back up,

the thing that it will come up is for sure but how much up,

it would depend on the force I exert on it.

If it's a rubber ball, I may not have to exert much pressure

while a tennis ball would need normal pressure,

other balls may require different kinds of pressure,

but one thing is common amongst all of them is when send down to earth,

they all come back

so are your prayers

they always come back to you

even if you send it for soemone else

they will bless you too

more intense your prayer

much more intensely it will come back to you

be generous with your prayers

Light

GOD loves you for what you are (BE)

and not what for what you do,

since you are a human BEING and not a human DOING.

I know there is a light in you,

that has always been there and that glows your personality and your soul

and one day it will glow the whole world.

At this moment you may or may not realize its presence

but that light is present inside of you, it has ever been, and it will always be,

your simple denial to this fact will never change this fact,

just like your denial of the presence of a soul could never harm the soul and make it leave,

similarly, your denials of presence of that eternal light in you,

will not take that light away from you,

just you it may lengthen the time before you realize its true presence and potential

You can not give what you do not have

We can not give some thing that we don't have,

how many times in our lives we have heard phrases like

GIVE RESPECT, GIVE LOVE etc.

how can we expect some one, who doesn't even have self respect or love,

to be able to give the same to some one else.

can you expect apple juice from an orange, No it only has orange juice

how can it give apple juice

is'nt it foolish to expect sweetness from chilli and sourness from water melon

so how can you expect love from someone who does'nt have it

or how can you even say that you love someone,

when you hate someone else at the same time

as you can not donate money when you dont have it

similarly, you can never give out something you dont posses

let alone be love, respect or ne other divine quality...

so if you want to give something, first get it in yourself first

so you are able to share it with others

its not that difficult

is it...................

What if ...

what if all dreams were meant to come true

what if all the power to make your dreams come true were right there at your footsteps

what if these dreams were designed specially for you

what if the whole universe was waiting to help you out in making your dream come true

what if you knew a small step of yours would be a giant leap for your life

what if you were sure you could not fail

what if all the music was yours, if you would just tune in

what if you had powers to change the realities, yours and every one else's

what if your inner most thoughts were the guidance from the divine

what if you knew you were the best

what if you could have every thing you ever dreamed of

what if all your problems and worries could vanish just with a smile of yours

what if you had a choice to surround your self with peace & love

what if all this universe was made just for you

what if all of the above is true

what if ...

music

You have the magic built in you,

but in the physical dimension of the world,

you fail to experience it,

Its just like the music that is present there in you,

you just fail to tune into it

and after a while you don't even know that it exists,

though it is there,

all you have to do is to get to the right frequency

and music will flow out seamlessly,

without any effort,

all you need to do is to tune into that infinite realm of being.

Tap into the unlimited potential

believe that you are free to choose your own path

and in turn creating your own very future,

the way you like it

60 Minutes

What would I do if I was absolutely certain that there are only 60 more minutes left in my life and i will be no more alive after 60 minutes…?

My priorities would collapse in an instant, what was so very urgent and important few moments back, would almost cease to exist, just 60 minutes, I don’t want to spend them thinking what to do, since there is no time to think, I just want to do whatever I want to do

At this juction, Some people would choose to meet their family members and be in their company, some people would choose to take care of their financial matters so their family and children have secure future, some would choose to go deep in meditation, some would choose to contact any and every one and ask for forgiveness, some would choose to do one thing they always wanted to do provided it’s possible in 60 minutes, some would choose to express their love and gratitude to their loved ones, some would remain undecided even after 55 minutes are over, some may choose something totally different then all the above choices. What would i choose, right now, i dont have a clue but really its already making me think...

Whatever I chooses in those precious moments, one thing is for sure, it would not be about the small nitty-gritty’s of life, the small day to day decisions would not even exist in my focus at that moment. It’s a moment of transformation, within an instant, life comes at a standstill, the things which were absolutely important and urgent a moment back, may not even get a chance to make it to my priority list, and things I never ever thought about, take precedence and I might catch myself by surprise.

It’s a wonderful metaphor, 60 minutes, tells me what should be the real priorities of my life, I am sure these priorities would vary from individual to individual, but the fact of the matter is that if I sit back and reflect at the answer to this question asked above, I might come across things I usually don’t choose to think about, the answer would be fueled and influenced by the values of my life, for some people family is their highest value, for others its faith, yet for others its freedom or courage or prudence. As far as I am concerned, its purity of life, giving, family and being one with the ONE that takes precedence over every thing else, in those 60 minutes, which one i would choose, it is still a guess, but choices are very few, atleast for me.

