Helen Keller once remarked that there was one thing she knew of that was worse than being blind; it was to be able to see but have no vision.
In case you do not know the story of Helen Keller, she was less than two years old when she suddenly came down with a fever that left her unconscious. The fever left just as suddenly. But she was left blinded and, very soon after, also became deaf. Despite these handicaps, she went on to live a passionate, meaningful and important life.
You can read a brief biography here… http://www.rnib.org.uk/wesupply/fctsheet/keller.htm
This is one of my own favorite and oft repeated sayings, “A person without a definite purpose in life is more handicapped than the most disadvantaged or disabled.”
This is the sad, sad, sad truth about most people’s lives…
They have eyes that work; they can see, but they have no vision.
They have ears that work; they can hear, but choose not to listen.
They have a tongue that works; they can speak, but have nothing to say.
The vast majority of people lead mediocre and purposeless lives. They are stuck in this mediocrity because they have no vision for their lives. They are mired in this mediocrity because they refuse to listen to the quiet internal voice that keeps telling them that there must be a better way. They are trapped in mediocrity because they have not the courage to gather their voice and speak their truth; instead they mumble/repeat the inanities learned from the likewise mediocre folks they hang around with as they fulfill the oft repeated truism, ‘misery loves company’.
Thoreau wrote that most people lead lives of quiet desperation.
People are so desperate for a vision to lead their lives by that they follow mendacious politicians that are even more mediocre than they themselves are.
People are so desperate for a message to give meaning to their lives that they buy into whatever story they are fed.
Desperate and mediocre people hang around in packs sharing the BS, lies and stories hoping to find succor in being a part of the commonality of mediocrity.
Happy, successful, fulfilled, self-destined and self-motivated people do not mind solitude and quiet. They have no need to fill up empty hours with noise to cover up the still quiet internal voice. They have no need to stuff their days with the eye candy of television to hide from the fact that they have no inner vision. They have no need to continuously chatter loud inanities in an attempt to disguise their lack of message.
Thoreau also wrote, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear."
Do you want to come to the end of your life only to find that you have not lived; you have only merely existed?
If you want to be fulfilled, to live a happy life, to be successful and to have prosperity, then you must develop your own vision and your own message. You must become your own disciple and follow your own truth.
Turn off your television and turn on your inner vision. Find or create your own vision. Without this vision, you cannot see where you are going and it is most unlikely that you will ever end where you want to be.
Your life will have meaning and purpose only when you assign it a message. Stop buying into other people’s stories. Write your own script. Examine your core beliefs and discard those that do not serve you.
You will be fulfilled only when you discover or design your own truth and then, live it. Only you can decide what is true and meaningful for you. Happiness is not found in any philosophy that is offered to you. It is not ‘on sale’ at the mall or superstore. No one can give it to you. It is only found within your own heart.
Are you after prosperity? An abundance of all the good things that life has to offer? A way out of mediocrity?
You will find that life offers you prosperity as soon as you use your will to create a congruency of ideal (vision), word (thought) and deed (action). It really is up to you.
Take responsibility now for your life.
Leslie is the author of The DELFIN Knowledge System Trilogy: The Initiation, The Journey and The Quest plus many more success publications. He also the co-author of The End of the World with Hugh Jeffries and Alexandra's DragonFire with his daughter Ashley.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Woes of 9/11
Courtesy : Indu Rajagopal
we are now five years into the war against terror and if truth was
indeed the first casualty, you can rest assured that by now it has been
beaten completely to death.i am sick of 9 - 11 and its sob stories. if
its not the newspapers, it is the radio and if its not the radio then it
is the television. everywhere I go Nine Eleven seems to be following me.
CNN blares 9 - 11, CBS blares 9 - 11, ABC blares 9 - 11. Nevertheless,
the spin doctors and jingoists are still running amok and as the
violence continues unabated in both Afghanistan and Iraq, fewer and
fewer people seem to eve recall the original objective of the military
campaign: To bring the perpetrators of the 9 - 11 attacks to justice.
After half a decade of US occupation, the elusive Mr. O still remains at
large and the over stretched military needs to divert forces out of
Afghanistan into Iraq.
The Big Apple is in mourning, The President is bumbling again about
security and justice for the world's last remaining Super Powers. And
the liberals and conservatives in Sadda Cannada fight among themselves
to label Harper as a Bushy Cheerleader!!! chuckle...
