Reflections on Turning 27. A Page from My Diary.

Confucious once wisely said,

“A man who asks a question is a fool for a minute. The man who does not ask is a fool for life.”

Two days ago, I turned 27 years old.
Not wanting to be a permanent fool, as an exercise of self-reflection, I decided to have a birds-eye view of my life.
The idea was to question my decisions & reflect on what were my core learnings of living on this earth for almost three decades. 

This blog post is not a usual one.  It’s a page from my diary.
Please feel free to draw inspiration from whatever resonates with you.

1) HEALTH
Confucious once also remarked,

“A healthy man wants 1000 things, a sick man only wants one.” 

What a wise man! 

Life is too short not to enjoy the little things. Make time for what’s essential in life, prioritize your health over anything else. 
Health is your wealth. 
Exercise 5 days a week without fail. (daily is even better). Your body will thank you.
It’s okay to satiate your food cravings, but eat good food 80% of the time. 
One or two nights of insufficient sleep is okay, but cover it up.
Nothing will make you feel as rejuvenated as a good night’s sleep.
Get back to the basics; sometimes, that’s where wisdom lies.

2) TIME

Time is the most valuable asset in your life. Protect it as a mother protects her newborn baby.
In the early years of a career, try everything you can.
Experiment, explore, and keep your childlike curiosity alive.
Once you find out what you like, double down on it. Start saying no to things that don’t fancy your inner spirit.
Limit your social life. Spend more time with yourself to get to know what you want. No one can answer that for you.
If any project doesn’t make you go ‘Hell yeah,’ it’s probably a no. Time, like money, invested in the right areas can give astonishing returns.

3) RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships can be a double-edged sword. They either empower you to reach your goals or derail any progress, so take care of who is around and surround yourself with people who are wiser than you. The learning from such mentors would act as a catalyst to your growth. 

Be it a coach, mentor, or colleague, Hang out with people who know more than you. 
And when you are with them, be like a sponge, soak in all their wisdom. As they say,

“if you are the smartest

person in the room, then you are in

the wrong room.”

Give everything you have in personal relationships.
These are delicate as feathers.
In personal relationships, be careful with words.
As Maha Sant Kabir ji said.

“Aisi vaani boliye
Mann ka aapa khoe,
auran ko sheetal kare
aapahi Sheetal hoye”.

Act how it suits you and your principles but don’t be a pushover for the sake of being kind, because compromising all the time will not feel right either— value both your self worth in a relationship as well as what you stand by.

4) Learnings

* Don’t be afraid to walk the untraditional path. The system is very slow to evolve. Pave your own way.

*If you keep your curiosity to learn, alive, you can achieve miracles.

* Trust your gut. Most of the time, it knows what you want.

*You will never regret working sincerely on your ambitions. Endure the tough training days.

* Persistence is heavily underrated.  Naval Ravikant once said 

Be patient with results & impatient with taking action.

* You will most definitely overestimate what you can achieve in a day & underestimate what you will achieve in a year.
Be infinitely patient.

* When in doubt, ask yourself, What’s in my control? 80% of the time, we are worried about things that we can’t control.

It’s never worth…..

– Getting angry or speaking harsh words. You’ll always regret it.

– Arguing with fools.

– Fretting too much over one game, tournament, or incident. Eminem is wrong; You will get more than one opportunity.

Future goals:

Anything we do in life, it’s ultimately geared at one thing. To be happy. Make it a priority.
Engrave these 4 principles in your mind. (Swamiji’s discourse inspire the following points)

1) Be Grateful

Don’t take anything for granted. 
Dwell on the good stuff in life—your health, family, and friends. You are blessed with more than you can fathom! Be grateful for all that’s given to you; it’s an instant mood changer. It’s faster than cooking the 2min Maggi.

2) Compassion
With practice, you can make yourself to be compassionate in any situation.
Imagine how amazing it would be if that’s your default state?
Make it a core principle of your life. No compromises.

3) Happiness is a choice.
 Whenever you see yourself going down the rabbit hole of negative or depressing thoughts, remember that it can always be changed to something more positive and lasting with just one thought – “I choose happy.”.
‘Happiness is a choice.’  It’s the most powerful mantra(find the powerful mantras for miracles).

4) Surrender.
– There are going to be situations that are going to be awful. One can’t control everything. Surrender to your Guru, God. Draw strength from Them.

“दुःख में सुमिरन सब करे , सुख में करे न कोई …

जो सुख में सुमिरन करे , तो दुःख कहे को होये”

“Everyone remembers God when they are sad, No one does it when they are happy…
 One who remembers him even in good times, how will sadness ever touch him?”

Jai Shri Hari.