Generally speaking, keeping every thing else aside, the answer to this question would reveal our true nature to ourselves, what we value most in this world, what is really important in our life, what matters most to us deep down inside etc. I asked this very question to one of my friends, and he said, he would choose to apologies to his parents, whom he left 5 years back and have never spoken back to them again, he said, actually this thought never occurred to him before this question, that deep down inside he still loved his parents very much and he still cared about them. As I am writing this, I just chatted with one of my friends in Asia, she said, she would choose to relax and spend time with her son and husband and so nothing else and when I asked, she told me that family is the top value of her life.

The question is not exactly how we end up spending those 60 minutes, the question is are we aware of those priorities, do we have enough courage to do those things right now, when we have ample time at our disposal, though we still don’t know how long we are alive, but at least we don’t have a dead line of time i.e. 60 minutes or so. For someone, it might turn out that they don’t have a will for their family and may choose to take care of that, for others, it might be re uniting or spending more time with families and friends, yet others may choose to pursue their dreams or people like me who would choose to reflect back at life, and start correcting themselves and asking for forgiveness for all the wrong doings of the past, and start a fresh new life, dedicated to others.

I still remember this 58 year young man, telling me that when he would die, they would instantly squeeze the blood out of his body so that it can be used to help someone in need, and to my surprise, he told me that he has donated all his body parts that may save or improve life of up to 50 more individuals, Why do I need my body after I leave this world, why not if it can be of help to any one, I would not need it any more. It really opened the new arenas of possibilities in my mind regarding priorities and values.

I also remember this 78 year old young man, who is a millionaire, and had a will, according to which 40% of his wealth would go to establishing trust that would take care of needy individuals throughout the world, when faced with this question it occurred to him that rather then waiting to die and then getting a trust established which may or may not work according to his dreams and aspirations, why not start a trust right away, so he can make sure that it is exactly working as per his needs and requirements. To this day, this young man is happily alive and already helped hundreds of people all around and plan to continue to help thousands more.

Above examples are from very specific individuals and with very specific values and beliefs, you and I may choose to think differently as our values may be different, I may choose to donate my whole big collection of books to a local library where it can help many more individuals rather then staying and gathering dust at my home, you may choose something entirely differently.

Good thing to know is that, more then likely, as you are reading this, you have more then 60 minutes to live, may be years and years ahead are waiting for you, What can you do, what you choose to do, what are your values and aspirations, how you want to pursue them, or do you want to pursue them.

Every hour has another 60 minutes, think of it as another episode of life, that is granted to you, I am sure if those are last 60 minutes of your life, you and I both would choose to live them at our best, do whatever matter most to us, but when we don’t know if next 60 minutes are last 60 minutes in our life, be sure it may be, almost 6500 people die every hour, not every day, every hour, life may not let us know that we have those precious 60 minutes left, in fact the very moment we are living right now may be the last 60 minutes or may be one of the last

Who knows?

How many more episodes of 60 minutes are left in our life?

May be 1, 2, may be few more

May be much more

May be a lot more

The question is not how much more time we have left; it is how we choose to spend whatever is left. Choice is still in our hand

It’s not the time in life that matters

It’s the life in that time that really matters

are we ready to live,

next 60 minutes...

NOW

I still remember vividly, all my elders, teachers and friends telling me about future, that I should prepare for my future. I should work hard and study well so I can get a good job and in turn a great life style. All my focus should be on developing a great future. On the same time they used to give examples from past about great achievements by different people in different areas of life, who really made a difference. I grew up with all that…

Now when I turn back and see, I realize that all I have ever been taught or trained was either concerned about past or about future, no one really trained me about living in present, the moment I am living right now, and the very moment that IS. I believe for many of us that moment never exists, either we live with memories or with wishes and aspirations, we have so much to worry about and take care that we altogether forget the present moment that is the ultimate reality.

There are people whose life is fueled by memories, good or bad, but they direct the lives, some feel victim of the past and live their life in a shell and others believe that they did too much too good in the past and just take pride in their achievements. Other kind are those who are either too much worried about their future or they are way too concerned to make it better and for that they are even ready to sacrifice their present as well.

Life is moving too fast, no one knows whether he or she will be alive to see the next moment even, terrorism is so much hammered into our minds and our lives that the uncertainty of our own lives has become the biggest reality of the day. None of us knows if we will be alive tomorrow or not. We are not even sure that the oxygen we are inhaling at this very moment, will we be able to exhale it out in form of carbon di oxide. Even knowing this bitter reality, most of us still choose to live in future and prepare for it.

Don’t take me wrong, Not for a moment I am saying that it is wrong to live in future, rather every one should prepare for it and should do it well since its your own life, All I am saying is that sacrificing the very present in which we are living for the future that we are very much uncertain about is not the best idea in my opinion.

