Happiness and fulfillment are two different things. Anyone can be happy. It’s a state of mind. It’s a choice that one can make and be happy in seconds.
On the other hand, fulfillment is rare and precious. One need to work, follow his passion, contribute, help, succeed to be fulfilled. It takes years of dedicated hard work and commitment for just seconds of feeling fulfilled.
Ravananugraha
Raavana, Overconfident and obsessed with his powers, once wanted to meet Shiva but Nandhi (Shiva’s gatekeeper) denies his entry to Mt. Kailash.
Enraged by this, Raavana starts uprooting the mountain. To keep him in check, Shiva pushes the Mt. Khailas down, with his feet, trapping Raavana underneath it.
Without losing hope and being determined to live, Raavana spends next few years, trying to impress Shiva, by singing various hymns (Shiva Tandava Stotra, was result of the same), while being trapped under the mountain and using all his energy to prevent it from crushing him.
Finally impressed by his determination, Shiva lets him out and also gifts him with an invincible sword, for his servitude.
This little story has a lot of lessons to learn from.
- No matter how strong or powerful you are, you will face challenges bigger than yourself.
- One must learn to accept defeat, without losing hope and be determined. Your determination can get even enemies by your side.
Funfact: Prabas lifting shivalingam in Baahubali - Song starts with lyrics of shiva tandava strotra, is a reference to this incident.
“Jatatavee gala jjala pravaha pavitha sthale, Gale avalabhya lambithaam bhujanga thunga malikaam, Dama ddama dama ddama ninnadava damarvayam, Chakara chanda thandavam thanothu na shiva shivam.”
Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.
For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.
I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it
- Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Mr. X, A Developer, Guitarist, Writer, Photographer, Entrepreneur, Boxer, Stocks … (Not a beginner, Successful in all those fields)
Me : wow! , So how were you able to master all these skills?
X : I didn’t master all those skills, I master the basics and that too not all at once.
Me : oh! Could you be more specific? please.
X : Okay! let me explain.
Imagine you didn’t knew how to read english. I can tell you a 100 words and their spellings, Yet, for 101st word, you will not be able to read it.
Where as, if I teach you the 26 alphabets and how they sound. You will be able to read majority of the words, even sentences. Same applies to any skill, any task.
One must learn the basics and infact master them, in order to be good at any skill.
Me : [Silent!! looking at him. ]
X : And that’s one of the main reasons why many people can not get good at a something.
People want to learn Despacito lyrics, but they don’t want to know Spanish or how each word is pronounced. People wanna dance like Usher, but don’t wanna pop, lock or learn basics of hip-hop. Same applies everywhere. Any skill is mastered by constant practice of it’s basics.
Ever tried? Ever failed?
No matter,
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
A good leader takes care of people who take care of people who … take care of people who take care of results. - Simon Sinek
A teenage girl X, heavy fan of Marvel universe.
Me : So what’s your favorite quote from the recent Spider Man?
X : It’s when Tony Stark says “Cap would have kicked your a** if he wanted to. "
Me : ??
X : Yeah! I Love Captain America.
A middle aged entreprenuer, X, who own a franchise restaurant in DC.
Me: How were you able to take such a risk ?
X : Let me ask you a question. How do you commute to work?
Me : I Drive.
X : You know that there is a 5% chance of you meeting with an accident and 55% if you were texting and driving.
Me : Yes. Whats up with that?
X : You drove to work. Didn’t sat at home, afraid of accidents. I’ve done the same. Drove my self to the destination.
We all take risks, whether we acknowledge it or not. Better risk for things we love.