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. 

Special- Just by being there. :)

Well, a friend of mine told me this a couple of days back.
"People don't always become special when they do something, sometimes, they become special just by being there." :)

Its such a wonderful thought. I mean if you look back and see, the most special people of your life will be the ones who have been with you when you were bored, texted you or talked to you through the most unexciting of nights, bunked lectures with you and sat with you talking about anything or even nothing, having chat conversations which go like – “Hi. Hello. I’m bored. I think my nails look best when I paint them pink. Lets call the Zulus, maybe they can entertain us.”, times when you pass notes in class with the caricature of the teacher and basically doing nothing with someone.

One memory I have of is the one where me and a couple of my friends -lets call them K and P- were supposed to catch a one o clock show for a movie called "Quickgun Murgan" (if I remember correctly), and as usual, we dint get tickets- but we did get tickets for a four o clock show. So now there we were, from 12 o clock to 4 o clock - we had lots of time to kill, no energy to go anywhere far and no money to go anywhere fancy. We crossed the road and there was "French Loaf" - Its a nice bakery, nice cakes and stuff.-So, we went there, the three of us were in the muckiest of moods, ordered two pastries-shared them. And then we just sat there, talking about the most nonsensical stuff on the planet, about our lives, about how things would change(and they have), making lists of how we would want out spouses to be, making agreements that one of us would not eat outside unless it was a treat(works two ways: you don't pay and don't put on unnecessary weight).... and stuff like that! We really didn't do anything that day, didn't make any promises to be there for each other for the rest of our lives or any cheesy stuff like that, but I guess that was one of the best times we ever had.

Even now, I mean yes, I do remember the people who were there with me when I was in trouble or I needed someone, but invariably they were the same people who were there for me when I was in the worst of moods and I was no fun at all and all I did was ruin the party.So remember to look beyond words and promises- remember to thank the people who were there for you when you had nothing to talk about. They are special too. :)

Rear View Mirror

Wel I was sitting in class today and as usual day-dreaming, and I thought, how nice it would be to have a rear view mirror in life, (btw rear view mirrors are those mirrors on bikes, cars and other vehicles which help us see who is behind).
Ya so coming back, if we had rear view mirrors in life too, then, literally, we could see what the person behind us was doing and you know it would be of great help specially if you have friends( or enemies) who like to prank on you(by sticking notes saying, “I’m Dumb”, or like to pull off your chair when ur jus goin to sit on it and the likes) and in exam hal( you know why ;) , though let me clear to you that I don’t resort to such cheap tactics to get the marks I get :P) and ofcourse when u turn around suddenly you don’t risk stamping on your friends toe or bumping into your JAVA teacher!!
But on a more philosophical note, I think a rear view mirror in life would help us to look back at the times we’ve spent.
Good times would give us laughter, leave a smile on our face, give us hope during bad times and help us realize that bad times come but they don’t last forever.
Bad times would bring back painful memories and lots of lessons, lessons learnt for a lifetime.
Times of hardwork would make us realize that nothing in life comes easy, we have to work in order to win, we cant just sit there and keep hoping to win, and actually win.
Times spent with friends would make us nostalgic and remind you that, sometimes it okay to be “weird”, just cuz its fun.
Times with family would help us realize that no matter what we do, right or wrong, good or bad, or we don’t do anything at all, there are people who stand behind us and will support us and help us get through everything, whether they actually approve of what we do or not.
Whatever times we’ve had, the life we’ve lived is something which we should never forget, cuz I believe every moment is important in itself, its even good to remember times when you were bored cuz when u think of them you actually contemplate on how lame you actually were(I do that!!).

So, yea, conclusion, life may not have provided a rear view mirror but we for sure have the power to imagine that we have one and can live our life looking back, not looking back and getting stuck, but looking back and laughing, learning, smiling and analyzing.

PS: Don’t say you can’t imagine a rear view mirror, just give it a shot, if Calvin can make a time machine out of a mere cardboard box, you sure can imagine a rear view mirror! :P

The Things That Matter

One more of my Editorials.

Today, life has become a race. Everyone is running and running to win. Yes, it's a good thing, but are we losing out on - or should I say, completely forgetting - the things that really matter ?

How long is it since you
* saw a flower with dew drops on it,
* enjoyed the rain (without cribbing about your clothes
getting dirty),
* helped someone cross the road,
* sat down and actually enjoyed your cup of Coffee without
hurriedly gulping it down,
* sat down with someone and talked and laughed about
nothing.

...How long?

Are we really running the race of life, are we just losing out on things? On memories that really matter? Is it worth it? Think about it...

Take a break, I am not saying don’t run in the race of life.... just take some time off, sometime to enjoy the company of yourself, sometime to enjoy the miracles of nature, sometime to talk to your friends about nothing, sometime to just not worry about tomorrow and live today fully so you’ll have memories for a life time. Take sometime off …. Its worth it.

Don’t run through life.

Listen to the music of life before the song is over.