A friendly reminder: you don’t need more information, just courage

 

Here is a compilation of sentences/ conversations/ phases/ quotes that gave me chills and taught me that its just the courage that keeps us moving… moving in the right direction.

A man asked a gardener why his plants grew so beautifully.

The gardener said:

“I don’t force them to grow.

I remove what stops them.”

 

When the road gets bumpy,

You don’t leave the car,

You put your seat belt on.

 

We romanticize the stars,

But forget the dark is what

Made them visible.

 

One day, you’ll realize that

No one was really watching,

And you could have done

Whatever you wanted.

 

If you mattered to them,

You wouldn’t be asking

If you mattered to them.

 

It’s funny how day by day

Nothing changes, but when

You look back everything is

So different.

 

The cost of never taking a

Risk is spending the rest of

your life wishing you had.

 

Someone asked me:

“What’s your favorite place?”

I don’t have a favorite place.

I have my favorite people.

And whenever I’m with them,

It becomes my favorite place.

 

You find your rhythm when

You realize that even the steps

Backward were part of the

Dance.

 

The day the blind man sees,

the first thing he throws away

is the stick that helped him

all his life. 

 

Insights that drive my journey

 Over time, I’ve gathered countless lessons from both life’s challenges and triumphs. These lessons have shaped my mindset, helping me grow stronger, more focused, and more at peace. Below, I’ve compiled a few key insights and goals that have become central to my journey. They reflect what I've learned and how I strive to live each day with intention and purpose.

Give It to God and Stop Worrying

When you trust in higher power and surrender your worries, you free yourself from anxiety and stress. Letting go of control and placing your concerns in God's hands allows you to find peace and embrace faith in the unfolding of life.

God Rebuilds You in Front of Those Who Broke You

In times of hardship, God’s power can transform your pain into strength, often in the very presence of those who once caused your suffering. This divine restoration serves as a testament to your resilience and a reminder that you are never alone in your journey of healing.

Elevate in Silence and Peace

True growth and success often come from inner reflection and quiet progress. By choosing silence and peace over noise and chaos, you allow your actions to speak louder than words, gradually elevating yourself without seeking validation from others.

I celebrate me LOUDLY, I don’t care if nobody claps. I’ll clap

Embracing your own achievements and progress without waiting for external validation is empowering. When you celebrate yourself, you take pride in your journey, and even if others don’t acknowledge it, your own applause is the most important — it’s a reminder that your worth is not dependent on others' recognition.

I don’t have to fix anything, I didn’t break

This statement is a powerful reminder of self-acceptance and resilience. You don’t need to change or fix yourself to fit anyone else’s expectations because you are already whole, and any challenges faced by you have only strengthened you, not broken you. Don’t bother about pleasing everyone.

Some Doors were Closed for a Reason, Stop Knocking

When certain opportunities or paths close, it’s often for your own protection and growth. Instead of insisting on entering, trust that something better is ahead and focus on doors that are meant for you, allowing life to guide you toward what's truly aligned with your journey.

Don’t Be Afraid to Be Expensive

Recognize your value and don’t settle for less than what you deserve. Embrace your worth confidently, knowing that you bring unique qualities, talents, and experiences that are worth appreciating, even if it means that not everyone will understand or agree with your price.

How You Make Others Feel Says a Lot About You

The way you treat and uplift others reflects your character and values. Showing kindness, respect, and empathy reveals your inner strength and emotional maturity, demonstrating that how you impact others matter more than what you achieve for yourself.

Don’t be a football of others’ opinion

Meaning don't let other people's judgments or views control your actions or emotions. Just like a football is kicked around, don't allow others to push you in different directions based on their opinions. Stay true to yourself and make decisions based on your values, not external pressures.

Striving to Become a Calm Woman in Every Situation

Desiring calmness in all situations reflects a deep inner strength and emotional maturity. Cultivating peace within yourself allows you to respond thoughtfully, rather than react impulsively, creating a sense of balance and control no matter the circumstances.

Things Get Harder Just Before You Level Up

Challenges often intensify when you're on the brink of growth, testing your resilience. These tough moments are signs that you're about to break through, and with perseverance, you'll come out stronger and more capable, ready to reach the next level of your journey.

Goals: Work, Pray, Discipline, Consistency

Achieving success requires a balanced approach. Work hard to pursue your dreams, pray for guidance and strength, maintain discipline to stay focused, and be consistent in your efforts. Together, these elements create a powerful foundation for growth and accomplishment.

