Life by Choice, not Chance

Even when it seems there is nothing you can do, there is something you can do. No matter what the situation may be, there is always something positive you can do about it.

Sometimes you can take complete control of what’s going on. Other times you may only be able to have a slight, barely perceptible influence. Still other times the only thing you may be able to do is to change your own thinking about the situation. Yet even that can end up being a significant positive step.

Being helpful is infinitely better than being helpless. And being genuinely helpful is an option that is always open to you.

Throw up your hands in despair or frustration if you wish, but don’t expect it to get you anywhere. The more effective choice is to know, without a doubt, that there is something you can do, and to then get busy with it. Life is best when lived not by chance, but by choice.

What can a peaceful mind do?

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him. After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance.

The farmer looked at him and thought, "Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough."

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn. After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, "I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction."

Moral: A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be...!

The Burning Desire

A young man asked Socrates the secret to success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met.

Socrates asked the young man to walk with him toward the river. When the water got up to their neck,

Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The boy struggled to get out but

Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled his head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air.

Socrates asked, "What did you want the most when you were there?" The boy replied, "Air." Socrates said, "That is the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it." There is no other secret.

A burning desire is the starting point of all accomplishment. Just like a small fire cannot give much heat, a weak desire cann ot produce great results.

Shoe in my basket

This incident happened during the later part of 1800s, in Bengal  when Sri Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and his few friends were busy collecting donations to start Calcutta University.

One day Vidyasagar stopped at the door of the palace of Nawab of Ayodhya. Nawab was not exactly known to be a generous person and many people tried to dissuade Vidyasagar from taking this mission.

Vidyasagar met Nawab and presented his cause. On hearing Vidyasagar’s plea, Nawab got up, pulled one of his shoes and dropped in Vidyasagar’s bag for donation. Vidyasagar did not say a word. He simply got up, thanked Nawab and left.

Next day Vidyasagar organised auction of Nawab’s shoe in front of his palace. Lot of Nawab’s knights , Jahagirdars, court members, who wanted to impress Nawab started bidding. By the mid afternoon the shoe was sold for Rs 1000. Nawab, happy to hear that his shoe fetched Rs 1000, matched the auction money. He added his own Rs. 1000 as donation.

When the destiny dropped a shoe in his basket, Vidyasagar could have walked out furious. He could have thrown the shoe on Nawab as revenge of insult. He could have got depressed and gone home and cried that nobody is willing to give him donation and given up his efforts to raise donation for the university. But he did nothing of that sort. He remained focused on the main goal. He rose above his personal feelings, ego, and insecurities and exploited the situation creatively. He rose above his insecurities and exploited that of others around him. He took that shoe and converted it to the biggest donation to University of Culcutta.

Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar converted his on-face insult and resulting disappointment into a Rs. 2000 donation plus a pleased Nawab who could be of some assistance at some point later. Calcutta University became a reality. It became a center of education for fine arts, social studies, science and technology.

Throughout our life, we will come across situations that will bring disappointment, anger, frustration, depression. But most of the times, there will be a way we can use this situation to our advantage if we remain focused on our real objective, if we engage in introspection, and if we find a creative solution by thinking outside the box. Next time when destiny hands over you a shoe when you were expecting treasures, take that as a challenge to your creativity, not as an insult to your ego. Next time you get a lemon, don’t make lemonade, try to convert it into a jackpot.