Most of us are like that, we use our present to make our future better, but we forget that when that future becomes the present, we are still sacrificing it to make yet another future better and in that way we always live for future and there is no presence of present in our lives. It’s like that individual who always waited for the train to come and take a train to next stop and then wait for another train. He never realizes that he has a life time ticket for the train that he can sit in and enjoy his journey.

I always remember this story I read in a book when I was young about a couple who saved their entire life for a dream cruise and then came a time when they saved enough so they can go for that cruise, they paid for the 15 day long cruise but realized they didn’t have any money left for the food, so they packed themselves with biscuits, they went to the cruise and breakfast, lunch and dinner they only had biscuits. They were really happy, it was a great cruise, lot of fun, but just biscuits, 14 days passed by, last day they realized that they had some money for the grand dinner, they went to the cafeteria and asked for the menu, it was a great menu, lots of foods varieties but to their surprise there were no prices on the menu, when asked the waiter told them that all meals were free and prices were already included in the cruise ticket………..and they lived 14 days just on biscuits……aaawwwwwwww, that sure was cruel, they didn’t realize that fact but do we? We have a life time ticket to our life’s journey and all the means to enjoy it but still we worry like that couple, strange. Isn’t it?

There are many people who use alarm clocks to help them wake up on time, most of us use it at least once in our lifetime or know somebody who uses them. Any ways, it presents a very simple yet beautiful way to understand our lives, the way we live, take decisions and move on.

When a alarm clock rings, at that time we hear some sound while asleep, we realize it’s the alarm clock and our subconscious mind reminds us that its now time to get up. In that split second each one of us has to make a decision, to get up or not to get up. That split second decision decides the fate of the upcoming hour or day. There are people who get up immediately when they hear the sound of alarm clock, means they decide to get up, and then there are others who just keep sleeping no matter how long the clock goes on, these guys decide not to get up and ignore the clock. There is a third kind as well, a very special kind, including me, we get up, press the button on the clock, the alarm stops and they go back to sleep with no one else to disturb.

Each one of us who uses these alarm makes a decision in that split second, regardless of the decision, we all make one. In our life all of us make thousands of such decisions, each and every day we make millions of decision, consciously or unconsciously. Why don’t we realize that it’s the Choices we make NOW will shape our future, this very moment you have a choice to continue reading, or keeping if off and doing some other work, or sleep or go our and have fun or watch TV, or get yourself a beer and enjoy or hangout with friends, possibilities are numerous, but you will make only one choice, it does not matter what that choice is, the thing that matters the most is that, your choice that you make RIGHT NOW will be a stepping stone to shape your future. Its like a tree, your choice is your stem and from that will grow too many leaves. Your hanging out with friends could make you meet someone new, whom you never met before and your CHOICE to be friend with that person more could result in getting a great friend or even a life partner, just the chain events, any thing can happen, but it will all depend on the choice you make RIGHT NOW. Your choice is just the beginning, to wake up or not in the morning is just the first choice for the day, shaping the rest of the day.

We are nothing, but a collection of choices we have made all our lives, but the good thing is we still have the autonomy and authority to choose what is right for us in this moment and guide our future accordingly, the good thing the power to make that choice is in our own hands, and the best moment to make that choice is NOW, right now, since

PAST IS HISTORY

FUTURE IS MYSTERY

THE MOMENT WE ARE LIVING RIGHT NOW

IS A GIFT OF GOD FOR US
THAT’S WHY IT IS CALLED
PRESENT (GIFT)

Are we ready to embrace our gift by making the right choices?

RIGHT

Someone was right when he said; people would sit all day in front of a wooden magic box and enjoy their days just watching it. Someone was right when he said; water would be sold in packets and bottles around the world one day. Some one was right when he said, earth was round, and sun was the centre of universe. Someone was right when he said, by the end of this decade we will reach the moon. Some one was right when he said I can break the one mile in less then four minute record. I just wonder sometimes, how can those people be right today, when every one else around them believed they were wrong.

I was listening to Bill rancic, winner of the 1^st season of APPRENTICE show, his new audio book, “you are hired”, after being hired by Donald trump, one of the business tycoons of today, Bill said when in school, he used to color outside the lines as and when he felt necessary, he would make the figure big or tall as it would seem more appropriate and he believed he was right, every one else at the school including his teachers thought otherwise. Teachers continuously asked him to color within the lines but he didn’t. All he did was whatever seemed appropriate to make the picture more real. Was he right or were the teachers right. Interestingly, it’s the same schooling system that teaches us to color within the lines, also teaches us to think outside the box. What’s right, coloring inside the lines or thinking outside the box?

When facing each other, your right is my left and my front area is at your back, who’s right. What’s small for me is big for you and short for me is long for you, who’s right. When a poisonous fly and honey bee get the same nectar from the same flower and one produces poison to take lives and other makes honey to save it, two of us see them and one blames the flower and other praises it, which one of us is right. Two men look outside the window and one looks down and says what a polluted view, and other looks to the sky and says, what a wonderful view, who’s right.