News channels in a bid to secure ratings are digging skeletons up. So
you see an interview about a survivor. you see a tearful interview about
a victim's relative and interestingly you have further new interviews, a
60 minute episode on health defects becos of 9 - 11!!! i mean like what.
have you ever thought of the Hiroshima bombings and the health defects
becos of that. maybe influenced by the Bhopal gas tragedy or the
Chernobyl tragedy. of course here we are talking about concrete waste
and not gaseous emissions. I think workers on construction sites /
limestone quarries in India may be able to throw some light on the
issues plaguing them. but of course no one will pay attention them!
Then there are sleepy cities like Halifax which will suddenly be blessed
by the visit of US secretary of State Ms. Rice. Why I wonder? did
Halifax lose a few people? Was Halifax also attacked on the same day.
but then i realize, Ms. Rice is coming to Halifax to thank Nova
Scotian's for their love and support when US Airspace was sealed and
planes were diverted in hundreds to Halifax Intl Airport and temporary
shelters were set up to accommodate the hundreds and thousands of
passengers. Of Course I should have known!! bah!!!!
And while all this happens, people are eagerly awaiting a fresh video
tape from dear Mr. O of course detailing his future plans. more people
will die in Afghanistan and Iraq. more bagpipers will sound at the
Kandahar airfield marking the demise of yet another Canadian patriot who
willingly gave up his life (in the luxury of a tim hortons) for the
benefit of the AFFghan people (that is how they pronounce it!)
And the circus goes on
we are now five years into the war against terror and if truth was
indeed the first casualty, you can rest assured that by now it has been
beaten completely to death.i am sick of 9 - 11 and its sob stories. if
its not the newspapers, it is the radio and if its not the radio then it
is the television. everywhere I go Nine Eleven seems to be following me.
CNN blares 9 - 11, CBS blares 9 - 11, ABC blares 9 - 11. Nevertheless,
the spin doctors and jingoists are still running amok and as the
violence continues unabated in both Afghanistan and Iraq, fewer and
fewer people seem to eve recall the original objective of the military
campaign: To bring the perpetrators of the 9 - 11 attacks to justice.
After half a decade of US occupation, the elusive Mr. O still remains at
large and the over stretched military needs to divert forces out of
Afghanistan into Iraq.
The Big Apple is in mourning, The President is bumbling again about
security and justice for the world's last remaining Super Powers. And
the liberals and conservatives in Sadda Cannada fight among themselves
to label Harper as a Bushy Cheerleader!!! chuckle...
News channels in a bid to secure ratings are digging skeletons up. So
you see an interview about a survivor. you see a tearful interview about
a victim's relative and interestingly you have further new interviews, a
60 minute episode on health defects becos of 9 - 11!!! i mean like what.
have you ever thought of the Hiroshima bombings and the health defects
becos of that. maybe influenced by the Bhopal gas tragedy or the
Chernobyl tragedy. of course here we are talking about concrete waste
and not gaseous emissions. I think workers on construction sites /
limestone quarries in India may be able to throw some light on the
issues plaguing them. but of course no one will pay attention them!
Then there are sleepy cities like Halifax which will suddenly be blessed
by the visit of US secretary of State Ms. Rice. Why I wonder? did
Halifax lose a few people? Was Halifax also attacked on the same day.
but then i realize, Ms. Rice is coming to Halifax to thank Nova
Scotian's for their love and support when US Airspace was sealed and
planes were diverted in hundreds to Halifax Intl Airport and temporary
shelters were set up to accommodate the hundreds and thousands of
passengers. Of Course I should have known!! bah!!!!
And while all this happens, people are eagerly awaiting a fresh video
tape from dear Mr. O of course detailing his future plans. more people
will die in Afghanistan and Iraq. more bagpipers will sound at the
Kandahar airfield marking the demise of yet another Canadian patriot who
willingly gave up his life (in the luxury of a tim hortons) for the
benefit of the AFFghan people (that is how they pronounce it!)
And the circus goes on
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Interesting
As we walked down the market place at Gurnee, a Tshirt caught our eye ... the writing on the Tshirt goes like this :
"It is better to have loved and lost than to live with a psycho for the rest of your life."
Hilarious.... !
"It is better to have loved and lost than to live with a psycho for the rest of your life."
Hilarious.... !
Career woman to marry them or not to marry them ?
Guys, a very interesting article. Forbes.com published a story on Aug. 22 by editor Michael Noer on two-career relationships that provoked a heated response from folks across the globe. Follow the article and see the conversation. This makes for some interesting reading.
http://www.forbes.com/home/2006/08/23/Marriage-Careers-Divorce_cx_mn_land.html
One of my choicest was this comment from a reader of this article .. from a person named Julia.
