Are you happy?

If Yes - then you are a good man.

If No - really, why not? What makes you unhappy?

I always thought that if I lose weight I will be happy or if I get good marks I will be happy. That does not mean that I was not happy when I did achieve those milestones but I was happy for a day or two and third morning I got up I was same as I was before and that first day feeling “Wow… I am not FAT anymore” changed to “so what I am not FAT”.

Well…all these small achievements must make you happy but one main thing that will always keep you happy is your attitude towards life. How do you deal with a particular situation in life? I say - It is all in your mind. The moment you adopt the half glass full (and not the half glass empty) way of looking at life you will be happy. Do not look at all the things you failed at but at the things you have achieved. Look at the bright side of your Life and be grateful for what you have.

Some people are of the idea that if I will be rich I will be happy. But money can buy you a bed …can it buy you sleep. The answer is NO. But does that mean we should not work hard to earn more… of course not. “Earn money to live a comfortable life, but do not live your life to earn money”

How do you feel about this statement?

“I am not unhappy because I could not achieve this but I am unhappy because someone else could (like friend or colleague at work)”

I hope that is not the case with you and if it is then you better change yourself today as this will not take you anywhere.

I got the inspiration for this particular article from Trizzle and I would like to add my small story which is on somewhat similar lines. I am not assessing Trizzle as I sincerely think it ROCKS big time and I am a huge fan myself.

Well a long time ago there was a student (lets call him guy A) trying to learn the concepts of Physics. He tried it over and over again since he was a stubborn DIY (do-it-yourself) freak but could never grasp the concepts very well. So, he spoke to his friend (guy B) who was in a similar situation and they both decided to seek help from a private tutor. Now once they were given a problem to solve… guy A could not even understand the problem and sat there totally perplexed …where as on the other end of the spectrum guy B solved the problem in no time. There private tutor was enormously impressed by guy B and from that day onwards every time guy A did something incorrectly he was demoralised by statements like “you cannot do anything…look at your friend (guy B)”.

The end result was guy A could never strengthen his concepts because he got so discouraged by his tutor’s taunts and his DIY attitude went hunting in the woods. And you know why guy B could solve the problem so quickly….because he had done it a few hours ago. The moral of the story please for GOD sake do not discourage people. The reason we have so many different fields is because everyone has different likings and abilities.

Lack of encouragement killed guy A’s enthusiasm and his hunger to learn was soon transformed into “I do not like it… I am not good at it”. Another thing worth mentioning is “Comparison”…a constructive comparison may be “Ohh look at him you can be like him one day you just need to work a bit harder” and a negative comparison may be “look at him you can never be like him”. It’s the way one puts it makes the big difference.

Sometimes it takes time for one to understand or learn a new concept but with time and effort eventually everyone gets there.

Other day I was on the train and there was this middle aged lady sitting besides me. She was talking to her friend (my assumption) on the phone and instructing her to logon to eBay. Well…she very LOUDLY (I am stressing on loudly) gave her username and password to her but that did not seem to work for some reason. Then she hung up and called back with the correct password.
I am sure now you would like to know what the fuss was about…well she bid for some item on eBay and forgot the time it was on for and under no circumstances was she willing to let this opportunity slip away. I found this hilarious when educated people give out their personal details “on a train” & “over the phone” & “out loud” (the worst possible combination you can think of) and then complain about Identification fraud. And give a brilliant opportunity to insurance companies to introduce new plans to cover one against identification frauds.

Well simple rule of thumb says “Be careful”….