The last couple of years have been testing in more ways than one. For millions of people around the world, it has literally been a life changing experience; to face the twists and turns of life due to various reasons. The state of the economy coupled with the activity of extremists being the prime causes of this situation. I myself have gone through a roller coaster year and the ride seems to be caught in a never ending loop for many others too.
In these few months I’ve discovered numerous things I otherwise would never
have realized or I may have not noticed. Many seemingly indispensable people have
been laid off on account of the state of the world economy on the one hand, and
scores of others have lost their lives either facing extremists or falling victim to their bombs and bullets on the other.
The 26/11 saga has just completed another year and the memory of the horrific
event still lingers in my mind, like it does in the mind of every sane and humane
individual.
Watching a news channel run a story on the events of 26/11 for the umpteenth
time, a thought just crossed my mind and I wondered how many people could have
lost their lives in the last century due to reasons other than natural ones.
I did a little research and was completely shaken to find an approximation that
over a hundred and fifty million people had lost their lives to avoidable events like war, extremism, accidents, genocides, communism, starvation, and the like. This is just an approximate figure and could be much higher. A hundred and fifty million is a huge number, many countries even today don’t have a population of a hundred million people but still it’s the truth that all these people died due to causes that were man made.
An equal if not more number of people may have had to face immeasurable
forms of difficulties as a direct consequence of these deaths. It is not only horrifying but also devastating to go into history and look at the misery people have undergone through the last century alone.
My difficulties and troubles, as a consequence to these findings, just seemed to
vaporize, they vanished into thin air./p>
All this set me thinking once again, thinking more deeply about my own
problems and as an after thought I just decided to take paper and pen and list down
all my tribulations as well as my blessings.
It was an unbelievable experience for me as the realization slowly dawned upon
me that none of my troubles looked even bad enough to get a mention on the list of
troubles and misfortunes that my mind was so preoccupied with for the past few
months. In comparison to the things that others have gone through, in fact, I felt I was seriously blessed.
This seemingly trivial exercise has hit me like a sledgehammer. It has awoken me
from the slumber of numerous sleeping pills like self pity, surrender to inaction and loss of vision. It has made me sit up and think and take notice of where I am and where I want to be. It has changed my whole attitude towards life, a small event of counting my blessings and comparing them with my problems will make such a huge impact is something I didn’t realize when I set out to make a list in the first place.
As I write down these few lines I recollect the below mentioned few words I read
someplace by an unknown author and I quote,
“Life can be happier and less stressful if we remember one simple thought: We
cannot have all that we desire; but God will certainly give us all that we deserve and probably more.”
Looking deep within ourselves each of us can realize the truth of the above
statement. Nothing can come closer to the truth than these few words. How many
times do we crave for more success, more wealth, more praise and more love
without deserving them. This introspection can lead to a life changing realignment in our respective attitudes to life.
The degree of success, the volume of wealth and the quantity of praise that we
receive in our lives can be multiplied many fold by just doing enough to deserve the things we so woefully long to acquire.
Motivation is the elixir of progress in life and self motivation is divine elixir, as divine as everything else that comes from within, and what better way to motivate your own self then by comparing your miseries and troubles with your very own strengths and blessings as well as deserving first and desiring later.
This little exercise could change your life for the better. It has at least changed the attitude I carried around; from grossly negative to increasingly positive. This experience has given me, vision, clear enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can tell you this for certain, it’s bright and it’s approaching fast.Count your blessings , you'll experience not only happiness but also motivation to lift yourself from whatever low point you may have hit.
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