Timeless Life's Lessons

 Here are a few key lessons I've learned recently:

While they might seem familiar, it's always worth revisiting the fundamentals we already know. Sometimes, a reminder is all we need to reinforce the truths we live by.

1. "To achieve something you've never achieved, you must do something you've never done."
   Change requires discomfort. Staying in your comfort zone means staying the same. Push yourself to grow.

   

2. "Mindset is everything."
   Approach life with positivity—it changes how you experience everything. A positive attitude can transform any situation.

3. "Your life is shaped by your ability to navigate uncertainty."
   The way you handle the unknown defines your path. Navigating through the unknown is a key to growth and resilience.

4. "SABSEY BARA ROG, KYA KAHENGEY LOG? The greatest burden: 'What will people say?'"
   It’s difficult, but freeing yourself from others' opinions can transform your life and is essential for true peace.

5. "This too shall pass."
   Everything is temporary. The highs, the lows, and everything in between — even we are fleeting. Life flows, and so must we.

6. "Don’t expect honesty from those who aren't honest with themselves."
   Recognize when someone isn't ready for truth—and adjust your expectations. Be mindful of where you place your trust.

7. "Be the energy you wish to attract."
   Like attracts like. Positive energy draws positive things into your life. Good things gravitate towards good people.

These timeless lessons remind us of the power we have to shape our own experiences. 

Money Lessons I Learnt

1. Must have EMERGENCY FUND - enough for 6 months of expenses/current lifestyle.

2. SAVE MONEY and MONEY WILL SAVE YOU - Don't save what is left after spending. Only spend what is left after saving.

3. Best to have ZERO DEBT, if you can't pay cash, you CAN'T AFFORD it, nothing beats PEACE OF MIND.

4. Avoid unnecessary spending, forget sale price, everything is 100% off when you don't buy it. Don't waste your money on things that you don't need, even if they are cheap. EVERY PESO COUNTS!

5. Learn to BUDGET - it is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went!

6. If we buy things that we don't need, we will have to SELL THINGS THAT WE NEED.

7. PRETENDING TO BE RICH can make us poor - Must learn to live BELOW MEANS. Don't go broke trying to look rich.

ACT YOUR WAGE.
8. MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING, but we cannot deny the fact that we NEED money for our FAMILY.

9. Always have a BACK-UP PLAN for life's uncertainties – Start having your personal LIFE INSURANCE with INVESTMENT.

10. Let's break the TOXIC FAMILY CULTURE about FINANCES - Your children are not your retirement fund, and your parents are not your emergency fund.

Some coffee, birds and lessons

While sitting in a fantastic place with the blue sky above, sprinkling water over your head to keep you cool and the delicious food to keep you away from hunger I observed few things today. These are the things which we generally overlook but when we dive into the deep meaning of every small little detail of these, then we come to know that they usually teach us those lessons which otherwise we ignore.

“Hey, do you want to grab coffee soon?”

It’s a text that regularly lights up my phone; it’s one I’ve sent many times. When I moved to this present job, shortly after finishing my PhD, I knew none in this government land. And later got to know just few, rather just two who can be asked for coffee or Friday evenings’ celebrations, because my initial concerns were adjusting to my new job and not  knowing many as I have always been choosy on the people whom I love to conversant with. I will get to know people gradually, I thought.

There was new job, there was work, there was other stuff — and there was plenty of “grabbing coffee” with new acquaintances in the midst of it all. (Can we also briefly acknowledge how weird of a phrase “grabbing coffee” is?) Yet as the months and then years passed, I still felt like I only really knew those same two people or may be two more now. I’d just left a campus where I felt like I knew everyone, and this sense of loneliness — of missing something — became heavier and heavier.

What was I doing wrong?

Good news! I’m not alone in this eternal cycle of lattes and small talk now.

And thank goodness science is here to explain why: In the 2012 New York Times article “Friends of a Certain Age,” Alex Williams references the “three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other.” This combination of factors, according to sociology professor Rebecca G. Adams, “is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college.”

But now college is over, and Williams writes that “it’s time to resign yourself to situational friends: K.O.F.’s (kind of friends) — for now.”

