Let the Love Out.

I am sharing this lovely quote by Harvey Milk

"Go after her. Fuck, don't sit there and wait for her to call, go after her because that's what you should do if you love someone, don't wait for them to give you a sign cause it might never come, don't let people happen to you, don't let me happen to you, or her, she's not a fucking television show or a tornado. There are people I might have loved had they gotten on the airplane or run down the street after me or called me up drunk at four in the morning because they want to tell me right now and because they cannot regret this and I always thought I'd be the only one doing crazy things for people who would never give enough of a fuck to do it back or act like idiots are be entirely vulnerable and honest and making someone fall in love with you is easy and flying 3000 miles on four days notice because you can't just sit there and do nothing and breathe into telephones is not everyone's idea of love but it is the way I can recognize it because that is what I do. Go scream it and be with her in meaningful ways because that is beautiful and that is generous and that is what loving someone is, that is raw and that is unguarded and that is all that is worth anything, really."

A little me time.

Sometimes all you need to get back on track is a little me time. Doing something all by yourself helps clear your head out. It allows you to think about stuff you have been avoiding, things which are actually important but seem trivial.

Alone time is important, whether its reading a book, listening to new music or having an alone dance party, some alone time will help you get perspective on life. Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Will the pieces ever fit?

Life is a trade off.

It is a bundle of things you could of done, could have avoided or, the things that you have done. 

Either way, whatever you choose, life goes on. In retrospect, when you look at it, you wonder if the choices you made were right, if the choices you made were worth it. 

The choices you make, are trade offs, most of the time, one thing has to be given up. You can't be good at everything unless you are superman. It is possible to have it all? Is it possible to be happy and satisfied with the way you prioritise and the choices you make? 

I guess this will be discovered in time. When you look back, and you feel the dots have a pattern, when you feel like the pieces all fit together, this is will you peace, make you feel calm, but this is just brief moment of solace, because there will be another storm that will rip the pieces apart and you will be back at square one and you need to work the puzzle all over again. 

Words.

Some words are spoken.

Some words are written. 

Some words need to be heard. 

Some words just remain doodles. 

Some words take your heart away. 

Take the leap of faith, say what you want to say. You cannot see the terrace from the beginning of a stairwell. You need to take the journey before you get to the destination. 

And I think you will be happier for the trouble.

I am a big fan of Zen Pencils. It is a site where inspirational quotes from famous people are adapted into cartoons. Gavin Aung Than is the cartoonist who quit his job to pursue his passion, drawing cartoons.

The latest poster he made, was about my favorite cartoonist of all time, Bill Watterson - The creator of the legendary Calvin and Hobbes strip.
(Self Blog Pimp Alert: You can check out my all time fav Calvin comics here)

So the quote the was taken was,
"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement.
In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life,
a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive.
Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success.
Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake.
A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.

There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.

To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble."

I think this is something very important for us to remember.
In this race of life, where everyone is running, some of us trampling all over the others to get ahead, we should not lose focus of happiness. Some might argue that happiness is a good job, good money. If that is what is making us truly happy, then so be it, but I just hope we do not forget to focus on what really matters.
Confusing career with happiness is something that a lot of us do. If we are following our passions and building your careers then I am happy, but otherwise I hope we always remember that having an enviable career is one thing, being a happy person is another.
In this race of life, I hope we do not lose focus on the other, because we are chasing the one.

PS: The poster for this can be found here.

Intelligence, Energy and Integrity

Just a little something I read.  

“You’re looking for three things, generally, in a person,” says Buffett. “Intelligence, energy, and integrity. And if they don’t have the last one, don’t even bother with the first two. I tell them, ‘Everyone here has the intelligence and energy—you wouldn’t be here otherwise. But the integrity is up to you. You weren’t born with it, you can’t learn it in school.”

The definition of integrity is simple. It is doing what you said you will do, when you said you will do it. It is a sense of self conscious that tells you not to be hypocritical. It is not saying one thing and doing another. It is being honest to your words.  And in Buffet's words, it has to come from within, it is a choice. 

On Writing

I read this quote by Andre Dubus,

"Don't quit, It's very easy to quit during the first ten years. Nobody cares whether you write or not, and it's very hard to write when nobody cares one way or the other. You can't get fired if you don't write, and most of the time you don't get rewarded if you do. But don't quit. "

The truth is, I had put off writing for a long time, a much too long a time indeed. There has always been an urge to put pen to paper, but somehow the thought always fleeted away. Now, as time and life has progressed, I have realised that sometimes time needs to be made for the things you want to do. The things that were once effortless might require effort now. And if you really want to do something, you are going to have to want to make a choice to make time for it. It could be herd and inconvenient in the beginning, but it will be sure be worth it. 

Lead? Or Inspire?

I very recently learnt the concept of "The Level Five Leader". It has been picked up from Jim Collins' book, From Good To Great. It is a very simple concept and its explained very clearly in the picture given below.

The most important characteristics of a level five leaders are personal humility and professional will. I personally feel humility is more important. You will find this in most of the great leaders you can think off (there aren't too many Steve Jobs' types who get away with being arrogant)

This principle not only applies at an organizational level, but at any and every leadership position a person holds. A leader here is a person who influences another person for certain reasons. (Mostly to get some work done).
If a leader does not have humility, it is very difficult for his team to connect with him. All the necessary information will be hidden behind his big fat ego and this helps no one.
If he does not have humility, he will not appreciate the work his team is putting in. Appreciation, genuine appreciation, and if not appreciation, even acknowledgement of the work that a team puts in is very valued.
The leader generally takes all the credit happily, but when something goes wrong, a leader with humility will stand up for his team. When a leader airs his dirty laundry in public, it indicates towards the leader being a coward. Someone who cannot sit and review the work of his team, but go around saying he has the suckiest team ever.
Sarcasm and leadership is a deadly combination, one must know where to draw a line.
Most of the times, leaders themselves do not know what they want, but they know exactly what they don't want, these are the worst people to work with. They will never like what you give them, and they will never tell you what they want. The most confused people every.

There will always be times when you will have to work with the worst of people, but you need to identify these morons and act accordingly. You need to find a way to work around them, if you can't work with them.

People will annoy you, irritate you, make you want to throw things at them, swear at them, throw up on them and a lot of other things. But this is the time you must remember, humility and will. They will take you places.

Let Out Scars Fall in Love

We're all seeking that special person who is right for us. But if you've been through enough relationships, you begin to suspect there's no right person, just different flavors of wrong. Why is this? Because you yourself are wrong in some way, and you seek out partners who are wrong in some complementary way. But it takes a lot of living to grow fully into your own wrongness. And it isn't until you finally run up against your deepest demons, your unsolvable problems--the ones that make you truly who you are--that we're ready to find a lifelong mate. Only then do you finally know what you're looking for. You're looking for the wrong person. But not just any wrong person: the right wrong person--someone you lovingly gaze upon and think, "This is the problem I want to have.
--Galway Kinnell