Adapt for your own good

The human being is extremely adaptable and should make the most of it.

Adaptable both by mind and body. Thoughts can be altered and so can physical habits. Neglecting this is criminal. You can count on the fact that whatever situation you face mentally or physically, your body will adjust to it: get used to it. Initial apprehension or pain will pass out. Whether its the pain in the mouth due to a newly fitted teeth brace or pain of the mind in coping with new job responsibilities. The brain is not used to processing new information easily and thus causes initial jitters. When the same information keeps coming at it constantly, it neglects it since it knows it already! The pain or irritation of a newly fit brace is the same on day-one as it is on day-hundred, only that it feels nothing on day-hundred! An alien environment at your new job seems strange on day-one and is taken for granted on day-hundred! The brain neglects that what it already knows! This holds for any physical and mental activity.

The adaptable body is a tool with you. Use it effectively to tread on uncharted paths.

Circumstance Bubble

A post after nearly 3 months. But good ones come with intervals they say ;)

People are embellished or degraded by cirumstances. Circumstances are like a bubbles which gulp people and thats the way they appear to the world. People in positive cirumstance bubble seem larger than life and adorable. People in the negative circumstance bubble look desperate and fighting. The person is the same but his/her appearance or our perception of him/her changes drastically with circumstances. Similarly the cirumstance bubble might be around the viewer filtering his/her view. So a person in a positive circumstance will view the entire world as getting better, working out and functioning smoothly. A negative circumstance person will view it as falling, crumbling or just about managing to hold itself together.

Thats why its necessary to develop this neutral attitude of looking at things. A need to look at the person and not what circumstances show him/her to be. Thats how you will know the real person. Similary to view the world with a netural attitude whatever cirumstance we might be in, to understand its true working.

Handicap lies in the eye of the beholder

Since BLACK is in the air recently, I've been reading interviews by Rani Mukherjee and Amitabh Bachchan where they share their experiences of being in the company with physically disabled people. They talk about the grit, determination and independence shown by these people who consider themselves no less than a "normal" human being and are as enthusiastic in their work as anyone else. That raises a thought in my mind. Whenever we see such "handicapped" people we feel (I mean at least I do) a bit odd and sad. Is that the right attitude? Do these people deserve to be looked down upon? Although you may not be intentionally doing so, but you feel like there is something "less" in them. Is that thought valid? Consider this: These people have their disability given to them by nature. They can do nothing about it. They overcome their handicap and fight to live life as normally as anyone else and are mostly fairly successful too. You, a "normal" person see these people and view them as handicapped. Now you can certainly and consciously avoid such feelings. But somehow you can't. You uncontrollably think the same whenever you come across them. So where does the handicap really lie?! In you? These people have achieved a lot in living against all odds. They deserve respect. At the same time they need to be treated as "normal" as anyone and everyone. Offer them help only if they ask for it!

Simple Life

A thought after a long time. Reason: 13 going on 30. The movie is so sweet Jennifer Garner is sweeter) in its story and the ideas put forth that you learn the importance of simple (and seemingly useless) things in life and how they can crucially shape your future. *If you've not seen the film yet.. don't read this blog.. but do see the film :)* I don't remember her character's name in the film so I'll refer to Jennifer Garner as JG. The wish that JG is granted and the flash-forward of 17 years proves helpful for her. It is really astonishing to live oneself 17 years into the future but with the mind and temperament of the present. The revelations about the 17 years and the path she chose to get where she is shocks JG and she is not able to believe the choices that she made (will make) in those 17 years. She gets one surprise after another about what a (bad) person she has become and then ponders over the choices she made in her life of those 17 years looking at photographs. She is devastated when she dyingly wants to be together with her childhood buddy, who is now moving on in his life, since she decided to leave him just after the flash-forward incident. She realizes what she had at 13 and what she needed to hold on to and what she needs to let go. JG gets a chance to start it all over again at 13 to make a great 30.

A thought provoking film. Every instant, you and me can make hundreds of different choices. Each choice will define an alternate life path. Is chosing the right things that difficult? I don't think so. Keep life simple. Use common sense. You will not get the chance JG got.

Uniqueness

Uniqueness is a virtue. It comes everyday. All people we meet are unique. I can't peep inside each personality but can surely say that no two people are same. A given situation you get unique response from each person. A human being biologically is 99.99% same in all its instances. But this minute difference in all brings out personalities. While there are Einsteinss there are Hitlers and there are George Bushs. A person appears beautiful, ugly, uncommon or any characteristic you like to describe it but you should learn to "see" him/her. Behind that exterior lies a world more vast than the biggest grassland, deepest than the deepest ocean, highest than the highest peak. Learn to interact and neglect common faults. Its a beautifulplace, this earth with so many unique fellowmen.

Indomitable Spirit

In the soon to be concluded ICC Cricket Championship, one thing that came out on top was indomitable spirit shown by the England team. In its time, any team can overpower the opposition however tough it may be. It happened with the West Indies in the late seventies, Australia in the late eighties, Pakistan in the early nineties, Sri Lanka in the late nineties and currently Australia again. So how do the underdog teams compete? By maintaining an indomitable spirit! No matter how many losses you incur, you should make it a habbit to never give up. England did just that and are reaping the benefits. They overpowered the mighty Australian side and entered the finals. Hopefully they will win the finals but as the track record of the game of cricket goes it never fails to surprise. So only time will tell the result. But this observation puts forth the importance and necessity of maintaining an indomitable spirit. No matter what or where you are working on you will need tons of indomitable spirit. Once you have that you have everything you need. Your body has to learn to fight relentlessly on whatever problem you are facing. Persistence always pays.

Failure happens only when you quit.

Respect Imperfection

Never make judgements on others on first meetings. I have had this recent experience (an addition to many more earlier) where a seemingly bad character turns out to have some talent that can make anyone envious. The person who seemed bad due to some particular trait like smoking, drinking, lying, being hypocritical etc has reached higher grounds in the thing that he/she excels in. Respect them for that. They have done some sincere hardwork in the past which has made them proficient in that aspect. Admire the person for that admirable quality he/she poesses. Respect their imperfections. No one is perfect.