“Remove That Extra Rock- Unveil Your Life ”

A learned man had once asked “How does a sculptor create a sculpture out of a piece of stone?”

The answer – the sculpture already exists. The sculptor merely removes that extra mass of rock around it to unveil the sculpture.

Life isn’t much different either. We all come into this world with a certain piece of rock & a certain set of tools. It is then up to us to chisel the extra bit away. With each strike, we move closer to discovering the figure within. 

There are so many pieces of rocks around us but only a few become sculptures. Go ahead pick up your chisel & hammer and start uncovering the wonderful figurine that lies beneath.

“Life is indeed beautiful; it’s only about discovering its beauty.”

 

 

“Thank You – Je vous remercie – Gracias – शुक्रिया – Vielen Dank ”

My Dear Readers,

Today’s blog is about expressing my “Heartfelt Thanks” to all of you for constantly supporting me with your readership as well as the continuous feedback, as I humbly attempt to undertake this journey. I have posted my 50^th Blog and when I look back at the day I started, I realize that I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to maintain this momentum. But it has been largely thanks to all of you that I have been able to continue writing.

As we move ahead, I would like to rechristen the Blog from “Deliberately Uninformed – Relentlessly So” to “Sau (100) Gram Zindagi”.

I would look forward to your continued support.

Until later.

Kind regards,

Manish Sehgal

“Are You Reading Your Forecast or Writing your Future?”

The media is flooded with programs & features around “a peek into the future”. From a “forecast for the day” to booklets with “forecast for the year”, it’s all out there.

In the bargain, one often does not realize, if you are actually getting guided by the forecast you read? If you go by “The Secret”, you will in fact end up with a future that you would have read as a “forecast” somewhere. Don’t you find yourself carrying an umbrella to work the day the weatherman predicts rain? Whether it rains or not is a different matter altogether. What is told to you in a manner of authority (on the subject) does, in fact, go a long way in guiding your actions?

The result – you end up not “writing your future” in an unbiased manner. Pause a while & reflect:-

“Are You Reading Your Forecast or Writing your Future?”

“You Are Responsible For How You Are Treated ”

Some call it “Permit to Promote” while others refer it to as “being taken for granted”. Any which way, the responsibility of being treated the way you are, lies with you. It’s no point blaming a bully for bullying you because he is able to achieve his objective only because you allow him to do so. It’s very easy for one to slip into the “victim mode” and start feeling helpless, feeble,  vulnerable and dependant. It’s no point expecting someone else to help you out of such a situation unless you stand up & help yourself. 

Take any situation in life and you will see that a person becomes “larger than life” only because people around him make him that way. A pedestal has to be present for someone to be on top of it & a group of people around to applaud once he is on top of it. 

So no matter how much you may hold “the circumstances” or “the people around you” for the way they treat you , bottom line is that : 

“You Are Responsible For How You Are Treated ”

“Carry Your Own Weather”

Have you ever pondered over quite an obvious fact associated with wearing a perfume? The obvious fact that, you actually carry the fragrance along wherever you go. Those you come across are also greeted with the same pleasantness that you are carrying. It’s not that you are able to change the entire atmosphere but you are able to at least make a difference in your immediate vicinity.

So if this can be true with regard to a perfume, why can’t it be true with regard to the mood you carry.

Climate takes a long time to change but the weather can always be changed in a short while.

Don’t you  look forward to meeting a particular person who exuberates positively?. Someone, who always lifts up your mood , no matter how low you might be. Why don’t you strive to also become “that one person” for somebody else?

Go ahead “Carry Your Own Weather”.

“Audacity- A Trait Difficult To Handle”

You can reason with a reasonable person. You can talk sense or put your point forward if there is humility in acceptance of your point of view too. But the one thing that defeats all logic & reasoning is “audacity”. All around us we see examples of “audacity personified” in everyday life. People who won’t bat an eye lid before giving you an answer that would make your jaw drop in disbelief.

Coping with this “trait of audacity” is the real challenge.

“When Everything Around Seems To Be Falling Apart”

We are all faced with this kind of feeling at some point of time or another. The feeling of the “Murphy’s Law” having been written just for you – “if something has to go wrong, it will go wrong at a time when it matters the most”. You start feeling as the most wronged person walking around. At these times, it’s very important to be cautious not to fall into the “victim mode” & start feeling that “the whole world is out to get me”. Such a mindset is not undesirable and has the risk of almost bordering around paranoia. If you are not careful, you will start looking at everything from this filter & activate the universal “laws of attraction” to attract nothing but negativity towards yourself.

 There is precious little you can do about things falling in your “Circle of Concern” (Dr. S. Covey) but by exercising control over yourself & how you react to this, you can definitely expand your “Circle of Control”.

 So, “When Everything Around Seems To Be Falling Apart”, make sure that you keep your thoughts together

“Respect The Other Person’s Position”

It’s very easy to have a view on “what a person should or should not have done in a particular situation” whenever it is discussed in retrospect, or from a distance. No matter how much you claim to be able to “understand” the other person’s situation, or try to be in “his shoes”, there is always a gap that will exist between the imagination & the reality. It’s something like holding a child with your bare hands and then doing the same thing with a pair of gloves on. You can only visualize what it would actually feel like.

I am of the firm belief that whatever decision a person takes in a particular situation is the best that he or she could have taken under those circumstances. There are no absolute “rights” or “wrongs”. These judgments are always relative in nature.

You have the right to a different “point of view” but always Respect the decision a person would have taken in a particular set of circumstances. After all nobody wants to be wrong by intent.

Respect The Other Person’s Position

 

 

“Financial Loss – An Affordable Loss”

Opposed to popular belief – I feel that a financial loss is probably the most affordable loss that one can be faced with. This is one loss that comes with opportunities for you to possibly make it up in the future. Even in the present context, it is usually compoundable.

There are many other losses in life, intangible in nature which can never be made up. Those are the real losses to worry about.

So the next time you are faced with a monetary loss which is still manageable, be thankful that it is “affordable” & move on.

“The Importance Of Being Discreet”

Probably one of the significant building blocks of building trust is the art of being discreet. When somebody confides in you, he or she is deposing his total trust in you which then becomes your moral duty to respect. By not being discreet, you end up breaching that trust. It brings about a lot of hurt and pain and even puts relationships at stake.

Once a person trusts you, his part is over. The responsibility of living upto that trust then lies with you. One should not assume that just because you are comfortable with sharing something with a person, somebody else would also be.

Respect the Trust – Be Discreet!