An amazing thing happened today

As I was running today, an amazing thing happened: a bunch of kids started running with me and it was amazing! They have such amazing energy and they kept running tirelessly. It also gave me an extra push in running a little faster. Felt great and I couldn't stop smiling as everybody was looking at us as we were doing a mini marathon!

A Short Story

A few of you may have read my short story: "By the greener side"; To everybody, I want to thank for your critiques and comments. I feel very happy to have been able to finish this story. Here's a link for those of you who would like to read it

http://bit.ly/luKOWB

Of course, you can feel free to share it with whomever you like, and if you like what I write, do write to me :)

By The Greener Side by Tarun Betala is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

On my critics

As I finish writing my first short story, and feel quite sure that I would write at least a few more, I feel having a philosophy towards critics necessary. It is our nature to love, and to hate, and some might like my work and others may not. By no means is my intention to please everybody, but there would be nobody happier if everyone is pleased.

My intention is to get people thinking, whether it be about themselves, about others, or the nature of things and the role they play in our lives. To that extent, I would not mind having people who disagree and/or dislike my work completely. And I would not mind people who disapprove of it: what would really hurt is people being apathetic to my work, people who would just disregard it. For that means that my work isn't worth their time.

I feel that critics play a very important role in our lives - and as writers are generally critics of the nature of our world, they play an important part in our lives too. We have to learn from them, but never, for a moment change our perceptions/philosophies just to please them.

In due course of time, all our philosophies change, but it has to be brought about by a real experience - not just by an intention to please.

And that is my philosophy about critics.

Inscription on an ancient sun dial

It's been quite some time since I wrote last on the blog. I've been working on finishing a short story for a writing project by Reliance Timeout. (reliancetimeout.thefullerlife.com). I've been busy with that and a couple of friends who are in town. 


Now that it's a Sunday and I get some time to myself, I've been reading and I came across a lyric on time. It's nothing new, but the way it's written is fascinating. 

Time was is past - Thou canst it not recall.Time is thou hast -Employ thou portion small.Time future, is not, andmay never be. Time present,is the only time for thee.

 It doesn't tell us anything new, but the lyrical style has stayed with me. On a related (and yet unrelated?) note, I was thinking about how amazing it would have been to be able to tell the time from a sun dial. No watches, no batteries and no equipment. Just the mind and a stick that tells the time perfectly.


How marvellous must the invention of a sun dial must have been? I think I'll put one out in my yard someday.

Hating Hatred

One cannot hate hatred. That is hypocritical: One must be apathetic to it. Apathy towards hatred is a path to making sure it doesn't exist in your life at all. If you were to hate hatred, hatred exists, even if it only exists to hate itself. 


Does thinking about it make it real?

Leave me feeling

Its a beautiful cloudy night
you know and I'm thinking about you
and all the things we used to do to
make the sea waves keep coming back

you can keep the love though, and
you can keep the fame
leave me the memories,
you'll leave me feeling the same

I can barely see the stars
you know but I remember your face
clearly and I can hear your voice calling so dearly
it makes the clouds cry sometimes

you can keep the everything though, and
you can own the game
leave me feeling alive,
you'll leave me feeling the same

Those who make us feel bad

It is inevitable that we meet some people who make us feel good, and some who make us feel bad. The latter always have a similar effect on us, they make us want to "show" them what we're made of. They make us feel either violent or incapable. It's a great thing if one really puts aside one's feelings: It makes us want to do better, be more inspired, and passionate to create a situation where we feel superior than those who make us feel inferior. In effect we want to do to them what they do to us.


Of course that's a good thing, so as long as we don't inflict pain, create a chain reaction that doesn't really have an end.


It's generally better to have a win-win situation: Forgive. Let time "show" them. Just live and be merry and take our minds off such negative thinking. If you don't let them bother you, they won't. To just not cross paths, and forgive would be so much better, since we can use our energies elsewhere...

When we think about their lives and what they must have gone through, to make others feel so inferior and incapable, it gives our own lives perspective. It makes us stronger in knowing that at least we aren't as weak as they are. The strong make others stronger, the weak make others weaker. Just as happiness makes others happier, and sadness compounds itself.