"First question that cames to mind is this: why is this article so inflammatory? I would like not to call the writer a sexist .... Simply he stated an opinion which quite frankly represents state of mind of a part of male population. OK. So guys like him will seek to marry those that do not have career. What is wrong with that? And those that do not share this opinion, will marry with those that do have a career. Where I am going with this? Marriage is not a standardized equation and it should not be!I am not afraid for career women, being one myself, at all. Those that are trully secure in themselves cannot feel threatened for a minute with this article.Afterall, not all women choose to have a career, and many find happiness to marry guys who do not want a career wife. The key is to find the one that will match. And for once, give up the “models” and build your own relationship, marriage or not, to make yourself and your partner happy! "
What does it take for an absolute stranger to become a friend ?
Aug 13th 2006, this was the day I had been waiting for... Anoushka Shankar was performing at the Millenium Park. Her album "Rise" was the key attraction. I came in ahead of time with a book "Bridges of Madison County" for leisure reading.
A lot of people were coming and taking their seats, Indians were present in large nos, all waiting for the show to start. Funny, when you are by yourself, the chance of striking a conversation, exchanging jokes, recognizing each other's interests is so much higher.
So here we were, all of us having fun...The show was unbelievable; Anoushka and her troupe were so good. The weather was picture perfect. Chicago skyline looked very pretty. As the show finished, one of the audience members on my row walked upto me, and said " I could not help but notice that you were tapping to the beat of the music being performed..Have you trained in classical music ?".
I know some of you may think; Geetha, what a pickup line or how wierd. To me..it was neither. It was the starting of a very interesting evening.
It got us talking and we decided to hang out and eat dinner as it was close to 9 in the night. Not only did we eat dinner at Bennigans, but we also had some very interesting conversation, exchanged our contacts and are friends now.
As I came home that night, I was thinking what does it really take for an absolute stranger to become an acquaintance and then your friend. I have had a net pal in the past who has since then become a close friend. We lived in the same city for a while. He is now married and settled/moved to a different city, but we still keep in touch through mails, phone etc.
Reminds me of the movie "Serendipity" with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale or the all time fav "You've got mail" starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.
What was that got these relationships click ? Could it be common interests - reading, love for our city Bangalore, Music, Pubbing ? I would say thats what started my friendship with my netpal but what helped continue them was sharing our lives in pursueing those interests, keeping each other updated on whats happening, reaching out in good times and times of trouble... yes and treating it like old times, even if we had not spoken in years.
I have been lucky twice in meeting strangers at a chat room or a sidewalk and making them my friends. Hope this serendipity continues.
How to talk to Americans - A best seller ?
Sept 6th 2006, As i came to the training room to start my four hours workshop on cross cultural competence, an American associate sitting in my class shared a printout of this article titled : How to talk with Americans. The article was an exclusive excerpt of the book with the same name, seemingly a best seller in India. Our top Indian newspapers have applauded this book for it's insight into the American pysche.
http://www.cio.com/archive/080106/080106_endline.pdf
For those interested, please do read it. A revelation for all of us who work with folks from US :-)This article seems to be quite a humorous comedy of errors. I am no expert but can see that something is amiss with the advise provided in the article.
I am still not sure why the CIO magazine referenced this book in the magazine's endline section. Was it to commend our IQ in voting this book as a best seller..or our interest in reading a generous reference. Whatever was the purpose so to say, the article can definitely be used in my mind as a joke/ humorous ice breaker...for your training sessions.
http://www.cio.com/archive/080106/080106_endline.pdf
For those interested, please do read it. A revelation for all of us who work with folks from US :-)This article seems to be quite a humorous comedy of errors. I am no expert but can see that something is amiss with the advise provided in the article.
I am still not sure why the CIO magazine referenced this book in the magazine's endline section. Was it to commend our IQ in voting this book as a best seller..or our interest in reading a generous reference. Whatever was the purpose so to say, the article can definitely be used in my mind as a joke/ humorous ice breaker...for your training sessions.
What is it with american football ?
I
Someone said "Americans express their animal instinct through football"... fusball.. whatever, you say i saw the game for the first time today and it really got me hooked. I went to see Purdue play Miami...in the beginning the game seemed funny, and I was clueless to start with. Looks like the players never leave the precints of the 40-50 yards. It was a suspense filled game, as Miami and Purdue were tied at 31 each at end of the 4th Quarter...and then Purdue won through tie break.
This is the college football season. Anybody and everybody is watching matches on TV, on radio ESPN sports center. As I drove with my friend to Indiana. we passed people and cars...if u passed a car with Purdue paraphernalia, you waved and gave a thumbsup. If you saw Notre Dame or Penn State, you gave a knowing smile..like May the best team win..hoping within that your team never has to play them.
