#5 Become Better

I want to share a story about a man and a horse I came across while reading Teachings of Buddha by Thich Nhat Hanh. A man was riding a horse and it appeared that he was going for some important work. On his way, another man, standing alongside the road asked him, ‘Where are you going?’ The first man replied, ‘Don’t know! Ask the horse.’ This is also our story. We are too often busy in our busy life that we don’t have time to think about our self. It looks that we are not running the day, but the day is running us; we are not living but surviving it. Our life has become like a leaf floating in water which is moving along with the thrust of wind. I courteously want to ask you to ponder, ‘Do we not deserve to spend few hours to improve our self?  

I believe that the only purpose of our life is to serve the people selflessly. As truthful towards my responsibility to help others, I want to share few points that will help you to live a better life.

·         Comparison: Not only expectations are the cause of all disappointments but comparison also leads to displeasures. Life is not about to compare yourself with others, but it is to make yourself better than yesterday. When you start comparing yourself with the person who is stronger than you then unsurprisingly you’ve to confront distresses in your life. And if you compare yourself with the weaker being then the day is not far when your pride knocks you down on your face. Accept everyone is different and born with different qualities. Believe in yourself and get up every day to improve yourself.

·         Have Faith: I often see many students are filled with fear of uncertain future. I’ve read somewhere, people do not know about their present and they are talking about future. Future is an illusion. Present alone is the truth. I know it’s difficult to avoid the fear of future. Sometimes, I also get trapped by these illusionary fears but if you have faith on God you will easily tackle it. Faith is like living being, the more you feed it the stronger it will become. I read the text of Holy Bible, Holy Quran and Shri Guru Granth Sahib again and over again to build my faith. God has plan for you to make you not to break you, to give you hope and a good life.

·         Become Strict: The more you strict on yourself the better your life will be. Build a new good habit. According to studies, it takes sixty-six days to make a new habit your daily ritual. In past few years, I made several good habits — reading book, keeping journal, waking up early, exercising— that is helping me to avoid procrastination. Now, I’m working on writing diary every day before going to bed. It’s little bit difficult to make a new habit, but remember what Robert Puller said, ‘Good habits, once established are just as hard to break as are bad habits.’

·         Do Something Extra: The real development of our body and mind is when we stretch our self beyond our limitations. Every skill is only mastered by focusing it day in day out. Set a goal of doing the things which you feel hard. Record your goal on a paper and fix a time limit to complete it. Like, I read six books a month, but this month my target is to read ten books. By spending few minutes extra on the work you love, you can get more out of your life. Remember, you can never give your best in the things you don’t love. It is better to leave and go in a search of the things you love.

·         Bless Everyone: Bless everyone whom you meet. While shaking hands or sitting and walking alone think well about others. Caress the trees and plants on your way and thank them for rendering oxygen for our survival. Make someone laugh or do one act of kindness. Make a stranger your friend or call an old friend to tell you still remember the good moments you had shared with him. When you start improving yourself, you will begin to unfold the enormous powers lying inside you. The more pure is your energy the more you have influence on others, the more you have friends and the stronger your speech will become. Serve people and let see God serving you.

“Your God is around you. Serve everyone. Don’t know in what form you meet Him” — Nakul Grover