in pursuit of happyness

you have no power to influence anybody. good for you lest you will be manipulated for favors. you cannot influence anybody for your self-interest,too, better still. for you will enjoy the hard earned success even the more. look around you. everybody want to be important, so that their self esteem and respect is increased in eyes of others. then they expect everybody to be nice to them. but here some are sincere and others are manipulative. so you are left wondering who are your real friends. 

but i have a different story to tell. happiness for every individual can be unique and different. it can be like travelling economy class and first class and business class.  everybody is reaching destination at same time but comfort and some facilities and conveniences are added extra, of-course by charging extra. so in life this charging extra is nothing but extra effort you put to achieve goals which promise higher happiness quotient for you.  because you are not 'important' enough to get things done by way of influence you are in fact 'granted' the favor of enjoying higher happiness quotient.

at this point of reading you can also hit this link to further reading on 'in pursuit of happiness http://tinyurl.com/ctuupop 

if life is indeed spent to achieve happiness, then two things emerge. whether we enjoy the end product or the journey or combination of both checked periodically. and can it be that you are being pushed towards highest level of happiness (pleasure will be misconstrued here) and hence you are being denied small happiness on the way so that you do not stop the journey midway. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc, said that you can always connect the dots backwards when you have come to some conclusive success (read happiness) in life. but you can never foresee dots ahead to connect them. in a way it is good because otherwise some people will try to bye-pass some dots which do not suit them. then enjoying 'journey' part will be lost. ultimately it will steal fun away from both - 'journey' and 'destination'. 

okay now let me put some treasure clues on your path to happiness. an effort should be put to understand yourself. because the cause of your journey and destination can only be firm and resolute if you know yourself,  your desires, your strengths and weaknesses. lets put it this way. there is always a natural downstream journey for river from mountaintop to the sea which is  effortless for river. but it is man who expends extra energy to get benefit from flowing river by either diverting its path or damming it. so all human beings has cut out for themselves a natural journey which is effortless for them but may not be for others. so sometimes we make our journey unnecessarily difficult because we are not able to chart a rhythmic path with our natural energy levels. so work hard and if required take more time to know yourself. 

a question will arise when we say that are we to aim higher or aim lower for goal setting. actually this question should not arise if you read in proper context the above paragraph. you are not required to aim higher or lower. you are just required to aim right. so you will find that energy levels are in harmony and journey and destination seems almost effortless. let me explain to you. once i picked up a book on financial management or something to the effect how to become millionaire. throughout the book, author kept repeating that your complete focus should be on making money. you should study the behaviors of rich people. you should take their habits as your own. you have to put 18 hours of thinking / working on ways of making money. i read the complete book. after that i happened to read two spiritual/philosophical statements in my diary. these two sentences demolished the arguments of whole book, at least for me. those sentences are: "What could you not accept, if you but knew that everything that happens, all events, past, present, and to come, are gently planned by One Whose only purpose is your good?"   

"When you have learned how to decide with God, all decisions become as easy and as right as breathing. There is no effort, and you will be led as gently as if you were being carried down a quiet path in summer."

now in both the sentences there is reference to higher power or the providence or God. if you believe there is God then i need not give any explanation how they are helping me to not pursue just goals of making money vigorously. because i have set out my goal to reach at my highest quotient of happiness while also inquiring in background whether there is any  higher power and does that power has any larger stake in keeping us all happy all the time. so in a way you can safely say that while you are working hard in pursuit of happiness as set out by you, the higher power in its capacity to reveal more about itself, it offsets the goal set out by you from time to time so that both are in harmony with each other. so both the sentences outlined above talk about the same truth i outlined earlier. 

but in case you don't believe in God then usual counter argument is that this universe with all its life form is just a 'chance'. so let us examine the argument about focusing all the time on making money. here author is clearly assuming that you are not having any conflict in your mind regarding the idea of your becoming wealthy. so understanding yourself and filtering a worthy goal which you will pursue very doggedly  is key to your success. so in that case you should ignore the above two spiritual sentences simply because you do not have any agenda of understanding higher power. so for you it is not working in any way or rather your antenna is not attuned to catch any such signals from higher power. (but in reality according to me it is working.... but we will argue out these things some other time...)

