Bamboo In The Wind

I t is satisfying to have put up a great fight. Knowing fully well that we consciously chose not to quit and make a sincere effort makes it all worthwhile. All we can do is keep a sane mind. Be honest in preparation. Wait for the show-time to arrive and then enter the fray with all our might. It is daunting to think about what may transpire after the game. The worry is not what wins us the game; it is the act of playing the game that certainly will create a chance! Creating a chance in every situation, tactfully navigating hurdles one step at a time is all that matters.  The referees' job is to determine how our effort turned out. Our job is the stay in the game. Until the end! And that is a brave act. And fortune is often seen to side with daring!  But first, we must start by mastering our circumstances! And act on resistance to do so. Decisively!

It seems almost impossible to recover from defeat in our earlier games! And yet, how do some people revive from devastating defeats while others end up dropping the ball? Why do unfavorable situations strengthen some individuals or groups yet make others quit under pressure? There are routine examples of how people have scored solid recoveries from what looked like an untenable situation. Their success may lie in a critical thinking attribute when in a troublesome situation. That key attribute is - the willingness to develop a muscle of personal resilience! Resilience begins to develop from a simple step of a view problem situation as an opportunity to evolve personal self. It shapes personality and approach to positively engaging circumstances. What gives root to resilience is in being optimistic . It makes thinking about a way out of the situation plausible. It provides the necessary hope and possibility of taking action. Resilience grows further with decisive actions of engagi...

When we need help, it is better to ask one specific person than a group. Messages to a broad group of people receive few responses and even fewer valuable suggestions! And that should not be surprising! People tend to think others in the group will step up to help. Thus, diffusion of responsibility kicks in! It is our loss when we reach out to a group for support and, in reality, see none! The generosity of support is highest when there is an exclusive opportunity for making a direct positive impact on someone in need. A sense of unique contribution is the reason people volunteer!

Those who genuinely don't care what people think about them do so purposefully.  There is a deep-seated underlying fear that leads to insecurity to know more about themselves. They detest finding out that they might not be perfect and need improvement. That makes them antisocial by their own design! A more confident and social people know precisely where their progress lies. They care about what people they immensely respect think of them and act on it blindly. The difference between being successful and being satisfied lies between the two approaches.

Happiness is never one size fits all. It's never about winning the big things every once in a while and getting the joy of life. Instead, happiness lies in increasing the frequency of joy.  Happiness is collecting joy in little things, the most unassuming settings, and the most unexpected yet regular aspects of life! As often as we can. Chasing the roller coaster of big bang pleasures will bring many disappointments amid some joyous breaks. Learning to spot and pick daily, tiny moments of joy is the only way to sustained, long-lasting satisfaction. It starts with being open to recognizing that bad is mixed good, and we must learn to discern good and cherish that!

We are surrounded by upheaval. Uncertainties grip us. It may look like we are on an impossible, neverending climb! We all need to focus on the next step, following one action, the next minute, the next hour, the next day, next test. Once we focus on winning every session, we approach things with a narrow area focused on the next and the next thing alone! That is when we are steady, composed, and intent!

It is such a complex concept.  You work hard for something and have it, yet you do not feel good about the achievement. Why is this so? You are in the spotlight, and your enigma is gone to become public. You have a loss of privacy. Another reason is your success. Everyone around you thinks it is their success. Everyone expects a share in it. Whether you like it or not. And then guilt creeps in! You owe it to others! That is social debt. You repay the debt with nagging discomfort and spend part of the success.  And that is a depletion you cannot avoid!

Saying you are committed and being committed are two different things. We think about the level of commitment because we are after something. So how you feel about commitment is essential. More important is how to act on that commitment. Thoughts follow expectations. We expect how things may turn out. Without actions backing the thought, we will likely see a deviation in the expected results. Often the result is a surprise! It shouldn't be! It's just the culmination of thoughts followed by actions! Fix them both. Results ensue!

There is no such thing as a right track. We are always in a way that we are on. Why are we constantly searching for whether we are on the right track! Well,  there are a few reasons for it. We don't listen to our own inner self. We are eager to get swayed by what others think of us instead of what our inner self signals us. Learning to listen to our inner self might open us to what we really want and what we are missing that we would like to work on. For the track we are on the make sense, we have to build the right surrounding that allows our best inner self to express itself. Unless there is an opportunity for us to express our inner selves, we cannot see the influence of what matters to us. Another thing that matters for the track we are on is to trust ourselves. Trusting makes us feel like expressing, sharing, and giving.  We do so with much more confidence that we come from a place of positive contribution. Such confidence enhances the value of the track we embarked on. F...

Misunderstanding arises out of an incomplete understanding of the matter under exchange. It stems from the fact that we have received information that does not match the version of points in our minds. Moreover, it differs from the beliefs we have. Together they create situations contrary to what the sender wishes us to receive with complete clarity, and we understand. The problem arises mainly due to expecting the process of the sender and receiver expecting an offline concurrence.  This requires patience instead of relying on assumptions about what we receive and making those the final interpretations. Most clarifications result from debates, probing, questioning, distilling, and reclarifying until a common understanding exists. Trouble is when any commentary about the inadequacy of what is in our hands triggers the feeling of insufficiency; it gives rise to insecurity. Dialogue breaks then and there, and assumptions start to become truths. That gives birth to gross misinterpreta...