Blissful Life

Author: akshay

  • How 6,692,030,277 People Live on this Earth

    I like to travel. Because whenever I go outside my home, I see people. The old man sitting right next to me in the bus, the man who is selling oranges, the woman waiting anxiously in the bus shelter, the kid talking to his friend, the youth resting his eye on every one coming his way, the sweeper, the policeman, the drunkard who asks the way to the policeman, the people who smile to the policeman when he answers the drunkard, and hundreds more, may be thousand.

    So, how does that make my life blissful?

    With every new person I see, I realize that everyone among those 6 billion+ people who are living on this earth has a life of their own.

    And then I think how egocentric our lives are. About how our lives revolve around our own existence only. About how selfish we are.

    Because every one of the people I meet, every one among them is doing something. Every one of them is going somewhere. Every one sleeps at night. Everyone lives.
    And so do I.

    I am just another one.

    That thought can bring us a lot of relief.
    To know that we are just another one among those billions.
    To know that our lives are as valuable and as worthless as the life of anyone else.

    And that brings us the ability to empathize. The ability to listen to what others have to say. The ability to feel for others, and be sincerely a part of their lives. The ability to regard their lives as a part of our own.
    It allows us to see the interconnectedness of the lives.
    It allows us to talk to the minds of others.
    It allows us to open up.
    It makes us human.

    We soon start to respect everyone, regardless of what their status in the society, what they are, or what they are doing. We start to love everyone. Everyone starts to love us.

    And when there is infinite love, there is infinite bliss.

    So, the next time you are in a bus, look outside. See a man, think of how he is struggling to move forward, think of where he will sleep that day, think of how many people will be waiting for him. Then think of yourself. Then see another person, think of how she is going on in life. Then see another, then another.

    And by the time you reach your destination, you will be feeling the love for others welling inside you.
    Just pour it out on your friends, enemies, everyone you meet.

    Start loving sincerely.

    Soon you will have a blissful life.

  • Brand Your Self through Personal Branding

    All those companies out there, they are brands. Google, Pepsi, Reliance, Nokia, Vodafone, Adidas, LG, Samsung, Hyundai…
    Think of any one of them, without their name.

    Think of Adidas selling their sports wears without their logo on it. How about a new Google service which does not begin with “Google”? Every one of those companies, and the others out there, have a brand.

    This branding does not come on its own. They need to advertise, they need to put logos on their products, they need to put in their product as theirs. And after all of this they grow as a reliable brand with customers worldwide.

    Not just that, when we hear of a brand name, all the values, all the ideas, all the causes that brand supports suddenly pops up into our mind. So, when we hear Google we will know it is about simplicity. Firefox – open source. LG – Making life good. Pepsi – Selling more (dil mange more :D).

    Now how do we apply that to human beings?

    Let us say a person X has a lot of qualities. X finishes the task assigned well in time, X meets all dead lines, X is punctual, X never wastes time, X loves working late.

    Now, if you were asked to give an urgent task, one that will become messy if postponed, would you not consider X automatically?

    Because you know X knows to manage time.
    Then we say X is a brand in a person. A brand which puts time up in their priority list.

    For becoming a brand you need to have a set of values, which you strictly adhere to.
    Could be Gandhian values (like me), Buddhist values, Islamic values, or for that matter the values of any religion, English values, American values, European values, Indian values.
    Or it could be hybrids.
    Or it could be a new set of values that you define on your own.

    But whatever be your values, you need to strictly adhere to it.
    If you say “you will always be happy”, you must always be smiling.
    If you say “impossible is not a word in my dictionary”, you must display that courage to do anything.
    If you say “I love sleeping”, you must have even tried polyphasic sleep.

    The idea is you must be predictable. If you say “I will be unpredictable”, you must be always (and predictably) unpredictable.

    And then people will know what to expect from you and what not to.
    That way when there is some thing that you can do well, they will know who can do it well.
    When an expert is needed in what you love to do, they will know whom to run to.
    And you will not have to explain the reason behind things you are doing. Because they know that it is your nature to do such things. You will no longer be misunderstood, because they know what you are meaning.
    Life becomes so much more easier.

    So, brand yourself.

  • How to Mess Up Life and Still Be Happy in the End

    Sometimes messing up life can be more delighting than going through the routine systematically.
    How?
    When you do something systematically:

    • You do it
    • You go home

    You talk with people, but you are not emotionally associating with people.

    When you mess up:

    • You try to do something
    • You mess up
    • You try your best to make amends for the mess you made
    • In that process you talk with a lot of people (or may be just one) most often through your heart

    Finally you end up emotionally a lot more closer with those people than you would have in the first case.

    Emotional intimacy converts into friendship or at least a deep sense of attachment.
    That is increased number of people ready to provide warmth to you.
    And in the end how happy you are depends a lot on how warm they keep you.

    So, if you do something as you should have; OK, go home, sleep well, be happy!

    But if you mess up?
    Make amends.
    Try all out to make amends.
    Do not leave anyone unhappy.
    Do not allow anyone to sleep that night with a grudge on you.

    Then go home. Sleep well.
    Next morning you will wake up a lot more happier.

