Treasure your time

If you had an angel that credited to your account each morning a sum of Rs. 86,400 that carried over no balance next day and every night cancelled whatever the amount you had failed to use during the day, what would you do? You would draw out every rupee everyday using it to your advantage. Well, you have such an angel and it's name is Time. Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you have failed to invest in good purpose. It carries over no balances. It allows no overdrafts. If you fail to use the day's deposit the loss is yours. There is no going back.

Time is valuable, indispensable, unique and a scarce resource. By wasting your time you are losing a part of your life. If you want to use your precious time 100 per cent, here are a few tips.

Keep a daily to-do list, set priorities and establish deadlines for all your tasks. Break down your tasks into manageable parts. Put all the jobs in order. Cross your bridges one at a time. Setting priorities helps you to know where you are at all times and what you should do next.

Do not allow paper to pile up on your table. Distinguish between filing and piling. A clumsy desk will spoil the mood, and add to the confusion. Moreover hunting for a pen or a stapler for half an hour can be maddening.

Days can be wasted in getting out of tasks we should not have taken on in the first place. So never say "yes" on the spur of the moment. Take a little time to think before saying "yes". Don't listen to useless, long, one-way talk. Learn to interrupt politely saying :"Excuse me, but I am late for an appointment". Someone once said to Winston Churchill :"I don't think I ever told you about my grandson". Churchill replied, "No my dear fellow, you didn't. And I cannot tell you how grateful I am".

Television robs us of precious time and makes most of us dull. Don't watch mindlessly anything that comes on the screen.

In his book Time Lock Ralph Keyes says, "We cannot control most of life's nagging delays. We can control our response to them, with a simple change of perspective. Standing in line, waiting for a delayed flight, even being stuck in traffic can be regarded as 'found time'." Get in the habit of carrying a pen and papers. In the 'found time' you can write to your friends and relatives. Or read a book.

Treasure your time and use every minute efficiently.

- N. GANESHAN
(Published in The Hindu on 04-05-2001)

The Man in the Glass

This man is the most important person. Don't miss him. Don't neglect him. Listen what he says. Be truthful him. It is the only possible meaningful thing in your life. I liked this poem very much. Because it underlines the meaning of life. Read and enjoy the poem. And don't forget the lesson...

N.Ganeshan

The Man in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say

For it isn't your father or mother or wife
Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass

You may be like Jack Horner and chisel a plum
And think you're a wonderful guy.
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

He's the fellow to please - never mind all the rest,
For he's with you clear to the end.
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass.
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you've cheated the man in the glass.

- Dale Wimbrow, 1895-1954

Positive Perspective

We cannot alter the facts of life. But we can always select the way of seeing the facts of our life. It is in our hands and it is the determining factor of joys and sorrows. Recently I came across the following passage from the net and it highlighted the above truth. It inspired me and I hope it will inspire you also.

Positive Perspective

Look around you and you will be amazed at what you see. We take so much for granted because we focus on the parts of our lives that are hard or unfulfilled. But if we really stop to look at what we have...we are truly blessed. Others would only dream to have what we take for granted.

• The homeless person wishes to have that little house you wish were bigger.

• That parents who lost their son would do anything to deal with that defiant child.

• The Father that cannot feed his three kids would love to go to the job you hate.

• The man riding his bicycle 10 miles to work wishes to have the two-wheeler you want to trade in.

• That lonely woman would love that man that forgets to take out the garbage or doesn't pick up after himself.

• That orphan child wouldn't mind the mother that makes him clean his dirty room.

• The crippled adolescent would love to climb that flight of stairs you dread.

• The woman in the hospital dying of cancer wishes to rush home after work to cook her family a meal.

You see it's all in how we look at things. If we start to look at our lives with the right perspective and focus on the blessings, we will be filled with gratitude. To focus on what we have and not on what we don't is the best way to live. Further, this perspective of focusing on blessings would automatically become the stepping stone to further success, instead of complacency.

- Source Unknown

Sound of silence

A good machine in perfect working condition avoids friction and makes minimum noise. You may observe that the same rule applies to human beings too. A loose tongue is one of the greatest curses. Silence has a wonderful creative power. Make a study of the lives of great men. They conceive of an idea but they do not go out and shout it before the world; they think and work quietly until they realise their dream. Because in silence we are able to think better and we are able to express our ideas through our actions more effectively.

To do our best we need to order our mind, gather up its scattered forces and establish equilibrium. We cannot do this unless we withdraw at intervals from the haste and noise of outer occupations. Silence enables us to store up a great deal of lifeforce which now we spend unwisely in needless talking. We wear ourselves out, disturb others and say much which might better be left unsaid. When we talk constantly we also dull the mind and lessen its power of penetration.

Dionysius the Elder said, "Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent". When we live on the surface level we argue and dispute and challenge others who differ from us; but when we come in contact with something deeper, we go silent and do not try to force it on other minds. We try to live it. And when we do, it inevitably reaches other lives.

All great ideas and deeper understanding unfold in the hours of silent reflection. When our ears are listening to the loud voices of the world and when we are talking constantly, we cannot know that another voice is speaking in our heart. It is only in the moment of silence we hear the voice.