That's the amazing thing about this world: what you worry about, becomes your problem. Even if one is in the most dire straits, if one takes his mind off the immediate situation, what he focuses on becomes more important...


Lastly, when people say focus in the "present", I didn't quite really understand what they meant until I realised the above.

---
For now, Peace and Love everybody. To those who spread happiness, thank you, to the rest, I hope you can overcome your problems to make our world a little lighter. 


TRB

Do it slowly.

There is no point in rushing after all. Did you know turtles live on for a century, if not more? How peacefully and relax-edly they do it, I wish we could.

But more importantly, doing things at a leisurely pace is so important, because the journey is perhaps more important than our destination (goals, and eventually death). Goals really are endless, you accomplish one, the next one’s ready and there. But if you accomplish something at a leisurely pace, then you are most certain to learn so much more from it that if you rushed.

Moreover, it’s so much more fun. I know a few people that rush into and out of everything. The rushing out is causal: Burnout. When you rush, specially in our age, where we are focused on getting as much job experience when we are young, you most certainly experience burnout much quicker. If you did something you really like to do at a leisurely pace, We can all be quite certain that we will enjoy it, and learn so much more out of it.

This reminds of what Google’s In-house philosopher says and I paraphrase: you have to think, not just do. Doing all things leisurely also gives us that opportunity to think that we might not otherwise have.

Of course that is not to say that everything must be done at such a relaxed pace that it may never be done at all… It’s a question of doing “urgent” things with a breath – not rushing yourself, even if the task is rushed. There is no point in putting too much pressure on any one task, because honestly, no situation has a life-and-death outcome. Ofcourse, other than…

For now, alvida.

Confidence

I used to read a good amount of self-help books in the past. It's not a confession I generally make, but the truth is, they do have some interesting and valid points. They reveal to us why and how we may be delusional, and how to overcome them. Now, I don't read as many, and the recent ones are mostly money-making machines. 

I did uncover a lot of things that I didn't even know I was doing wrong, and a lot of things I didn't even know I should be doing: Some of them including "smiling". Hard to believe. But as much as you can pretend to be confident and happy using the "techniques" that these self-help books offer, it's all very superfluous. Confidence comes from within, from being sure about something and having the ability to deliver on that surety. Specifically, confidence as a person (Confidence in oneself) comes from knowing oneself surely, knowing one's weaknesses and one's strengths. 

It can be learnt of-course, from self-help books and movies and TV, but it cannot happen solely from these. If it does, then it is guaranteed to be rather short-lived. Long-term confidence requires faith in oneself. That's it's only pre-requisite.

Between happiness and sadness

The basic difference between happiness and sadness is in their depth. To be truly happy, all you have to do is decide that you want to be happy. That’s the beauty of it. You have a choice at all times in deciding whether you want to be happy or not. The same is not true for sadness. Something has to affect you deeply, and with depth to make you sad. This depth is what makes them different.

Even so, we generally think that happiness is good and sadness isn’t. Though that might be quite true in the short term, in the long term, it’s not. Sadness helps humanity create. Happiness makes humanity be happy. With sadness we are inspired to change or improve certain things, with happiness we are happy to be happy.

There needs to be real depth in sadness, and I’m quite sure that without sadness, we would not be able to feel any depth in our own lives. Sadness is one of the tools to become happy: much like how failure is often the tool to success.

For the non-creative types

I had a thought earlier that I think many of you will find interesting. Many people think that they are not the "creative" types. I think otherwise. Even the creative types aren't really "creative" - they are just inspired to create. And that inspiration is a a product of environment.

That is to say, if placed in a sufficiently and rightly inspiring setting, anybody can create. And the regular and constant creation, of doing things even slightly differently, if only, makes someone a creative over time.

There are a few misconceptions/phobias that keep people from being "creative": some of them we are widely aware of, the fear of failing, the fear of being embarrassed/mocked, limitations posed by oneself, and mindset/attitude, among others. These are one broad category that is defined by their prime characteristic: they are innate to the "creator" or the "creative". If someone is scared of creating, they will not even try.