    When you have no problem in life you will be happy; but when you have problems and you solve them, you end up happier.

    Mess up life.

  • Instant Mood Transformer

    Today evening I was thinking:  ‘Life is pointless, where am I leading to, what should I do next‘
    I was feeling enervated.
    I knew I was not in a good mood at all.
    I tried finding some motivational quotes in the world wide web. But all those awesome quotes suddenly felt like mere words for me.
    Windows media player was playing only the sad songs.
    Everything in the TV seemed to be worse than boring lectures
    I thought about reading some book, but I did not have the energy to stand up and walk to the book shelf.
    Everything let me down.
    I thought I would find some solace in my gmail inbox. I found a lone mail there from a friend. She had already forwarded it to everybody I knew. And archiving the mail showed me that familiar “No new mail!” slogan.
    I was depressed. I was angry at myself for being so. But I was unable to get out of the mood.

    And then it happened. I just walked out of my house. I was amidst all those plants and trees. They had this exceptional aura of calmness surrounding them. And the wind which filled my lungs to its maximum. Sure it was not one of the most colourful moments of my life, but no amount of colour would be able to make me happy in that mood too. But the serene nature suddenly turned me into that productive, creative, willing-to-go-for-it me. As though the energy flowed directly from the tress into me through the wind.

    And then I knew it.

    All those high tech gadgets, they are sure fun. But only when you are in the mood for fun.
    When you are depressed, down, what you need is some soothing.

    And there is only one thing that is instantly available for everyone which can provide that solace: mother nature.

    Take a stroll through the garden. Smell the leaves. Breathe the wind. Get in harmony with nature.
    And then you will once again feel it. The blood rushing in your body. Your brain resuming from its slumber. Sparks of creativity in your mind.
    And, you are back.

    Our eyes were meant to see curves, the branching trees and arching grass and the rabbit and the river. But what we see is rectangular blocks of text in a rectangular screen or sheet on a rectangular table inside in a rectangular room. See some curves.

    We are living. But what we live with are machines, inanimate and emotionless. Multimedia can fool the eyes, the ears. Junk food can fool the tongue. Ceramic tiles can fool the skin. Perfumes can fool the nose. But there is something inside everyone that senses life. And you cannot fool it for long. You’ve got to be near some life. Or soon the one inside you will die down.

    Whenever you feel depressed, breathe some fresh air in the garden.

  • Life is a Matter of A Few Hours

    You may be 70 years old. But if I ask you to look back at your life and tell me something which you did for days at a stretch, without doing anything else like talking with friends, playing, exercising or anything else, I am almost sure that you will not tell me an answer straightaway.

    Because for almost all of us, life is a matter of a few blocks of hours.

    You might be a highly successful employee in a well known company. You might have got a couple of promotions, double-raises, several other incentives. But when you look back at what got you those, you would probably find that the tasks that got you into that high position were done in a few hours.

    What the? I took 7 days to finish my work on XYZ.

    Yes, you might have took 7 days. But if somebody logged all your activities in those 7 days, you will find that it was in some handful of hours that you really did something towards XYZ. You slept, you talked, you dined, you did other things, and you did XYZ too. If you take a really sincere close look, you can see that it was only those 3*5=15 hours in the office that you took for the task.

    OK, I understand I did XYZ in a few hours. But are you suggesting me to get rid of sleep and do it all in 1 day?

    No way. What I am asking you to do is to acknowledge that most important things that happen in your life happens in a few hours.

    Remember all the learning you did in your school. There were those hours when you were actively listening in the class, those hours in the days before exams when you actually came to understand what is meant by Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Those are the moments. You did not set out on a long journey and learn or do things. There were some hours, when you really learned something.

    With that understanding comes a great deal of inspiration.

    That you can do things, because it’s just a matter of a few hours (or may be minutes)
    You could earn a friend with a smile, that’s just a second.
    You could help somebody in a few minutes.
    You could learn something new in an hour, (or if you’re learning c++, in less than 5 hours)
    You could work on your dream project with just 20% of your time.

    But you think it takes a lot of time, and never do it. Where in real life, it takes only a few hours.

    Do not over estimate time. 

    The next task you are up to. Find what is to be done. Do it. Look at the clock.

    You can do anything; talk, chat, play, watch, enjoy. But those few hours you must give your 100% for the task at hand. And at the end of the day you will have done everything.

  • How to Get Rid of Addiction to Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, Twitter, Other Social Networking Sites, Internet or Computer in General

    This is an exclusive way to get rid of your obsession with facebook, myspace, twitter, orkut, other social networking sites, or internet in general, computer to be specific.

    (If you reached here searching google for “How to get rid of facebook addiction”, “How to get rid of internet addiction”, “How to get rid of internet” or “How to get rid of that feeling to google my answer to whether I should stop surfing now”, you are good enough as an addict)

    Follow my orders carefully. It is absolutely important to do so.

    1. Save all your open files. [Save everything that may be lost in case of power failure]
    2. Stand up.
    3. Those of you who are still sitting, stand up.
    4. I told you, if you don’t follow what I tell, this won’t work. So please STAND UP.
    5. OK. Now go to start menu, click shut down, click shut down again.

