alone

Most of our life we are on ourselves. We live with our body and thoughts. We have externalities in the form of companions and society.

If we master and accept living with ourselves, in our consciousness living this life becomes very easy. It keeps us calm and going in the flow of life without any pain and worry.

It is not necessary to go by the template and appease everyone as long as you are not hurting others. It is not required to be part of this herd, you are free to have your thoughts and liberty to express it.

Rabindra Nath Tagore wrote a famous poem Ekla Chalo Re. I have added its English translation below.

If they answer not to thy call walk alone,
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou of evil luck,
open thy mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou of evil luck,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou of evil luck,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite thy own heart
and let it burn alone.

Bengali version of the same poem

no

Why is it so difficult to take NO for an answer?
Is it because of our pride and ego?
Why can’t we accept that not everything goes in our way?

Why do we have to get furious and start hating the person or organization after hearing no? Why don’t we accept that rejection is part of our life. It can be a relationship, a sales pitch or a job.

Overthinking

Overthinking is a cause of great misery. We tend to complicate our life with numerous thoughts. Some of it can be constructive while most being painful. I read somewhere 22000 different thoughts crosses our brain every hour. In the case of sages, yogis it is much less.

Vipassana and other eastern meditation talks in great deals about our thoughts. If we can get over this overthinking, we will start living in the present. Once we start living in the present, we will see the world as it is.

belief

One has to have a belief system of self. It helps us in all spheres of our life. It is not limited to selling, starting up but living a day to day life of ours.

Having a belief is a cause makes purpose more achievable. It helps us in focusing towards goal with more positivity.

path

We have to find our path in this journey of life. We will get mentors and loved ones in the journey. But the path has to be chosen by ourselves.

Our allocated time on this planet is limited, following someone else’s path will do no good. We have to ask ourselves about what we want and then take a suitable path.

comfort

It requires coming out of comfort to lead a life on your own. I keep hearing from a few friends about starting up or settling down for past 3/4 years.

Everything comes with a tradeoff. Either you keep sucking to your boss for a monthly salary or work on the dream idea. The dream idea has a 99% chance of not succeeding and you screwing up.

Is it worth getting out of comfort? It is if you don’t want in your grave with regrets.

opportunity cost

Am I happy with my current job?
Am I happy in my current relationship?
Is this what I wanted in my life?
Am I doing engineering because I have to make parents wish come true?
I am okay about buying a house and paying EMI for the next 20 years?

Opportunity cost is a great tradeoff. What am I missing on account of what I am doing now?

Thinking in terms of opportunity cost keeps life in equilibrium.

writing

There are few days when I don’t feel like writing. There are a few days I end up writing half a dozen post.

Is it because of my mental state? I don’t know.

It is not that I don’t like to write. It is just that I have no clue what to write on. Instead of being annoyed and sad, I have made peace with myself.

I am a human, not a robot. I do need a break once in a while.