now there is a very relevant question which we need to answer before we proceed any further. what are the practical ways of checking that what goals you have set are the natural way for you with harmonious energy levels and effortless way. for this i will write a separate blog.

atule kedia

09167566262

am i worried anytime.....

i woke up today.... let me see what i have today.... a few things to do.... which are required to do to get some larger goals in place.... these larger goals are decided by me for my well being on spiritual, emotional and physical plane... now am i good goal setter and do i have any proven track record of achieving them... this is a separate issue... we will dwell on this little later, if at all required at anytime...  

so i am up and ready to do a few things.... i start brushing my teeth... i also started thinking... about my goals... well is there something wrong here.... am i only person who can decide about my goals... can somebody do a better job than me... that sets me thinking further.... i looked around me... my 17 years old daughter is sleeping blissfully ... can she do it? i do not know whether my wife or my son can do it better either...  for that matter i do not know whether my client, colleagues, friends or government had any clue that what are best goals for me.... on little reflection it becomes very clear to me that all these people have their own goals to follow and with reference to goal setting for me a conflict of interests will stop them from giving me best...  so what is the best way forward.... 

now i am in bath for my hot water bath... i love this daily ritual... it rejuvenates me... and it also sets me to thinking hard... who has my best interests to heart... where am i? 'in your bath of course'... please do not give me silly answers... this is very serious matter... its about my life.... about my goals... so be serious... so where am i? i am in bath, flat, building, street, city, state, country, world (earth), solar system, universe, etc, etc... i hear a voice of protest from you... my answer is as silly as yours... well think again... my answer is not silly for simple reason that after earth, things become a bit complicated metaphorically to explain away just by way of locating my address 'where am i?'.... so where is complication? 

i came out of my bath.... to my dressing room... my clothes are neatly arranged.... with other things like body lotion, talcum powder, etc... i feel a bit obliged that some of my basic needs are always looked after... again i hear protests... come to 'complication' part quickly please.... 'i have work to do to achieve my own goals'...  i know who made my bath, flat, building, street, state, country and world.... but what about earth, solar system, universe... who created these.... are these just matter of facts to be taken for granted or are these to be investigated at deeper level? and till i have positive answers for these questions am i justified in setting goals for myself and rolling action plan to achieve them, without any further thought? now you get the picture.... about complications...

i get into my car... i feel the leather steering wheel under my fingers.... i thank my stars that i have certain luxury in my life.... again i hear protests.... well let me sum it up for you.... exercise your right to set any goals for you... but also keep options open to review them from time to time, while keeping that little curiosity alive for this universe around us.... answers to questions like whether this universe has sprung from nothing without any 'position' of existence of platform to start with or that there was already a 'position' which had power to intervene or create or destroy / recreate this universe as it wishes.... my only humble submission is that please try to get concrete and convincing answers for yourself side by side to setting goals and achieving your goals... believe me when i say that these are not contradictory to each other, but at some point down the road you will find some convergence in both the ideas... and will give you some maneuverability as regards when you should work hard and on which of two ideas.... now my final take....

i come out of my car at parking lot of my office building.... i get to my desk.... my secretary rushes to me with list of appointments for the day.... again i am thankful to little conveniences called loyalty of my employees... 'protest again'.... can't you relax for sometime my friend? any ways here is my final take.... in your journey of asking tough questions like how this universe came to existence, if ever you happen to come to conclusion that there must be some 'power' which has put these things in place and set it rolling.... if and when you are convinced about that then don't you think that you can always approach this 'power' to set goals for you and also give you wisdom and strength to achieve them..... but i will go on to state that while creating this universe the same power had already set achievable goals for you...  and you are gently led to it... i rest my case....

i am at home... had my dinner... i went to sleep... i woke up next day... again i had a few things to do.... but i was relaxed about out come of these few things.... my priorities are changed a bit today.... i am trying to align my goals with the goals of this power for me, which is still in charge.... a smile is coming back on my face... are you smiling, too?