At the Ross ade stadium, the atmosphere was electric. The sound of " 1,2,3,4 First down" or " Go Boilers " chanted by 53,000 fans, was unbelievable. I have never been much of a sports fan but I was converted today....
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Does our culture impact us ?
Good morning ! It is 545 am in the morning, I am waiting around to go to Purdue for a football match. Yes, these are my last few weeks in Chicago.
So back to topic, I was reading NY Times the other day and I came across this interesting article "Race Wasn’t an Issue to Him, Which Was an Issue to Me ". As i read this article it talks about a lady trying to make relationships work with people from different races. Interesting I thought - does race or caste or color or background at large - our culture actually matter to the relationships we make ? Coming from a Hindu family of three, I have been inducted into this world where not only believing in God is critical, but visible expression of that belief is sacrosanct. Reading possibly books on our culture, mythology..learning the fine arts is important. I have a granny who stll lives in a street with temples at the start and end of the street, mostly high caste Hindus. Does this impact me ? I would like to say No. XL MBA, 6 six years on the road..may have killed it. This topic of race/caste does not make a difference to what I say or do or feel.
Today I feel different. In my unconscious...i do believe in God, i have developed a taste for the arts and music. I also like people around me to have a taste for the music / even if not the same genre/ kind of music. It influences my thinking towards life at large,my values, my tendencies, my subtle inclusion and exclusion of people. I may not go to a temple every day but come crunch time, you will see me at the Rama Temple at Lodhi Road ( Class Xth Board exams..we all did it ).
Do i have to retain all of it ? maybe yes maybe no..depends on me i guess. I have given away so many parts of it, the needless revelry, ostentatious celebrations on every small occassion. I understand the reasons behind the rituals and festivals and practise them although with much more awareness / understanding.
I celebrate fests but in a more low key and responsible manner. I respect my elders but my way of showing it changes depending on where I am. It is also different from my sister or my brother. My Granny would like it if i touch her feet, Mom would like it if i gave her a hug and called her every day. Dad would like more emails.
Respect has so many different ways of showing it.
I have a friend who comes from a culture of self help, time is critical, family is at the top of priority list. In my culture success, hard work, frugality was inculcated. There are so many times these clash.. Two young independant people.. with similar education, age, born around the same time but unconsciously different orientations.
I dont think anyone can say No to this question of whether their culture impacts them. The impact is so unconscious , you dont even know enough to shake it off.
Well linked this article for all of you. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/fashion/03love.html
Signing off now.
So back to topic, I was reading NY Times the other day and I came across this interesting article "Race Wasn’t an Issue to Him, Which Was an Issue to Me ". As i read this article it talks about a lady trying to make relationships work with people from different races. Interesting I thought - does race or caste or color or background at large - our culture actually matter to the relationships we make ? Coming from a Hindu family of three, I have been inducted into this world where not only believing in God is critical, but visible expression of that belief is sacrosanct. Reading possibly books on our culture, mythology..learning the fine arts is important. I have a granny who stll lives in a street with temples at the start and end of the street, mostly high caste Hindus. Does this impact me ? I would like to say No. XL MBA, 6 six years on the road..may have killed it. This topic of race/caste does not make a difference to what I say or do or feel.
Today I feel different. In my unconscious...i do believe in God, i have developed a taste for the arts and music. I also like people around me to have a taste for the music / even if not the same genre/ kind of music. It influences my thinking towards life at large,my values, my tendencies, my subtle inclusion and exclusion of people. I may not go to a temple every day but come crunch time, you will see me at the Rama Temple at Lodhi Road ( Class Xth Board exams..we all did it ).
Do i have to retain all of it ? maybe yes maybe no..depends on me i guess. I have given away so many parts of it, the needless revelry, ostentatious celebrations on every small occassion. I understand the reasons behind the rituals and festivals and practise them although with much more awareness / understanding.
I celebrate fests but in a more low key and responsible manner. I respect my elders but my way of showing it changes depending on where I am. It is also different from my sister or my brother. My Granny would like it if i touch her feet, Mom would like it if i gave her a hug and called her every day. Dad would like more emails.
Respect has so many different ways of showing it.
I have a friend who comes from a culture of self help, time is critical, family is at the top of priority list. In my culture success, hard work, frugality was inculcated. There are so many times these clash.. Two young independant people.. with similar education, age, born around the same time but unconsciously different orientations.
I dont think anyone can say No to this question of whether their culture impacts them. The impact is so unconscious , you dont even know enough to shake it off.
Well linked this article for all of you. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/fashion/03love.html
Signing off now.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)