Is it necessary that someone has to be right all the time, cant two people be right at the same time at the same moment while thinking upside down. Are we born with a right to be right, is there something wrong with accepting being wrong sometimes, but above all I just cant understand why we altogether need to judge at the first place. Joy is better then Lisa, Who cares, tom is superior then Jim, does it matter. I just don’t understand why there is a need to judge something or someone at the first place.

A hardcore criminal may still be a loving father or husband, a poor sweeper may be too generous at heart, when we label, we just see one part of the situation and that’s it. What we see is what is and that’s right, there cant be any other thing, Stephen covey in his book, Seven habits of highly effective people shares a wonderful paradigm shift example of two ships in the middle of the sea and captains telling each other to move their ship out of the way, Both of them thought they were right and other ship should move out of the way, they just saw one perspective, they believed that they were right, but when the captain of first ship said, I am captain of this Battle ship and therefore I am ordering you to move out of the way of this battle ship, in his thinking he was very right, but when the other ships captain said, Sir! This is the captain of Light house and I request you to please move your ship out of the way, the captain of the battle ship suddenly understood and moved…. Situational “Right”

It’s all the game of perspective, and we never have complete perspective about any thing or any one that we can claim that we can judge it. When two guys in the jungle heard a lions roar nearby, first guy started to run, thinking that he can run fast and try to outrun the lion, probably he was right, but when he saw the other guy, quickly putting on his running shoes, he was puzzled, Why you are wearing this, it’s a big jungle, we cant outrun the lion, the guy with the running shoes on said, I don’t need to outrun the lion, I just have to outrun you, and the whole dynamics on the ground were suddenly changed immediately, Changing “Right”

Robert G. Allen, in his audio book, Nothing down in 2000, gave example of two guys looking at the same piece of real state, first guy sees and empty wear house that is not even properly kept and maintained, the other guy sees a opportunity to redesign the place and make it a fully functioning automated ware house, being right and wrong is just a matter of perspective, a limited perspective. When a guy jumped out of a running train and lost his hand, every one said, he was insane, but when they realized it was a father who jumped to save his kids life, he suddenly became a brave and courageous man. “Right” in different perspectives.

Kim is good at school but not so good in games, while Ron is good at games but not so good in school, they both do well in extra curricular, their dad thinks, Kim is better then Ron while their mom thinks, Ron is better then Kim. Their dad is a college professor, and their mom is soccer coach at a local club, they both see things from their own perspective, But grandma says I love both of them equally, they are both great, I love them for what they are and not what they do, who is “Personal Right”

We all live in a world and we see world with a filter,

So all the truth we encounter is filtered i.e. situational or with past perspective.

But actually the Truth just “IS”,

It never changes, it just IS

But they way we see it does change,

And what we see, we make it our truth

Sometimes, we first make our truths and then see the situation accordingly

Other times, we just view it with our own colored lenses

And mold it our way

And it then becomes

Our truth

Our Right

And when we have the RIGHT

Every one else must have the WRONG

So that we can stand out and say that we have the RIGHT

Or at least we are RIGHT

Are we?

Is it necessary that if I am right, someone else has to be wrong? Is it necessary for us to live in a bi polar world where every north has a south, every tall has a short and every right has a wrong, or in our case, many wrongs and sometimes, all wrongs. The bipolar world creates an urge to dominance, an urge to be right and sometimes this right takes a disastrous turn, where the only way to be right is to prove every one else wrong, and negative energies channel in the world causing fights and wars

Can we just look at other persons views and say, yeah that’s a interesting point of view, never thought in that way, Can we let every one live by their own rights unless that right is causing harm to someone else, can we search the eternal RIGHT that lies within all us, right inside, the DIVINE RIGHT, that just IS, doesn’t need any support or evidence, just plain truth, as Jibran once said

THE TRUTH THAT NEEDS THE PROOF IS JUST HALF TURE…

Was he right ?

Creation

Well the announcement caught them by surprise, they were not expecting it at all, but yeah it indeed arose their curiosity about it, what its going to be. It was actually an announcement made by the holy Lord early in the day that today he is planning to make something special, rather something very special. He is the lord of creations, He is the creator and He doest create all the time, but the thing that caught every one by surprise was the 2nd part of the announcement where all the creations were asked to assemble in the grand arena to take part in the process of creation. No one, not a single creation was ever allowed to be creator, it was only God who always did the work of creation.

Well as the day passed, the level of curiosity kept going up for every creation, slowly and gradually the crowd started assembling in the arena, the angles were the first ones to enter, then every one started coming in one by one and soon there was a huge crowd gathered, flowers, rock, sand, earth, sun, moon, sea, river, heat, light, lions, all kinds of vegetables, fruits, animals and all kinds of species of birds, nevertheless each and every creation was present, all praising God in its own way.

