Experience the power of virtues.
An Article By Vijay Michihito Batra
The festive season is on, from Deepawali, to Christmas and then the New Year’s Eve.
I wish all the readers to become bolder as they become older, instead of becoming colder.
The following Japanese quote will inspire us to charge our minds, “Cows drink water and create milk. Snakes drink water and create poison.”
The inspiration from the proverb is that you and I get similar inputs in life in form of responsibilities and challenges, be it as a son or a daughter, brother or a sister, husband or wife, father or a mother, and as a professional. Our mindset or our thinking process will determine what we experience, a life of Joy, or a life of struggle and frustration. Let us keep fine tuning our mind. The more we give, the less we need, the more we take the greedier we become.
As important it is to keep charging or “fine-tuning” one’s mind, equally important is to relish serving our family, colleagues and customers consistently with dedication. Some of us often are discouraged with the idea of having to "dig a well every day." In others words we shirk from being persistent in our efforts. The right thought to nurture is, " it is better to dig a well every day, work hard, and remain active, and keep developing the right habits. If we were to shirk from "digging a well every day," we may inadvertently end up digging a grave for the good habits we may possess, namely, perseverance, diligence, hard work and resilience.
In serving our family, colleagues and customers, it is natural to get tired, but it is not okay to break down. It is natural to get tired, but it is not okay to get bored. The ways to deal with tiredness, is to live a disciplined life, of sleeping in time, exercising and eating right. Sleeping 7-8 hours every 24 hours, exercising 20-40 minutes every 24 hours, and eating just right, will refresh us and prevent us from breaking down.
As far as boredom is concerned, if we keep learning better ways of serving, we will find excitement, enthusiasm and joy, and thus keep boredom at bay.
It is far better to keep igniting one’s mind and adding brightness and cheer to one’s relationships, than to be putting out fires, in relationships, and in life.
In a meeting with a friend, he put it beautifully the importance of creating and sustaining virtuous cycles in one’s life and to prevent vicious cycles from occurring.
I strongly feel, to create and sustain virtuous cycles it is important that we keep doing the following three: 1. Learn, 2. Teach, 3. Serve. Learning, teaching and serving will create and sustain virtuous cycles in one’s life, as they keep jealousy and arrogance in check.
Jealousy, which is triggered by inferiority complex and arrogance which is triggered by superiority complex are the root causes of vicious cycles in one’s life. Learning contains jealousy, and teaching contains arrogance, and serving is the implementation of learning and teaching, thus sustaining virtuous cycles. My father often said, get out of the JAR, which stood for Jealousy: Anger: Revenge.
I wish you a fantastic, virtuous year ahead, full of excitement, enthusiasm and joy.