The other "broad" category comprises just one thing:the knowledge that a creative idea does not have to be: 

1) inspiring and/or 

2) life-changing. 

It just has be genuine. That is it.

Though there are countless books that will teach you how to get rid of all your fears and "become" creative, just knowing and mastering the second category will be enough to make you appreciate something that you have done as creative. It may be just a one-liner you wrote or told people, or it may be something you did differently at work today. Over time, you will recognize small things you do as creative, and this will inspire you to be even more creative. Yes, it is that simple.

Even though the prerequisite to creativity may be inspiration from people or events, the opposite is not true: what is creative doesn't need to be inspiring or life changing; that work of creativity can just "be" itself. Such small beginnings will ensure that you are creative, and you know it. The journey of a thousand miles beings with one step, and if you are still not convinced, read this again.

--

TRB

Rain, Rain and a proposition!

It is going to rain in Mumbai in a month’s time. June is generally when the monsoon begins and the first few days of rain are invaluable, to say the least. It makes me want to just cozy up by the window, drink something hot and talk with somebody, or with myself. The whole atmosphere just makes for such great conversations. It makes everything seem like it will be alright!

Even the silence is amazing. Listening to the raindrops hit the floor, or flow and race each other from the top to the bottom, it seems like one’s whole life is in there! Gravity does such an amazing job… gives those raindrops direction, and it seems with such pleasure that they flow, no distractions. Perhaps it’s my imagination, but if you look up at the sky (but away from the sun!) you can see the rain clouds shying away ready to burst and surprise us!

Rain makes the Sun more valuable too, just as the sun makes the rain!

I want to do something different this time, and I propose this to everybody who would like to be a part of this: On the first Sunday, or Saturday, of the rains, We shall have an unconventional picnic! To sit in the midst of the rains and enjoy it, just as you would enjoy the first coming of the sun!

Who’s in?

The (other) prince and pauper

I’m recounting the following story the source if which I cannot remember. If you know where it is from, please let me know through comments or a private message.

A pauper has been walking around for a long time, and enters a kingdom. There he meets some men with whom he starts talking about the weather and who he is. Those men, quite proud of their culture and their heritage, and hence of their king, say that their king is the richest of them all, in wealth and wisdom.

The pauper laughs. He says that he is much richer than the king. Naturally, with their pride hurt, they take him to the king.

“I hear you believe that you are richer than me” proclaims the king

“Yes, Indeed!” replies the pauper with a mischievous grin. This enrages the king, and he stands up and thumps his fist on his armrest, shouting: “I demand an explanation for your disrespect!”

Coolly, the pauper says, “Your majesty, you have this kingdom, and the wealth, and yet you fear to even step outside for a minute, to enjoy the rest of this world. I, on the other hand, roam free and as I like. All of the world is mine. Does that not make me richer? You are dependent on your servants to bring you food and wine, while I am at liberty to bring it myself! I can make my food the way I want it, while your orders will be required for them, and heaven knows, one can never understand another man fully! Does that not make me richer?”

“Yes! But you own none of it!”

“Neither do you, sire! I, a mere commoner, walk into your kingdom, and tell you something that enrages you so! While nothing can be taken away from me but my life! I have not yet even taken away anything from you – your possessions, your wealth, or even your wisdom – but the mere idea makes you so angry! When you leave this plain and simple world of ours, you may own nothing either, but instead leave the same pain for your children, and they will leave it for their children! It matters not that I don’t own it, because none may be ever taken away from me!”

What do you say to that?

--

TRB

Taking advice

I had a meeting a few days ago that has stayed with me. This was a man who was keen on giving advice to everybody – He had an opinion on almost everything! I’m very confident that each of us know of somebody like that. Most of all, he portrayed to be all-knowing. I wonder if people think that he really does know everything.

But that’s not the point of this post: It dawned on me that he was bitter about everything he had an opinion about. and he had an opinion about everything. Must we take advice from somebody who is unhappy? No. I would rather be advised by a happy person who is not the most well-known, than be advised by one who is unhappy and has “every thing”.