“Kind of friends” are those people with whom you set up a meeting at Starbucks or any other (in a series of texts that include an appropriately cheerful amount of exclamation points). They’re the friends who ask about where you’re from and where you went to school, and they try to find anything you might have in common. The coffee may be hot, but the conversation is lukewarm at best. Time together usually ends with “we gotta do this again soon.”

I love coffee and I love a good conversation that’s accompanied by good coffee.

Coffee invigorates the senses, boosts concentration and serves as a great backdrop to a number of different scenarios. When meeting with a friend, someone who's more than a friend or a potential employer, a batch of coffee can go a long way. Keep a cup on hand while you discuss love, life and opportunities.

"Once the mug is empty, it's time to go."

Hence my take away to sum up is, it gives you exact time with exact taste to discuss the exactly the relevant things or may be to bring in the feeling of lighter you.

Also, while sitting with the coffee in hands and observing the birds flying in one particular direction, behind them I could only see the light orange sky which absolutely looked like a blue lady, wearing a light colour saree draping some magical light in her flap making it look orange. It was a sun set effect, the sign of an end to a super day but also the start of the hope for a better tomorrow.

I also feel that since the earliest times of men, birds have inspired our deepest imaginations. Fearless and free in the sky, birds make us wonder, what would it be like to fly?

While none of us can sprout wings, we can all simply observe and learn from these beautiful creatures on how to create a beautiful life. Here are life lessons I could sum up today:

1. Be confident.

Birds learn to trust themselves before they take off in the sky. So have faith in your abilities and know that you will find a warm current to soar in.
 

2. Let your colors shine.

Different birds have hundreds of different hues. Be bright and make sure you aren’t hiding what makes you one-of-a-kind.
 

3. Show up early and often.

The legendary early bird gets the worm for a reason. So find something worth showing up for, and then show up every day.
 

4. Go with the seasons.

Birds thrive despite changes in their environment. Be fluid and go with the flow, trusting your ability to always find a branch to land on.
 

5. Flock together.

Birds seek strength and sustenance from one another. Keep friends and family close by as you navigate the days.
 

6. Spread your wings.

Eventually, all birds must leave the safety of the nest and become what they are meant to be. Have no fear of falling, and start flapping.

7. Always come back to nest.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, but the home and the family is the ultimate place where you belong to and should come back to is the final lesson, none other than birds, can teach you better.

And my additional take away sums up like this: you can’t keep the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can keep them from nesting in your hair.

Recipe for Happiness

All of us are humans, we are all enmeshed in a world full of opposites – pleasure & pain, joy & sorrow, profit & loss, victory & defeat, success & failure, birth & death. We work and sweat and plot and plan and spend all our time trying to achieve one side of each pair of opposites – pleasure, joy, profit, victory, success – while avoiding the other – pain, sorrow, loss, defeat, failure.

But here’s the thing – both sides are really not at all that different from each other. What’s more, one cannot exist without the other. You cannot avoid the bad side of the equation because rejecting the bad side means denying the good side as well. You don’t feel even half much of pleasure of achieving something if you have never failed in the process. More importantly, neither side ever lasts – not pleasure, not pain, not victory, not defeat.

So what should you do? Accept both sides of each pair of opposite with the same sunny attitude. And there is another way of achieving the same result – rejecting both sides of each pair of opposites! Whichever one you pick, it means the same thing – you neither get elated when something “good” happens nor depressed when something “bad” happens. You are always calm. And calm means no fear (of failure), no desire (for victory), no sorrow (over loss) and no anger (at rejection).

Isn’t it very hard to accept or reject every pair of opposite, especially since our entire world is made up of them? You bet it is. But one simple way to start on the long journey is to stay completely focused on the work at hand, whatever that work may be – studying for exam, helping your parents around the house, taking care of cranky grandparents, researching a science project with team-mates you don’t go along with…… Don’t think about how disagreeable the work is, don’t wonder what the point of it is, and don’t worry about whether it will bring you any rewards, that you hope, or the failures or dread. Instead put your head down and JUST DO IT.

Eventually, the work itself will become the purpose, and you will not care about the results. The work itself will become the reward, and you will stop looking outside it for rewards.

On the surface, it may seem like a recipe for a dull life, but those who have tried it swear it is actually a recipe for perfect and lasting happiness.

If the Gita’s philosophy were reduced to one sholka……

It would be Shloka 47 of the second chapter of the Gita

You only have the right to perform your duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself as the cause of the results of your activities and do not attach to inactions.