‘Words are life’ –The book thief

The Book Thief is a story of a ten-year-old girl living in Germany during World War II. But the quote is so relevant even today. In fact, it is an evergreen statement. The words ARE life.

Humans are the only species who have the ability to talk. We have the words and can express ourselves in ways other than monosyllables or hugs. Man discovered language and what immense possibilities opened with that. We could store our knowledge eternally; we could pass it on and could create a legacy.

But then, we humans have an expertise in complicating life. So we used words for hyperbole, threw them in anger at the people we love most and generally spoke a great deal of nothing.

Words are like diamonds. They are precious. They should be used sparingly. They cannot be spewed around like soot. They have to be embedded in stories of love, hope; they have to convey our deepest feelings, they have to run smooth and gentle like a brook. They can’t disgorge like a waterfall unless there is a specific purpose to that.

Brevity is the soul of wit said Shakespeare but do we remember that? We talk endlessly and use three sentences where we can just do with one.

We create misunderstandings in our relationships by using words that can hurt others. Words should a balm to a hurting soul. They should be lullaby to a crying heart; they should be a comfort to a lonely spirit.

The maestros did it. Five thousand years after Vedas were written, five hundred years after Shakespeare wrote his plays, we still learn from these immortal pieces, gain new insights every time we study them.

So why can’t we learn a simple trick from the all the great writers? To use words to create life, a life full of joy, kindness and compassion. Let our words create peace

So be it!!!

I don’t want to die without any scars’ –Fight Club

Wow!!! What a statement! Come to think of it, how relevant it is. Really? You are thinking. Who wants scars? They are ugly and painful.

I am talking about the scars life gives us. Our failures, our heartbreaks, our disappointments, all make us who we are. They are our greatest teachers. To quote Sunny in The godfather, “ break bones”. Well, that may be in the context of gang wars but we all have to break bones to get ahead in life.

We have to face setbacks, suffer unexpected delays and feel dejected. But then we come out much stronger. Had that not been the case, Edison wouldn’t have invented the light bulb; there would be no electricity today and no airplanes. In fact we would have been still living in caves. It i9s only because man thought of something, tried, failed and retried till hey got what they wanted, that the world has is today where it is.

Life gives us many scars but these scars also carry memories. Your heart may have been broken by your first crush but honestly; don’t you still smile when you think of him/her? Your business may have suffered but don’t you think it has taught you to reshape your strategies? Your relationship may have ended but didn’t you have a blast while it was good?

So don’t you think that scars are worth every bit? I hope you get some

So be it!!!

‘Burning the midnight oil’

Its half past eleven and I am writing my blog now. Wanted to finish it before twelve so I could tell myself, I didn’t miss Monday. I write from Monday to Friday. I am rather busy these days so didn’t find time to write it after breakfast, as is my habit.

I find if I don’t write it in the morning, somehow it keeps getting delayed. Then the entropy sets in. One does not write for a couple of days, and one thinks, oh, now Ill start from next week. The next week becomes next month and so on.

It happens because it has happened twice with me after I started writing my daily blog. There were of course, things happening in my life but that was no excuse. I just became lazy. The law of entropy is that no matter how good a system is, it starts decaying if we don’t look after it diligently.

Our mind is always distracting us with pleasures of various kinds, entices us with gossip and seduces us with all the sensual attractions. Well, we are human beings and we should enjoy ourselves but if we loose sight of our real goal, if we give in to our carnal desires all the time, if we get enchanted by social media whole day, we are bound to loose our focus.

In fact, you will find that more successful people are not addicted to their phones; they don’t check their messages every ten minutes because they have a list of things to do. They use their phone only when absolutely necessary. It is people who don’t have something useful to do, get engrossed in Facebook and Twitter and Whatsapp.

Which category do you fall into? 

Think!!!

‘I am going to make him an offer he can not refuse’

As many of you must have guessed, this is from the book The Godfather by Mario Puzo. Don Corleone says this. The dialogue has become very famous and is often quoted in movies and even in day-to-day conversations.

I like this phrase because to me it shows confidence of a man. He is so sure about himself that he is bound to succeed. If you are in customer service, you will relate to this. But even if you have nothing to do with sales or marketing, the phrase is good to remember.

In a relationship, if we offer our best with utmost sincerity, and I mean utmost sincerity, there is no reason why the other person will not be moved. In a business setting, if we present an honest win win situation to our associates or competitors, we can be more successful in our ventures.

If we are working in an office, we can give our best to our employer. That is our offer to him and if really give our hundred percent to our job, there is no doubt we will be noticed. In any life situation, we offer our best with all the goodwill and humility, we can conquer much more than we dream.

The premise is that the offer should be so sincere and genuine that the person sitting on the other side of the table cannot reject it. Sometimes there might be a little negotiation and we can do that but if we are offering our best for the best of others, it becomes impossible to refuse.

Why don’t you try that?

So be it!!!

‘The stories we love the best live in us forever’ –J.K. Rowling

The other day, I met one of my school friends on Facebook. We both were looking for each other on Facebook and finally connected. She gave me her number and I called her immediately. The call lasted three hours!!!

We were once again school girls, giggling away to glory and reminiscing about the tree house we used to have our lunch on, our escapades to the back of school library where I would teach her to sing, (she still is tone deaf ha ha ha ), and our nicknaming each teacher. All the memories came flooding back and both of us felt so nostalgic.

Of course I promised that I would definitely meet her on my next visit to India. Why am I telling you all this? Because those happy memories are still in me. I can recall them at a nano second notice. Doesn’t it happen to all of us? The times we felt really happy are always the easiest to remember.

Am I dwelling in the past and trying to live in there? Not at all but what I am saying is that moments that make us ecstatic can always recreate the magic. The idea is to create more of these. These are memories that sustain us in our dark hours, they give us the hope and they help us to pick up our life again. My mum used to say, ‘if happy days didn’t last so won’t the unhappy ones’.

Notice how most of these memories are simple pleasures that we enjoyed? Making those sand castles, playing housie with dolls and taking a long flight on the swing. Or dating on a cup of tea, sitting in the park with our friends and singing on the road without giving a thought to what will people say. Life is made up of such small pleasures.

The need is to create more of these memories even now so that we can carry on with all the stress of adult life and maintain our sanity. Playing with our children in the park, teaching them to bike and simply enjoying a family night are the things that will stand by us.

So go ahead and make these memories.

So be it!!!