lessons from nature...

there is a tamil(one of many officially recognized indian languages, spokem primarily by people whose origins are from a state in the southern part of india called 'tamilnadu') saying 'kattradhu kal alavu, kallaadhadhu ulagalavu'... it means 'what one has learnt is equivalent to the volume of a small stone but what one has not learnt is equivalent to the volume of the world... this saying, couples well with a chinese proverb translating to 'learning is like swimming against the stream of a river... the moment you stop learning, you are bound to go in the wrong direction'...

once we realize that learning is a constant process happening in every moment of our lives, we could focus more on the sources that could teach us the deepest things in life, to optimize this learning process... according to native american indians, 'nature is god' and 'god is nature'... their point was not to worship nature, but to learn their lessons from it... whether it is the endless seas or the untiring rivers or the every-rising sun or the changing-seasons, they attached values to it, and learned invaluable lessons out of it... they recognized that with the falling of leaves in the autumn, the lives of the branches and the roots of a tree do not end, but get more stronger and work towards re-growing them... they recognized that the most has to be made out of nature's gift of natural light through the sun, and most has to be made out of the innumerable natural resources that nature has to offer...

to an average person who is too busy planning his life in the quest for enriching his life and feeding his own interests, it helps in getting out of the so-called-planned-life... which is a set of chores carried out mechanically day-in and day-out, which is highly prevalent especially in countries like the u.s. of a. where money comes ahead of moral values, and selfish-interests come ahead of family values... and all it takes to get out of this imprisoned-life stuck-up-in-a-bunch-of running-behing-self-treat and do something that is more meaningful to people around and more selfless, is to look at nature and learn lessons from it... to be able to observe beautiful things its one thing, and to be able to observe the beauty in what one might think are ordinary things is an entirely different thing... this is what they mean when they say 'take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy what you have... ', rather than trying to be like a blade of a ceiling fan which is ever-trying-in-vain to catch up with the blade ahead of it'...

"go with the flow, and see what life has to offer... you'll be so surprised how exciting it can get!"...

points of view...

how often do you look at someone and NOT form an opinion or judge that person, even before knowing what he/she actually is? OR, how often do you HEAR about people from OTHER people and NOT form an opinion or judge, even before knowing what he/she actually is? OR, how often do you NOT form an opinion after actually knowing about someone? the answer probably is: not very often do you actually NOT form opinions and NOT judge people...

while the challenge lies in constantly being able to take a neutral stance despite all temptations to form those opinions, and make those judgements, the tougher part is not controlling these temptations but overcoming the default way of communicating what one might think is a WELL-THOUGHT-OF judgement... according to the one of what i consider the greatest souls to have ever existed on earth, Mahatma Gandhi,"if you have something positive to say about anyone, go for it, but if you have anything negative to say about anyone, you will be helping that person AND yourself by not telling the negative thing as it is, but conveying it in
positive light..."

to inculcate positive encouragement in someone, it takes a positive approach on part of the person who is trying to communicate... and for that, one needs to believe that it is the RIGHT way to approach things in life... so, if you ever feel that you HAVE TO let someone know about something, make sure that you do it the RIGHT way...

what does one have and what does one not have?

The answers 'It depends...' or 'Maybe...' or 'Not sure...' are all excuses we use to shy away from facing the truths OR when we do not possess enough knowledge on the subject to comment on it... Sometimes, it becomes a habit of saying 'not sure...' so much that we tend to over use it... What knowledge does one have, and what does one not have? If one possesses the knowledge of the fact that 'anything is possible if a sincere effort is put into it', then, not possessing knowledge on any subject matter is not actually not knowing it... Unfortunately, it usually takes a personal discovery or overcoming a bad experience, to realize this fact... and anything that is TOLD, will seem pointless...

One of my most favourite quotes - 'Attitude is Everything', sums it all up... Whenever you say 'I didnt have time' OR 'I hate it' OR 'Whatever!'... just look at youorself, and look at your attitude... Maybe the problem is not with the world after all.... Its ALL about you !!!

Head Start...

Better late than never, as they say (wonder who comes up with such one-liners!!!) - I kick off with my first blog...

So many times when I look back at 'the' things I've wanted to accomplish in life, the could-have, should-have, would-have kind of stuff, it motivates me all the more to get up and do something about it atleast now... For a head-start, am starting this blog... Wait and watch for more posts...

Wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year 2005... Hope the new year brings more happiness and peace on earth...