fear

Fear is the creation of self. Our imagination of losing something or someone drives it. Our dependence on externals is what drives fear.

Fear is a disease now and many pharma companies and therapist are minting money on it.

Why do we have to fear about losing someone or something?

Socrates died giving discourses on acquiring self-knowledge. But here we are, living like a miserable animal imagining for the worst from our life.

filth

Pointing filth about our neighborhood, deteriorating living conditions and pollution is easy. We are all part of it while accepting our own mistakes are another. We are all part of the problem.

We, humans, are like animals and have been conditioned over centuries to ride over our ego and expectations. Every situation and scenario 1st thing we ask ourselves is: “What’s in it for me?”

Another class, sages were the opposite. They worked for making this world a better place for everyone. They accepted their imperfection.

Decide who you want to be.

if

If you can keep your head when all about you   
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;   
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;   
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   
    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Excerpts from ‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling

I have been been reading and listening to this poem for sometime.

angry

Getting angry, acting irrationally is a common vice. We all get caught up in a situation and react. Sometimes it acts as a fight mechanism but mostly effects ourselves.

Why do we get angry? Is it because of our unmet expectation, our ego or because we think we are not treated well?

truth

Why can’t we be honest and respond with the truth?

I can’t believe someone has no time to follow up or reply to your mails. No one is that busy, responding is not the priority.

Would it not be easy to respond and “reply we are not interested?”
Would it not save back and forth time of communication?

My friend in sales business says, 70% of his time gets to spend in follow up. This is a waste of precious time.

A simple NO saves so much time.

Aging

Aging is part and parcel of humanity. We get old with time. Our social circle becomes limited. We get more immersed in ourself. I have seen my grandparents, with age they got hooked to some purpose and a routine.

My grandmother would wake up and spend a few hours in prayers and later in the day with reading. She would have her friends visit sometimes to play cards.

Our youth defines how we live as we age. Having a set of habits, a company of friends and a deep purpose will help us in aging well.

Seneca puts it well.

Let us go to our sleep with joy and gladness; let us say: I have lived; the course which Fortune set for me is finished. And if God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts. That man is happiest, and is secure in his own possession of himself, who can await the morrow without apprehension. When a man has said: ‘I have lived!’, every morning he arises he receives a bonus.

price

Price is part of every transaction. At times price becomes immaterial because our needs are non-monetary. It has more to do with us, self-control.

Epictetus in Enchiridion talks about it.

Do you wish to win the Olympics?
I do too, by the gods; for it is exquisite.
However, consider the leading things and the things following
and so take hold of the action.
It is necessary for you to be disciplined,
to eat strictly, to keep off sweets,
to exercise under compulsion, at an appointed hour,
in heat, in cold, not to drink cold water,
nor wine, as it chances,
absolutely as to a physician
to give yourself over to the trainer,
when in the contest to dig in alongside,
it is possible then to throw out a hand,
to sprain an ankle, swallow much sand, perhaps be beaten,
and with all these things be defeated.

If we want something, we have to pay a price for it. Price could be self-control, deep focus and discipline. We will get ridiculed by others too.