It was altogether a unique atmosphere, all the creations, praising god, such a peaceful atmosphere, such a silence, all eyes were closed, all lips were moving, every one was praying in its own way, and then suddenly it was all showered in divine light, the lord was there, all eyes tried to have a glimpse but they couldn’t see beyond a certain limit. All hearts started beating faster, no doubt the lord was present amongst them, all eyes were down, and every one was doing nothing put praying, though all minds were running at terminal velocity thinking about what that special thing could be, there were thousands of questions but not a single one was able to reach an answer.

“Today I am going to create something special which is going to be simple yet unique” the divine voice got every ones attention, “I want you all to come forward and add a quality you believe is the best in you”. All mind started the marathon yet again to come up with the best one they have, The angel Gabriel came forward first, I am made of fire, I would like this creation to have fire in it, the fire to win, the burning fire inside so it doesn’t have to sit back, the fire would help it keep moving and achieve all its goals, the other creations were still thinking. The sea came up with depth. The lord then said to the sea, I will add the depth to its eyes so when any one sees her they will know how deep it is. Sun added the light and glow, while moon came up with its calmness. One by one they all came forward, the rose came with its beauty and aroma, earth came with a big heart to add to the creation. To every ones surprise the clouds came up with tears, when asked it said “This creation should have tears so it doesn’t have to keep every thing in the heart and could wipe off the sad things with the tears”, they all seemed to agree.

The Rock came up with strength and the water came with liveliness and thirst to be the best, the rainbow came up with the glow, the diamond came up with its brilliance, the river said it would add the flow to this creation, every one was adding yet a new quality to this creation and they were all very happy to be the part of this creation, clay came up with the flexibility, the seed said it would add the dream and vision, when asked how, it said, the small seed has big trees and thousands of forest in it, I would like to add this vision to this creation so it knows its true value and never think that it is small so it is worthless, I want to add the value and worth to this creation.

Birds came up with flight, wind came with power, the thunderstorms added the might, the mind stood up and said I would like to compliment what the seed has added, I would like to add the notion that nothing is impossible, I want to add this feeling that every thing is possible if it tries. The trees came up with the quality of giving, we would like this creation to be always giving something to every one without asking any thing in return, like we give shadow and fruits to any one regardless of who he or she it. The oil came with its power to make every thing burn and run , another notion to help others even by burning itself.

Then the devil came in and added some selfishness, but the Lord agreed that if this creation does every thing for every one else it would not be able to do any thing for it self, I want this creation to be the best, though I don’t like devil my self, the lord said, but this is a good quality he has added and I will my self make sure that it has good use for the creation and is not used in bad way, all creations were at calm after the assurance by the lord.

The mother then stood up and said, I would like this creation to have LOVE, as you have given to me, the owl came with the ability to see in the dark, I wish this creature to use the qualities of seed and mind and my ability to see in dark so it never becomes disappointed, it knows that darkness has its own life and meanings too and then the sparrows came up and added faith, we want this creature to have blind faith, as we sing the songs of morning when it is still dark, we have a blind faith that the morning is going to arrive soon, we want this creature to have blind faith on you, that no matter what, you are always there to help. The camel ad donkey stood up, all were wondering what these creatures have to add. They said we want this creature to have strength to lift the burden, so it doesn’t have problems when it has too much burden on it.

The father came up with care, the language with expressions, the fun came up with smiles to add, the sugar added its sweetness and the salt also added a little of its taste. And it just went on and on. Each and every creation was adding some thing unique, some thing they believe to be the best quality they possessed. When every one was finished, they asked what are you going to make this creation to be, The lord responded, I will make it a human, since them I call the Best of the creations “Ashraf-ul-makhluqaat”(BEST OF ALL CREATIONS) , so this creation has to be a human being, possessing all the strength, love, depth, character, care, peace, aroma, brilliance and every thing else you added. but what are you going to add to it, the question was their in every ones mind and the lord scanned all the thoughts, “I know you are curious about it., I will add the divinity, THE SOUL, The part that will keep this creation attached to me and in toug times and challenges when it gets lost or astray, it will help this creation get connected to me.

As they were all listning, they suddenly could saw a big screen like thing in the air………..it was kind of a movie or something. ……And suddenly they realized it was a small room, few people in white dress were they’re surrounding some thing, and then they realized it was a lady, it didn’t take them much time to realize that lady was giving birth “Owwwwwwwwwaaaaaaain. Owaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin” dn the view focused on that new born, a bright illuming face, the lord said I added my glory to this creation to make it the BEST………….

