Reading is one of the most beneficial
habits and the benefits are self-obvious. Reading a book is like a journey that
begins from the first page and ends when the last page is turned. Like few
journeys, the memories remain for the rest of your life. It is like living
someone else’s life momentarily. It’s like looking at the world with a
different angle, a different perspective.
What reading imparts is broadening of
thoughts and unleashing of imagination. Some use it for relaxation, some for
gaining knowledge. For some, it’s a meditation. Like it is said, “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”, perhaps for reading I would say that “Benefit lies in the eyes of the pursuer”.
I developed the habit of reading
pretty late in my life. As mentioned in my earlier post, it was through a
friend of mine, that I stumbled upon this habit. He used to take me to the
scrap dealer’s shop (raddiwala) and we use to search books from the heap of
books covered with dust and dirt. We often got good deals there. I have bought
some good books at throw away prices. This was when I was doing my engineering.
So I feel that I was pretty late in enjoying one of the most rewarding habits.
I feel two things help you a lot in shaping your character, reading and
travelling.
Here, I would like to mention few
quotes and stories that have helped me and I would like to share;
This
too shall pass
I had read this somewhere. This helps
me in good times to be humble and keep my feet grounded. In difficult times, it
gives me assurance that this will also pass and there will be light at the end
of the tunnel. Many times, I have realized that you laugh at things when you
look back after many years what looked like a worry at that particular time. It
is just facing the situation with your best efforts.
Whatever
happens, happens for good
This was a short story about a king
and the minister that I have read. The king had a minister who always said that
‘whatever happens, happens for good’. One day they went for hunting. The king
and the minister lost their way and were separated from the troops. The
minister said, ‘whatever happens happens for good’. Roaming in the forest,
parched and hungry, the king sees a deer. He pulls his bow and arrow and when
he is about to shoot the deer, the bow slips and cuts his thumb. The king is in
agonizing pain. The minister repeats, “Whatever happens…” The king this time is
really pissed with all this. Soon the troops find them both and then back to
their kingdom. On their return the king commands his soldiers to put the
minister in the dungeon.
Days pass and so do months. After
about 6 months, the king again goes for hunting. This time his entourage is
captured by a group of cannibals. They take the king and his troops to their
place and get ready for the feast. But they have one policy. They would not eat
a handicapped person. They see that the king doesn’t have a thumb and so free
him. The king remembers the words of his minister ‘whatever happens…” He
immediately calls his minister on his return and apologizes. The minister again
says, “Whatever happens…” The king says that he had forgiven him but because of
this the minister has spent 6 months in the cell. How is this good?
The minister replies, “Sir, if you
had not punished me and not confined me to the dungeon, I would have been with you
in this hunting expedition also. I would have been with you when the cannibals
captured you. And as the case is, you would have been released as you had no
thumb but I would have made a jolly good feast for them, So whatever happens…”
Don’t
be serious, be sincere
This was from the excerpt from the
speech given by Chetan Bhagat at symbiosis. I am just copy pasting it.
Life is one
of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a
spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first.
Same with life, where health and
relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is
harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this
feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.
Don’t take
life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during
classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from
the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote
has defined my work ever since. Life is
not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like
a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50
years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked
up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are
people, not programmed devices.
Don’t be serious, be sincere.
How
to stop worrying and start living….a book by Dale Carnegie
I was gifted this book by my dad on
my eighteen birthday. There could not have been any better gift than this. This
is a self-help book and though the title may seem repulsive, it is worth a
read. It is one of the best self-help books I have come across. I read it
regularly. The thing what separates this book is that, it is full of stories
and experiences and it is left to the reader how to put it to use.
Serenity
prayer
This I read in the above book, ‘How
to stop worrying and start living’. Written by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr,
it goes like this;
God, grant me the serenity to accept
the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I
can,
And the wisdom to know the
difference.
There are many things like these,
many quotes, many books, many stories. The source of inspiration varies from
person to person. You never know from where you will get inspire or get answer
to the questions you face.
I think somebody rightly summed it up
by saying, ‘Reading is to mind, what exercise is to body’.
So, keep reading and stay inspired.
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