There is a difference between happiness and what gives makes you happy: The latter is subjective, the former is not. Everyone can tell if they are happy or unhappy. I think everything is subjective: Success, Hard Work, Delusions & Reality. But the happiness of a person is not. Everybody can be happy and there is only absolute happiness.

--
TRB

Of Humanity First

Most of the great monks, spiritual and scientific thinkers, of the past and present agree on one thing, and it is that it is all pointless. What isn’t pointless is to understand what makes you tick and “follow your heart”. Do what you really want to do. But it seems that it is getting harder by the day – with the development of a million new blogs, a thousand new “must-have” apps, and a hundred new ways to keep in touch with people.

I cannot vouch as to whether distractions are growing only recently (with the growth in technology), or if they have been around since we have. But it seems that these days, we have something to distract us every moment from our own selves. If my blackberry is with me when I’m at the beach, where I’m simply trying to get away from it all – I’m not really away from “it all”, am I? It seems as though we are losing touch with ourselves, and without knowing ourselves, we can hardly know anything that would give us direction, motivation to mold our lives and those of our future generations.

Let’s assume that there were distractions of the mind, and not the technology kind in the past, but people still spent time enough to direct themselves to how they really wanted their life to be. But today, with the corporate lives and capitalist culture, most things are regulated by the desire to earn more or spend less. This is not the way real innovation is done, and neither is it the way to mold lives – because in all honesty, those who can’t take care of themselves will be left to waste. Our most recent experience with our economy is a testament to that. Most corporations do not care about the individual, the bottom line is what matters.

This is going to be even more true in the future unless the world is ruled by spiritual and thought leaders. If that be the case, Our generations, and the generations of our children, grand-children have an even more important need to understand themselves, become literate and educated and be able to think for themselves.

These distractions are great, of course, to pass the time now and then, but before it is too late, we must understand that real growth is needed – and even though it might have its root in technology, it has to be based on our thoughts, needs and requirements. Smartphones, Social Networks (and the like) are great tools, but we wouldn’t stop breathing if these stopped existing. It might make our lives a little bit more tedious, and sometimes even complicated, but we need to understand the real place of such “belongings” in our life and put them in their place.

Such importance is placed in the “time”, for example, but it doesn’t really exist. Time is merely a calculation, a perception accepted by half-a-dozen billion people in this world. If we were to be locked up in a room for a specified amount of time, we wouldn’t be able to tell how long we were in there unless we knew what the specified time was.

And yet people’s lives depend on this – both allegorically and literally – milliseconds can be the reason for life and death, and milliseconds can mean that a million dollars were lost in the financial market which leads to the firing, and the successive falling of a trader’s career. The former, is quite a part of our destiny or luck, if you will, but the latter was created by ourselves, wasn’t it?

Financial Markets are not real. Economies are not real. They are concepts, and concepts cannot be disregarded. But then again, one cannot regard concepts with prime importance. For surely we are human beings first, and traders, or economists, or citizens second, are we not?

Even if we don’t stop breathing with the end of such things as smartphones and social networks and financial networks, we might feel a pang of boredom bite us, but that is only because we really have been taught to 1) look into ourselves to occupy ourselves by thought, and 2) to find less distractive means to simply “be” and not always “do”.

It’s a hard topic to grasp, but I firmly believe that mankind did not evolve to simply do. Just being (with oneself, by oneself, or with others) is a very big aspect of our nature which we seem to ignore.

Life is a game. You either intrinsically understand it, or you don’t. But that’s no reason to not try, right? We are human beings first and everything else that a society gives  us next. In our amassing of wealth, fortune, titles, fame, publicity, we tend to forget this. And in that mix, we tend to forget that what we do today will affect us naturally tomorrow.

Into Insecurities

This was a dream I had last night. Unlike many of my other dreams, I remember and recall this vividly, in that I can remember how exactly I felt, even though I was asleep.

**

I was walking down an old familiar main street in a European city, it was far from gloomy, even though it looked like it was about to rain. A strange sort of peace over the vicinity, and no people around, until someone came walking past me, and right then, stopped. She called out my name, I turned around and with some familiar comfort went over to hug. I know that I was at first discomforted by not recognizing her, in the dream, but that feeling soon passed, as most feelings in a dream do. Feelings pass in reality too, they just seem prolonged and full of emotions.