The practice of physical silence restores the power of our body and sense organs. The practice of mental silence through meditation refreshes the mind and sharpens the faculties. The power gained thus is tremendous. A moment of silence before each task enables us to maintain our balance. If we learn to bring ourselves to a state of absolute stillness, checking all unnecessary use of energy the body is refreshed. This reacts on the mind, makes it alert and free. That is why great things are always done silently.

There is nothing which can rest us more quickly than the experience of silence. When all is still, when our thoughts are quieted down and our entire nervous system is in order, when we have nothing against anyone and our mind is calm and poised, then in the inner depth of stillness we find eternal bliss.

If we can form the habit of devoting a certain time to silent relaxation, it will have a very definite beneficial effect upon both our physical and mental being. So every morning and night reserve some time to experience silence. Silence is a precious commodity in this noisy modern society. In a world that is gone more than slightly mad, finding your core of silence is like recapturing the fort of sanity and peace.

- N. GANESHAN
(Pubished in The Hindu 15-07-2000)

BE A BUMBLEBEE

For many years every one knew that running a mile in less than 4 minutes was impossible . Articles published in journals of physiology ‘proved beyond doubt’ that the human body couldn’t do it. Then on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister broke the four mile barrier and achieved this long sought dream of the athletic world.

He learned to break a big goal into little ones. He trained himself to think of the four quarters in the mile separately. Each time he aimed to run the quarter in 58 seconds or less. He ran to the point of collapse. Then he would rest. He would dash another quarter mile. Each time the point of collapse was pushed back a little. When he finally ran his great race it was in 3 minutes 59.6 seconds. In next four years the feat was performed 46 times by himself and many others.

So never judge what you can do by any precedent. Because man’s capacities are unlimited and so little has been tried. According to scientists, a bumblebee’s body is too heavy and its wing span too small. Aerodynamically the bumblebee cannot fly. But the bumblebee doesn’t know that and it keeps flying. When you don’t know your limitations, you try wonderful things and surprise yourself. In fact the only limitations a person has are those that are self imposed.

Human nature is not a machine to be built after a model and set to do within limit prescribed for it, but a giant tree which requires to grow and develop itself according to the tendency of the inward forces.

Cherish your dreams and visions as they are the blueprints of your ultimate achievements. Success consists of a series of little daily efforts. Do everything with feeling and enthusiasm. Do them to the best of your ability. Always push yourself a little beyond your limit. Trying is the key word. Improvement comes if you try and if you correct your next performance by what you learned from the trials. In your journey there will many roadblocks. Every achiever has had them. But don’t let the obstacles to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it. Always remember that circumstances can only affect you as far as you allow them to do so. If God wants you to do something and if you are willing to work hard on it, whole world cannot stop you from achieving it.


-N.GANESHAN

THE WEIGHT OF A SNOWFLAKE

When the task is great, individuals think they are insignificant for the task. They do not seem to be a match for the task. When the thought makes a mark in their heart, they simply quit. They stop even trying. For them the following little story may be a real eye opener.

THE WEIGHT OF A SNOWFLAKE

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” a coal-mouse asked a wild dove.

“Nothing more than nothing,” was the answer.

“In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,” the coal mouse said.

“I sat on a branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk, when i began to snow, not heavily, not in a giant blizzard, no, just like in a dream, without any violence. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch – nothing more than nothing, as you say – the branch broke off.”

Having said that, the coal-mouse flew away. The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on change, thought about the story for a while and finally said to herself: “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come about in the world”

- excerpted from "The At of Forgiveness, Loving kindness, and Peace" by Jack Kornfield

Oh God…..

A wise man said "Borrow money from pessimists-they don't expect it back.”. Oh God, Please show me such rich pessimists, if they exist.

By the time I can make ends meet, you always move both the ends. Oh God, please stop playing the game with me and try the game with my neighbour, for a change.

Whenever I make a mistake everyone notice it immediately without any help. And they take trouble to inform the whole world. But if I do a right thing no one notices. Even if I take pains to inform them they simply stare at me or nod as if it is insignificant. Oh God, may people be fair enough to ignore my mistakes and shortcomings immediately, realize my virtues and proclaim them to the world!

Oh God, save me from bores, who goes on talking when I want them to listen to my own stories.

Oh God, don’t send me both kind of calamities-misfortune to me and good fortune to my colleague.

Why can’t the youngsters notice that I have stopped aging after 29 years and address me “uncle?” Oh God, please change their unbearable manners and have consideration for my feelings.

After we prove to our bankers we have surplus money by producing our balance sheet and other financial details, they are ready to give us loan. What’s the point in lending money to people with surplus funds and not to poor souls like me? Oh God, can’t you enlighten the bankers?

Why do banks charge for returning our cheques for "insufficient funds" when they already know we don't have any money? Oh God, why do they burden more poor fellows?

We know what is in moon and mars. We know beforehand when celestial events are going to take place. But we are unable to know beforehand when our fellow people are going to spit on the streets. Oh God, give me the power to know beforehand and I’ll walk or ride on streets without perpetual terror.

I want to prove the wise saying “Money cannot buy happiness”. Oh God, entrust the noble task to me and give me a lot of money to start proving it.

- N.Ganeshan