2017 - Come lets make it memorable
Dear Friends,
With just a few more hours to go, and we would bid 2016 adieu. To each one of us, the year had been eventful. It had its own share of beginnings and endings; of ups and downs; of the good and the bad; of successes and challenges; of happiness and pain. But in the end, the year gone by is always cherished – because it will never come back to us.
And for that reason new years are so important. They herald a new beginning.
I read something thought provoking last evening, and I wanted to share it with all of you.
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is just a figment of the imagination. So if you think about it, today is the only day you are alive. Today is the day that matters the most.
And here is how we can make our lives memorable.
1. Our life is nothing but a collection of memories. Great memories are the product of interesting life experiences. It is entirely up to us how we build our future memories by our actions today. Time flies and we wont even know it. After all, time doesn’t stop for anyone. So instead of wasting our years staring at a big bucket list and waiting for the perfect life, lets create yearly milestones and try to pursue our dreams to fulfillment.
2. Lets learn to trust our instincts. Our instincts don’t always involve a sixth sense. Sometimes it is our subconscious mind that picks signs that our conscious mind cannot see. So if we feel like something is not right, big chances are that our subconscious mind has learnt a few lessons from previous experiences that can help us make a better judgment in that moment.
3. Coincidences happen all the time. Successful and happy people are extremely lucky people. Somehow, happy coincidences cross their paths all the time. And you know what – we can all have those coincidences too. But a coincidence means nothing unless we are prepared for it. Lets all work towards our happiness with determination. When we are ready for it, our personal lucky coincidence will cross our path sooner than we think.
4. Relationships are a barter system. This may seem a little difficult to digest, but every single relationship in our mortal life is a barter of GIVE and TAKE. Even unconditional love will fade if it is not reciprocated over time. If we give – we shall receive. If we receive – we shall need to give. If that balance shifts, we shall experience unhappiness, but this is in our hands entirely. (Its so easy to relate this with our relationships with our loved ones).
5. It is very easy to give our heart away. Giving a piece of our heart away by loving someone is very easy and effortless. But if the person we love doesn’t care about that piece of our heart we have given or doesn’t want it, we would get hurt quite badly. So lets take time to fall in love and protect our hearts.
6. No person is GOOD or BAD. It is only our perspective that makes a person good or bad. Even a really good person could turn out to be our worst enemy, and even our worst enemies have their own best friends. So lets not be judgmental when someone opposes us, and learn to think from their perspective.
7. Hard work is good – but Smart work is better. Hard work pays all the time, no matter what we do. But smart work always beats hard work hands down.
8. Lets enjoy our present. It’s the little moments we experience everyday that come together to make our life. But lets not forget to plan our daily activities keeping our future in mind.
9. Positive thinking is happiness. Positive thinking makes us feel good about ourselves. It makes us feel more confident and gives us the strength to face any hurdle in life. As long as we fill our minds with positivity, it will help us achieve our dreams and will keep us happy every day.
10. Negative thinking will always make one a failure. A person who fills their mind with nothing but negative thoughts will never be happy, because they are too obsessed with thoughts on how bad the world is. We need to remember that the grudge, anger or hate that we hold against anyone will never affect that person. It will only affect us and hurt us.
11. It is never the end of the world. It is never too late to start afresh, and it is never too late to be what we might have been. It doesn’t matter how many times we have failed or how deep in the pits we are today. All it takes is the determination and effort to put one foot in front of the other. Before we know it, we shall be exactly where we want to be.
12. Do not worry. Worrying about something over which we have no control over will never help us. Lets remember the line, worry is interest paid on trouble before it is due. It does not matter whether we worry or not, when something has to happen, it will. So will our worrying about something change the outcome? Of course not! So really, why are we worrying?
13. Accept failure. A big lesson we need to learn in life is to accept failure now and then. Failure doesn’t make us weak. In fact, it helps us to understand the reasons behind our failure better. Every time we fail, lets try to learn something from it, so we never repeat the same mistake ever again. They say, the stronger the breeze, the mightier the oak becomes. When we experience failure, our success will taste that much sweeter. After all, we cannot appreciate true happiness, until we have known sadness, can we?