    Now by the time your browser process is terminated by your processor, tell me a good bye.
    And then when your wallpaper comes up look how beautiful it is.
    And when your screen goes blank, switch off the UPS, pull out the power cords, and if possible disconnect monitor, mouse and keyboard.

    Do something productive. (And be assured nothing will happen in the e-world by the time your urge to check your inbox returns to you)

    That will do.

  • The Meaning of Patriotism in the Global Scenario

    You stand up for the National Anthem of your nation, and then your hairs stand up. This is patriotism.
    But what does being patriotic mean after globalization?
    You are politically correct. Because after your independence (which almost every country has) the people who struggled for your national entity decided upon an agreement that you would vote regularly and decide a leader to rule the nation and so on…
    So, during elections, you are legally confirming to be a member of an organization that spans across your country.

    Just like imperialism died with revolutions, nationalism must die with globalization.

    You are no longer talking only with people whom you can see. You are no longer reading words that were written by your country-mates. You are no longer restricted to your nation.
    So why should your love be?

    Science is global.
    So is economics.
    Let alone climate change.
    Energy crisis?
    Terrorism.
    Market. Trade. Business.
    Sports, literature, art.

    If nations were formed to eliminate a common threat and preserve a shared culture, then why should nations stand alone? Because almost every threat that we face today is global. And almost everything that we do today is global.

    Our curling up into fragments of earth only shows how small we are.
    Nationalism is just the same as racism. And wars are nothing but fascism.

    This neither justifies brain drain nor suggests you to hate your nation. Your parents who cared for you all through your childhood deserves your care when you can stand alone. And if you do not love your nation you are doing the same as throwing your parents into hopelessness.
    You must retain the love for your nation. You must stand up for your own national flag, but also for others’.

    If our true love is for the mankind, then it is time that we stop hating people on the basis of nationality.

    We must be patriotic, but our nation must be Planet Earth.

  • Happy Valentine’s Day

    Yesterday, Shiv Sena was against SRK and we made MNIK a success.
    Ram Sena is against Valentine’s Day. Let’s do something on Feb 14.

    Here are some beautiful love quotes I found from around the internet.

    Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. ~Albert Einstein
    Anyone can catch your eye, but it takes someone special to catch your heart. ~Author Unknown

    A hundred hearts would be too few
    To carry all my love for you.
    ~Author Unknown
    Who, being loved, is poor? ~Oscar Wilde
    Are we not like two volumes of one book? ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

    What I need to live has been given to me by the earth. Why I need to live has been given to me by you. ~Author Unknown
    At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. ~Plato

    Love is missing someone whenever you’re apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you’re close in heart. ~Kay Knudsen

    You know when you have found your prince because you not only have a smile on your face but in your heart as well. ~Author Unknown

    Anyone can be passionate, but it takes real lovers to be silly. ~Rose Franken
    Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired. ~Robert Frost

  • The Guy In The Glass – by Dale Wimbrow

    This is an inspirational poem by Dale Wimbrow, I found while reading Pluginid

    When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
    And the world makes you King for a day,
    Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
    And see what that guy has to say.

    For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,
    Who judgement upon you must pass.
    The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
    Is the guy staring back from the glass.

    He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,
    For he’s with you clear up to the end,
    And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test
    If the guy in the glass is your friend.

    You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,
    And think you’re a wonderful guy,
    But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum
    If you can’t look him straight in the eye.

    You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
    And get pats on the back as you pass,
    But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
    If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.

    – Dale Wimbrow 1895-1954

    Read more about this poem here.

  • The Idiot’s Guide to a Blissful Life

    If you could just follow a handful of principles and make your life the happiest, how would you feel? Well, here is a chance.

    Things to note about this handbook: You may find self-contradicting statements. They are meant to be there, because this guide will get tougher and tougher as you go down the list, and tough steps may contradict easier steps. In case of a conflict, the rules that come down the line will prevail.

    The Idiot’s Guide to a Blissful Life

    A: Do not be prejudiced.
    Do not judge anyone by their appearance, talk, gestures, or even by what others say about them.
    Do not judge anything by advertisements, brand, etc.
    Do not form an opinion about anyone / anything without first coming to know a lot about them.

    B: Love everyone, unconditionally.
    Love anyone and everyone you see unconditionally.
    May them be sore, may them be cheaters, may them be fools, may them be bad, but just love them. That is to say when they talk with you, hear them like you would hear one of your friends.
    When they ask for your help, help them like you would help one of your friends.

    C: Talk only the truth:
    Whatever people ask you answer them honestly.
    Never tell a lie when people expect you to be truthful.

    D: Give yourself to others:
    Whatever they ask you give them without question, without attachments, without worry.
    Whatever help they seek from you lend your best hand.
    Whatever work you do, do it sincerely.
    Give your 100%

    E: Do only good:
    Do not ever act against your consciousness.
    Do not do anything if it is not going to be for the common good.

    The more of these you can practice in your life, the happier you will turn.

    Try and enjoy the bliss.