The parents called her ________ and the date on the calendar behind showed ----,--,19--.

The prayers and praise of the lord continued...

It's true for all creations, including you and me, Are we a living example of all those qualities? Are we. . .

CTRL ALT DEL

Few days’ back, while I was working on my computer, I don’t know why but it suddenly got stuck, the mouse didn’t work and the keyboard didn’t either. I was just starring at a dead screen. In our lives, relationships & in achievements of our dreams, there are moments when life gets paralyzed, comes at a standstill, just like the computer, one really doesn’t know what to do about it. Since I was totally engrossed in my work, I became totally lost, how did this happen, I didn’t do any thing wrong, I was just doing my work, there must be a virus in the computer, my mind was running wild yet it was at a standstill, but yeah there was one sigh of relief that I did save most of my work. In the standstills of life often there are moments when we are dumb founded, how the hell this happened, who is responsible? Numerous possibilities surround our wild imagination yet we are unable to move even an inch forward from where we start.

At that moment my mind was still stuck in thinking about how this happened, I again tried to unsuccessfully use the mouse and pressed some keys little harder thinking that it might work but nothing seemed to work at that time. “It must be the virus” auto generated reply came form my mind. The reply reminded me of the dialogue between chairs of two project teams who were supposed to coordinate together and turn two small projects into one mega project, something went wrong in the process and the projects halted, I remember both the chairs sat on the opposite ends of the table, trying to find why this happened, the meeting went for two long hours and end or the day, they both were blaming each other for the fault with no result. “Its your fault”, “You are responsible for all this”.

Doesn’t that sound like some thing familiar in our every day life, argument between couples, the discussion between colleagues and counterparts, negotiations between two rival countries, its happening everyday at so many places. How easy it is to shift blame on someone else or something else, and if nothing works then put the blame on fate and God that they are responsible for whatever is happening, it has nothing to do with us. Where are we in all the situation then, are we responsible for any thing or we have taken the sole responsibility is to shift the burden of responsibility on someone else’s shoulder.

There are so many couples that get divorced each year due to communication problem or get separated due to their inability to properly understand each other. It’s quite common for employees to resign from their jobs for not being able to adjust in the uncomfortable work environment. How often a fight starts between rival nations because of a dead lock in dialogues. What we hear from each and every side, person or nation involved, “He is the one who is responsible for our divorce”, the other side says“ I am getting separated because I can no longer tolerate her” “They are responsible for the loss of innocent live” its not the question of who’s right and who’s wrong, The question is who is willing to take the responsibility.

It reminds me of last year, I was traveling to a new town and got lost on my way. As it was a small road I was traveling very slowly, I saw a sign of a U turn near the dead end, as I was driving slowly, I was able to notice somebody’s writing on the U turn sign, It said “God always allows for U turns” so simple yet so deep, while after I took the U turn, I was still thinking how many times in our lives we are ready to take the U turn. I was thinking that would any one ever stop at dead end in the car and just stop it there, I guess never, any one in that situation will try their best to find a alternate way out, then why on earth we allow so many dead ends in our relationships, dreams and lives. Why we seldom think about the U turns that would allow us to go back and start afresh from where we digressed. Why aren’t we ready to rake the U turn in our relationships that could give love of both the separated parents to thousands of kids, Why are nations not ready to take U turn in order to save the lives of thousands of innocent citizens who fight for their country, the only question that is hammering in my mind again and again is WHY NOT?

My little niece who is computer savvy was playing near by, she saw me doing all that with the computer, she came to me and said ‘Press CTRL ALT DEL”. I believe that she knows more about computer then me, I trust her knowledge, therefore without even thinking any thing, I just did what she said and the computer started rebooting again, eventually it re started. When they asked Edison why you are trying still again when u have already tried so many times, he said now I know these many ways not to make a bulb, he didn’t accept the stand still, he would go back in the lab and try another way to make the bulb, if even that didn’t work, he would go for another, Mr. Honda, or any one who has left any significant marks on our lives today, none of them gave up, they all knew their U turns very well and they knew one more principle TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AND NEVER GIVING UP. They always restarted their thinking what tom peters call “Re imagining” a totally new way of thinking where there are no boundaries, they don’t think out of the box, they just burn the box and then restart their thinking in entirely new dimensions and that’s the only reason each one of them is now in the top list of people who have had the highest impacts on our lives today.

Aren’t we all tired of playing the blame game, acting like fools, are we ready to do something constructive, really make some thing happen. Are we ready to press the CRTL ALT DEL in our relationships, in our negotiations, in our dead ends to get a fresh start, Are we ready to Re-start the process, Re-live our dreams, Are we ready to take the U turns, Are we ready not to give up again? Are we ready to achieve our goals? Are we ready to make something happen? As it is wisely said


The best way to make something happen…is… to make it happen


Are we ready?

