Monday, 31 December 2012

Happy New Year 2013: Attitude to live by...


Happy New Year to all. Here's how I end 2012 and start 2013, that is, to list down my fav quotes and try my utter best to live a fraction of them up:-

1) "Feed the elephant; don't weigh the elephant." For me it means to nurture relationship by cherishing and giving and not judging and taking.

2) "I would rather carry a plastic bag with $5000 inside, than to carry a Prada Bag with only $100 inside." For me it means to be contented with what I have as a late philosopher once said, "He forgets that to be without some of things you want is an indispensable part of happiness."

3) "Idleness is not doing nothing. It is being free to do anything." Life's tragedy is to end up being totally free to achieve nothing. So, this 2013, I would like to live life, family and career with a passion and passion is defined best by Einstein under the covers of being a genius. He said this, "Genius is childhood recovered at will." I want to have the curiosity, joy and the effervescent spirit of a child and not the cynical, arrogant and begrudging spirit of an old man. It's never too late to have a happy childhood, so they say.

4) "The only lies for which we are truly punished are those we tell ourselves." I want to be true to myself. Walk my talk and talk my walk. I want to live my life measured more by my deeds and not by words.

5) "All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why." Sometimes I feel like I am living a life escaping from one fear or dread to another. I lack courage to face them so I run. But then I recall that courage is not the lack of fear but it's about facing it. One author defines it this way: "Courage is the willingness to act towards a moral or worthwhile goal despite the presence of risk, uncertainty and fear." So, 2013 will be the year I step up to the plate. And whenever my feet wobble and knees buckle, all psyched up to run away, my heart will stand firm and allow God's spirit to whisper these words, "Son, try overcoming it. Let fear run away this time, not you."

6) "In our infinite ignorance, we are all equal." Humility is the operative word for 2013 and beyond. A friend of Socrates once asked the Oracle of Delphi if there is any man wiser than Socrates, and the reply was, "There is none." When Socrates was told about this, he was puzzled. He eventually concluded that what the Oracle meant was that true wisdom consists of knowing one's ignorance. I have learnt that the moment you think you are better than others, someone or something will come along and prove you dead wrong; sometimes even humiliatingly wrong. So, for me, knowledge in servitude is humility but knowledge in attitude is stupidity.   

7) "The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are." Let me end with this: "Every man has a vocation to be someone: but he must understand clearly that in order to fulfill this vocation he can only be one person: himself" (Thomas Merton). Cheers out for 2012!

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