14. Lets be happy with our lives. There are many of us who are tireless naggers. We often find ourselves feeling miserable no matter what we do. Let us learn to appreciate life and try to be happy with what we have, because there are many others who are less fortunate than us. Sometimes, it takes losing something to fully understand how special it was to us. Let us learn to look around us. When we realize how lucky we are, we shall be thankful for what we have and lead a happier life.
15. Arguments and Relationships. Immature people always want to win an argument even at the cost of a relationship. Mature people understand that it is always better to lose an argument and win a relationship. We may not always realize it, but arguments are constructive only when it ends with a better understanding of each other’s minds.
16. The world is not unfair. There is a tendency amongst many of us to think that the world is unfair to us. It is so easy to look for excuses to dwell in our misery, and avoid moving on in our lives. When we are pushed to a corner, let us learn to push back and make our own space. Hurdles can crop up at any point of time, but what we do to move on makes all the difference between a strong minded person and a weak one. Lets be strong.
17. Money isn’t everything. Our pursuit of wealth and material happiness can definitely give us pleasure. But at the end of the day, relationships and inner satisfaction will give us more meaning to life than a fat bank balance. Lets understand what kind of pay-cheque we think we need to experience financial freedom. Lets plan our life and work towards that goal. If we can do better than that – that’s great, but while we achieve our monetary goals, lets never neglect our focus on relationships.
18. Life is no fun unless you also take chances. A life without a bit of risk isn’t a life worth living. We cannot go through life protecting ourselves from everything just because we are afraid of getting hurt. Sometimes we need to break free from our routine – It will give us more happiness than we can imagine.
19. You will never be satisfied in life. This is a life lesson we need to keep in mind because this is the one we tend to forget most easily. As human beings, we are greedy and always want more, no matter what we already have. If we truly want to feel satisfied in life, let us not allow monetary goals to define our life’s successes, instead let us focus on happy moments, and the experiences that we have had.
20. Love yourself. If we hate ourselves or feel like we are no good, we shall never achieve our true potential in our lives. Let us never try to be someone we are not – just to fit in. Instead let us work on our perceived flaws and be the best person that we can be. When we love ourselves, we shall feel more confident about ourselves and our abilities.
21. Our future is in our hands alone. This is a life lesson that should be ingrained within us. WE CONTROL OUR OWN FUTURE. And what we do today can change our future forever. Living each day like it is your last may not be the best way to plan your future. Instead, let us make each day in our life feel like an achievement. We shall achieve greatness in our lives only when we make each day in our lives count for something valuable.
22. Take a decision. Postponing a decision will only make our lives more worrisome and troubled. Lets remember, there are just two choices in every obstacle or confusion we face in life. WE CAN EITHER WALK AWAY, OR WE CAN PURSUE ON. So instead of letting our worries mount up and distract us all the time, let us make up our minds and move on with a firm decision.
23. Do not blame another person. When we put the blame on someone else, even though we were involved in the failure, we are only limiting our own growth, especially in relationships. Let us learn to accept failures and mistakes gracefully instead of arguing about it.
24. Have principles in life. This is possibly the most important lesson in life that we need to learn. Our principles in life give us our identity and define who we are. Sometimes, it is easy to be judgmental or to do something we get to regret later. We may even cheat a friend or take advantage of someone else’s misfortune, and as thrilling as the idea may be at that moment, we feel bad about what we did when the excitement dies down. That isa where setting clear principles in life can make all the difference. When we have set principles and rules about what we feel is morally right and wrong, and follow it in everything we do, it will make us a better Human Being and give us a clear conscience. We need to remember to be just in our principles, and understand that the rules that we apply for everyone else around us has to be followed by us too.
25. Be present. Be here NOW. I purposely left this for the last, as it perfectly encompasses all the previous points. Let us not let our lives slip by. Instead of dwelling in the past, or worrying about the future, let us just practice being and living in the NOW. Let us all realize that RIGHT NOW is the only moment guaranteed to us. RIGHT NOW IS LIFE. Lets not miss it.
I wish you all a great life. I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Come lets make 2017 memorable.
Warm regards,
Jaydeep H Goswami