Journey

My new silver Honda accord LX 2003 is the third car I have owned in less then 15 months, the first one being, Honda accord 99, I had a accident just 15 days after I got it, the 2nd car was Toyota Camry 94, which remained my companion for a year and then died, mission accomplished, Now I have my third companion with me, she is cool and fast

I like to go on long drives with it, just the 2 of us, me and my Honda, we go places we haven’t been before, sometimes we go to the same routes again and again, some times entirely new places. When we are lost, we are still together, so there is no fear of being left alone. It’s always a wonderful adventure driving together.

On the highways there are speed limits, how fast we can drive, but who cares, no matter how fast you are, someone is going to over take you any ways. Most of the time when I drive at 55, the speed limit of Houston highway 59, I feel like driving the slowest car on the highway. Its amazing to see how many vehicles there are on the highway at the same time, different makes, models and colors, all with different originations and destinations but they are all there on the same road at the same time. Every minute few cars are coming up on the highway and at the same time few are taking the exits, towards their destination.

Shakespeare said life is a stage and we all are performers, well for me life is a highway and we all are drivers, any given day so many of us are born and so many take the death exit but any given time so many of us are there with different backgrounds, different races, different colors & shapes each having unique identification (names), speak different languages like all those different model cars with different makes, sizes and colors, we all come and go. But life continues, the highway continues. The journey goes on.

Each car has a different destination; each driver has a different mission, a totally different reason then all the other drivers. And the mission is what decides the route and the map on how to reach that particular destination, then availability of time decides how fast or slow one is going to drive. Each one of us is different with a unique destination, unique goals, strengths and weakness, we all get unique set of opportunities and threats throughout our lives yet we still are together.

A white infinity G35 passed by, the best car of the year, not that expensive, but the best in performance against value. I started noting different makes and models; I could see Lexus, Ford, Toyota, Honda, GM. BMW, VW, Chrysler and the big one H2. They are all so different; each having an entirely different set of features but all performed the same job, transportation, taking us from one place to another. Hmmm, then why on earth each car has a different price tag, some are so much affordable then others. Why? May be because they provide us comfort and luxury during our journey, some are more safer to drive while others are more fun to drive, the set of value in each car determines the price tag the consumer is going to pay on a particular make and model.

Now I am stuck between 2 poles, which one is more important, Journey or destination? If journey were not important why would we all be paying so much more for so much luxury while we can get to the same place cheaper? Why should one fly with continental when he or she can get to the same place via southwest in fraction of the cost? The journey must be important, yeah it must be. But what about destination, isn’t it the destination, for which we take all the pains, the reason we buy these cars or airline tickets, isn’t destination more important…

We all were born, we entered the highway of life, we all have certain goals and destinations in mind and yeah ultimately we all will take the exit of death one day, do we know our destinations, where we are heading towards, where exactly we want to go, what exactly we want to achieve, how can we reach a place if we don’t even know where are we going to and where we want to reach. Unfortunately, that’s the case with many of us, we just live by the road philosophy, we will go wherever it takes us, but the dead ends and road divides create troubles. Sometimes we don’t even know what speed we should go with since we ourselves don’t know how far we have to go, isn’t that awkward.

Other are the times when we know where we are heading and reaching there is the only thing we are concerned about, we zoom with speed but in the process miss all the beauty and adventure during the journey, we fail to notice the pleasure the journey itself has to offer.

Are we driving well and safely, how would we know we have accomplished what we destined to is by reaching that destination but in our lives the prominent question remains

How do you know whether
Your mission on earth is over…

If you are alive…it isn’t.

(Richard Bach)


Are we sure what mission we are on?

The Other Side

While I stand in front of the refrigerator, the first thing I look at is the door. There are so many different kinds of magnets on it, so many different kinds of bills and reminders in front of my eyes; there is so much to look. At this very moment, I am not concerned about what is happening to the rest of the world, the refrigerator door is it self a whole world engulfing my thoughts. Looking at those different magnets and all those things beneath them, these are all I m concerned with right now…thinking about all those bills to pay and reminders about numerous different things, the shopping list, the birthday party of neighbors son, and what not. The reality of my world has changed, Now, these magnets are the center of my thoughts and I am out of the world I was in, a few moments back, and now into reminders, bills and of course magnets.

The phone rings and I move out to receive the call, it’s from a friend who lives in New York, her mother died in a car accident, I forget about all the bills and reminders, in one moment the face of reality changes again, now I am grieved and my thoughts are focused on how to console my friend, the feelings surrounding me are of concern, fear & sympathy. My mind slowly drifts towards life after death, and I start thinking, “Have I done enough to survive?” If there is any thing after death, the religions teach but you never know, its always the question of belief, any ways, I sit on the sofa, open the TV and there is Breaking news of blast somewhere, suicide attack, killing so many innocent people, terrorist or freedom fighters? Who are they? A very thin line depending on the paradigm one is looking at it from.