After some talking and laughing she brought up something about another girl (let's call her Jane, shall we?) and wondered why Jane and I hadn't seen each other or talked or shared anything in a while. I had no answer and I hadn't a mind to justify by saying I was busy or I would try, for I know that I wouldn't do either of those things. I had no reason why I felt the way I did but perhaps Jane was better off outside of my thoughts, and I'm better off in her past. Sadly enough, it had worked the way I felt it was best until now, because Jane didn't try either, so it mustn't only be mutual, but painless for both parties concerned. 

Hardly, though. It seems that we do things that we don't want to. And often we don't do things we want to, because I repressed the pain and justified it by saying that it would pass with time. Perhaps the perceived pain of trying and failing is much harder than doing nothing at all. That's no reason to not fight. 

So she asked me if I would like to have dinner with Jane tomorrow night. When I couldn't answer she took it as a yes and said that she would see through it personally that I went. There was no reason for me to believe that I wouldn't go. But perhaps I was too scared to go through all of it again that. And the next moment I was walking in the restaurant, and evidently having been led there by her. I saw Jane seated towards the kitchen, and I could see the back of her head clearly, a red top and jet black hair shining perhaps as much as any of the lights in the room or outside.

My heart sank for a minute as it took me back to feeling like the young weak and vulnerable me that once was. I didn't walk to her, I sat exactly opposite the door, a few tables away from her, never taking my eyes off her back. Her red shirt may as well have been gold for it attracted the eyes incessantly, like gold would in midst of dust. And when one is looking for gold, would it not be that the attractiveness increases a thousand fold?

She was fidgeting, playing with her fingers on the table, making soft sweet drumming music. I could hear it clearly, through and excepting all the noise around me, as if nothing else really mattered or concerned. She looked around after a while, my eyes were still attached to her back. She saw me sitting there, and her eyes locked into mine for a brief moment, and she turned back and continued to do fidget. Her food came, and then the waiter came to me in that train-like compartment in which the restaurant was. 

I ordered my food, it came, and I ate. I remember not getting my eyes of her. and I remember thinking what a lady she was. Not a lady by birth, or by sex, but a lady by mannerisms and character. If she had changed at all, I could tell through her eyes, she only become more serene. 

The infinite calm in her eyes seemed enough to last a lifetime, and it did suffice for now. I left. 

**

Such are dreams of mine, and I can place this in several instances to whom this might relate. But why must I? If a dream is so vivid, so simple and has so much of an anti-climax, it must only mean that it is hardly the end.

King Laugh

"Oh, friend John, it is a strange world, a sad world, a world full of miseries, and woes, and troubles; and yet when King Laugh come he make them all dance to the tune he play"

~from Dracula by Bram Stoker

Weaknesses

Been quite a while since I wrote last. I've been thinking a lot lately about how often life gives us chances to overcome our weaknesses. It may be that or that we end up making the same mistakes over and over again until we don't. But either way, time has a way of making us better people if we are open to learning from our mistakes. Growth is only possible if we don't commit the same mistakes, only then can we go on to cracking the next code, overcoming the next hurdle. It's like a video game, if you will: we have got to pass the current level to get to the next one.

In understanding this and applying this, of course much reflection is needed. We need to be aware of what is it that we are weak at, what is it that we are committing mistakes and stopping us from going to the next level. But that alone is not enough. The distinction needs to be made in identifying a weakness and overcoming it. They are two seperate things, and one without the other is nothing: Identifying a weakness is merely a first step in the path to personal and spiritual growth: the next steps are charted subconsciously or consciously over time as we encounter same or similar situations and don't make the same mistakes.

It shouldn't be needed to be said that we all are imperfect, and perfection is quite like happiness. Its a pursuit, a journey, not an end or a destination. And only by understanding this, which many of us seem to forget every now and then, can we be open to accepting ourselves with our faults gracefully, as we accept ourselves with our strengths.
--
TRB