I
met a well-known person yesterday (name hardly matters) whom handed over me his
visiting card. When I checked his website later, I saw one word which was
written below his profile picture which caught my attention. It said “survivor”
besides many others qualifications. Later in the day, I happened to speak with
him and casually asked him what this “survivor” meant? He said he clearly set
aside his trivial preferences in formative years of his life and focused solely
on the things which he like to do. We spoke barely for 2 mins but he said that
when you do things in the way you love them to do, you will see success in
unexpected hours. Success will follow you and you will not only survive but
grow no matter how bad the external situation is.
I
think those words really had a profounding effect on me. When I sit back and
introspect, I think we seriously don’t set aside our trivial preferences. I
mean we spend so much of our energy on worrying what others think of us. We
also worry about the petty concerns about our appearance and what brand of
clothes we are wearing. I feel we spend so much of our precious time just to
bring that hallo effect in order to position ourselves, so that others will
feel good about us. We consume our lives on doing things we actually does not
interest us and we invariably get involved into drapery conversations which are
not of any value. Probably we just try to live someone else’s life without
conscious thinking. I think people who do things they like to do work at a very
high level of inner consciousness, survive.
Ego
has become the driving force of our lives with our self-importance persistently
taking the center stage. I seriously think that in our own personal, profession
and social life’s, we are unable to make a difference on the larger issues, so
we immerse ourselves in our game of ego-sponsored trivial pursuit. When we are
not able to do it, we try to poke into others life and gossip about the things
which maybe others are doing, without caring anyone. I don’t understand when
the day will come, when people will mind their own business. Peer pressure and
social media are already playing havoc in our lives. Why I say so is because
you see the survey in any country across the world, one will see that only
15-20% of the people read these days. My grandfather always used to tell me
that our lives are greatly enriched when we immerse ourselves in reading, not
because we are going to be tested, but purely for the sake of personal
enrichment. Reading provides a deeper and richer experience of life in all
ways. This is particularly gratifying when one is doing it out of choice rather
than as an assignment.