Suddenly, I realize that few minutes back, the magnets that were important to me are no more present in my thoughts and the reason my mind finds acceptable is because they are no longer in front of me, they are no more part of my reality…. my friends who were so important to me in early parts of my life, are in some other parts of the world right now, since they are not part of my active reality, I have forgotten about them, yeah the ones I used to do my home work with, the ones with whom I used to play, hang out, they are no more important….at least right now.

When I get back in front of the refrigerator door, those magnets again become important, the class reunion again rejuvenates the old memories, and we start from where we left, our lives have been fine tuned that way, what is in front of us is most important, rest of the matters, we keep them aside but never get time to get back to them. When we accidentally or in some other way come across them again, at that time we realize what we missed, like getting back to the refrigerator reminded me that I missed paying my electricity bill and the due date is gone. Ooooooops!

The point is how fast we change our priorities, or are they our real priorities. Are we able to separate urgent from important as Stephen covey preaches or are urgent things taking over the important things in our life OR the urgent things are getting disguised as important leaving the actual important things no attention at all, putting them back beneath the magnets on the refrigerator door.

But that’s just the outside world of the refrigerator; there is a whole new world inside as well. This new world is not open to every one, but only visible to those who take the pains to open the door. But again, not every one is interested in viewing the complete contents inside. Most of us are interested in only what we are looking for, once we find the bear or soda or whatever we are looking for, rest of it becomes irrelevant again. There are very few of us, who are not sure what we are looking for and see through a little more. Rare are the cases where someone reaches out and looks through every thing inside.

We meet so many people every day, Alvin Toffler says we meet more people in a single day then a village farmer used to meet in his life time hundreds of years back, the turbo speed of life and the ease of travel and communications have removed the “im” from the impossible. Of all the people we meet every day, how many doors we open to see what’s inside the person, what actually makes that person, or the outer beauty and looks are enough for us to judge any one. Are we afraid of opening the doors or are we not interested or is it that we don’t care. Whatever the reason be, we actually open very few doors. The ones we open, how much we can claim we know about that person, be it any one, sister, brother, best friend, boss, class fellow, teacher, peon, driver, cook or in fact life partner. With how much certainty can we claim that we completely know this person………more often then not, we just see inside to check does that person has what we are looking for, if yes, good, if no, good bye. Selfish us. I know its really cold standing in front of the open refrigerator door sometimes, looking for what’s all inside but again, there is a price for everything. Are we willing to pay the price?

It’s all about opening the door, if we look carefully, we would surely find so many things inside the refrigerator that would surprise us, some things we were not expecting to be there. These surprises are pleasant as well as non-pleasant ones, but fact of the matter is that surprises open yet another view of possibility in our mind which was not present there before. “Oh wow! Cadburys, I just love them, who bought it, I didn’t know they were here” or “I didn’t know you are so caring, they way you helped me out of this mess, I am so thankful, I am glad I asked you for help” its all the question of opening the door. Sometimes doors are open accidentally or without effort on our part and it makes us go and see what’s more is in there, just out of curiosity. Other times, when we are with someone, talk and care, we actually open that door ourselves, some times the other person leaves the door open for us to see…as they say more you know about someone more you can come close and care, the question still remains the same, Are we willing to open the door?

Stephen covey talks about emotional bank account, that we all carry a emotional bank account with each person we meet and have our relationship with, some times when we do some thing good, we deposit in that account and other times we do some thing bad or say some thing bad, we make a width drawl from it, and the next time we meet we start with the balance we left last time. Refrigerator is a way to keep things fresh even after days, and when we take it out, some things we have chilled and cold, rest we heat up a little in the micro and have it as we put it in there, the emotional account way, nothing changes, we restart where we left from, time sometimes matter but most of the time it doesn’t. Relationships have a unique bonding, that stays even when souls are miles apart, and re grows when the boundaries are abandoned. What ever we leave in the other persons heart and mind stays there, good or bad, doesn’t matter, experts call it subconscious, and when we meet again, FRESH, those memories re-live again and we start from where we left, what kind of memories we leave with the ones we meet…or better way to ask this questions would be “What kind of memories we want to have we MEET AGAIN? What we need to do today in order to have those memories tomorrow, are we willing to do it…there is no such thing as free lunch!

Right now I am sitting in front of the computer, typing all this in the word processor, I m no where near the refrigerator, this quote appears in one of my email messages sent by an unknown sender completely summarizes how I feel right now

“Words are unable to contain feelings and emotions

&

Thoughts are unable to ignore it.”

There is so much more to say…