ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

A famous quote from John F. Kennedy- "One person can make a difference." We have been brought to this world to make a difference, but we wait for someone else to make that difference and not initiate it ourselves. We remain in the thinking queue at times when I want to make a difference, and life passes on without action. Some people make a positive difference, and some make a negative difference. That is why I say one man can make the difference this way or that way.

Leaders who made that difference:

Mahatma Gandhi: He was a Primary leader of India's independence movement and the architect of a form of civil disobedience that influenced the world. But we all remember him for his non-violence and his belief in simple living-making his clothes, eating a vegetarian diet, and using fasts for self-purification and means of protest. We practice this so much in our country to fight for our righteousness. Anna's followed the same principles in his agitation. 

Nelson Mandela: He touched almost all the people's lives, especially in the States and South Africa. His mission was to end injustice and inequality and end the country's apartheid system. He proved he could achieve goals like the freedom of his people without violence and without hurting other people. Reply of racism was not racism. He is remembered from apartheid fighter to president to unifier-bringing people together for a common cause.

Mother Teresa: She summed up her life by saying, "By blood, I am Albanian, By citizenship, an Indian, By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of the Jesus". She had devoted her life to caring for the sick and poor. She had established centers for the blind, aged and disabled, and people suffering from leprosy. She is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her humanitarian work.

Charlie Chaplin: One of the greatest filmmakers in American cinema history, whose movies are popular throughout the world. Through his films and acting, he passes the message of how to remain positive in life while the world is full of chaos. He's one of the famous quotes was, "The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury."

They were ordinary people like us but had a fire in them to make a difference in the world.

Corporate Leaders that made a difference:

Bill Gates: Philanthropist and the founder and chairman of Microsoft Corporation Ltd. His vision was a "Computer at each desk and in every home ."He worked for 30 years on his dream, and it is fantastic to see that dream become a reality. He was able to turn his small 30-man operation into 80,000 employee organization, leading innovation and securing the future. He made a difference in the corporate.

Dhirubhai Ambani: "Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one's monopoly." He built Reliance from scratch, and today it is counted on Fortune 500 list. He grew the organization organically in 25 years, focusing on technology and productivity. He started with the Polyester business in 1965, and the corporation is diversified in Retail, Digital, Life sciences, Logistics, Solar, Telecommunication, Petrochemical, and more. He created jobs for 23000 plus people. He was not educated but was able to make a difference.

 Steve Jobs: Single-handed interrupted three multi-billion dollar industries: computing, telephony, and music, influencing society positively. He attempted to bridge the gap between the poor and rich by getting internet and information access through pockets. His dream started from Garage and grew to a $351Million organization, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. When it comes to touch screens, we all prefer apple products. Apple has sustained its Quality. In a sea of products available in the market, Apple products knock out on Quality. He'sOne of the quotes I like is, "Quality is much better than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles." We all know he made a difference in our lives by giving us the best smartphones

Parents that make a difference

Parents are trustworthy guides in our lives. They devote all their time to bringing us up in society. They sacrifice time and treasure for us and make us a complete person. No one ever has grown up in the community without parental guidance. Parents do not have a solution for every problem, their pockets will not allow them to fund us always, but they do set the right directions, give us the correct values and build our character. They play a crucial role in building the emotional, social, intellectual, self-confidence, and other matters that describe us. Although we have specific characteristics that are either positive or negative by birth, it is the parents who invest time in us to weed out the negative and develop more and more positive in us. Despite their schedules, they do get time to raise us well. They are the first ones who create the leadership skills in us so that we can become people like Gandhi, Charlie Chaplin, Steve jobs..etc.

Characteristics of all the leaders are first developed at home by parents by giving them emotional, social, and intellectual upbringing. So I believe parents make that difference in our lives so that we can make a difference outside the world. 

SELF RESPECT

It is my motivation, and it is my belief

It is my confidence and it is my courage

It is my honour, and it is my virtue

It is the reflection of my thoughts, and It is my state of mind

It makes my mood, and it makes my day

It keeps my chin up, and I look through my eyes

No one can cut me down with words

No one can steal my possession

No one can make me feel inferior

No one can make me feel weak

I say no to disrespectful people

I turn my back to impolite people

I bring clarity to the people I want to be with

I bring more clarity to the people whom I do not want to be with

I define my group, and I define my circle

I work every day to bring self-respect up

I fight for my rights, and I work for facts

I define my standards, and I follow them too

I work through my consciousness, and I follow my soul

I take my decisions and stand by them too

I do not judge myself from someone else's eyes too.

It is my identity, and it is my individuality.

It is my predictability, and it is how I am perceived

It shows my righteousness, and it shows my worthiness

It is my value, and it is my worth

I do not care for beauty, and I may not be wise.

I do have an essential element and a protective cover too.

 

IT IS MY SELF RESPECT, AND I WORK EVERYDAY TO BRING IT UP

TOO BIG FOR YOUR BOOTS

"Too Big For Your Boots." I knew it was an idiom, but I never delved too deep to understand it. Recently, I observed and tried to relate it to a few examples and found that this idiom does have a lot of meaning. The dictionary says, "behaving as if you were more important than you are." Some say it means being arrogant. It looks like having an inflated perception of your importance. You start feeling you are better than others and different from others. You begin developing a superiority complex, thinking you are crucial and trying to boost your importance.

When do you start feeling more critical? When you receive something you do not deserve, when you get something you have not thought about, when you have a fear and believe it will not last long, when you know it was not due to your potential.

People of such a category are involved in the minutiae, and since they fear losing it, they want to enjoy this false power. What is this false power? It can be a promotion you received. You know you did not deserve it. You did not create the wealth you received, the authority you gained, but the conviction was not there. Small wins and gains make you think you have become a celebrity. Success starts with transforming your behavior. You are less likely to learn from the people around you, and you start losing respect from others. You get attracted to people in power, who have authority, and see that as a ladder to success. You start living a selfish life. One more thing about boasting about such behavior is that your value system is weak, you do not have a view of your capability, and you fail to see the big picture. Your acceptability within your family and friends has been low. You cultivate false relationships, so you do everything that attracts attention and makes you feel superior to others.

If you are modest, people love you for your modesty, your thoughts and statements are valued, and you are respected irrespective of your titles, wealth, or empire. People come forward to connect with you in some shape or form. People do not forget to greet you. People find you through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc. People try to develop their virtues and follow your value system. As a result, you are pleasant company, and people enjoy being around you. Consequently, you earn absolute and lasting respect from others.

Some modest people like APJ Abdul Kalam and Sachin Tendulkar exhibit virtues like humility and modesty. They never forget their roots, maintain the same behavior, and let success change their fundamentals while displaying their values. They live by example, and their simplicity and humbleness hold a special place in people's hearts. Unknowingly, they garner a lot of respect and love from those around them.

I watched one of the KBC episodes (The year 2014 series) hosted by Amitabh Bachchan. One of the contestants on the hot seat said to Amitabh, "Why do you work hard? You have done enough in your life. You should rest at least at night." Amitabh, with his modesty, replied, "I have to work hard and stay awake because of the love and respect I receive from people. People are waiting for me on my blogs and Twitter. If I am late in responding, people get worried and start tweeting, 'Sir, where are you? Why are you late today? Is everything well with you?' and so on. I cannot keep people waiting." Is this not an example of modesty?

On the contrary, when you lack modesty and don't know how to achieve it, you may misuse your wealth and position. You chase after honor and distance yourself from dignity unknowingly. You will always go for things that may not be right but will earn you accolades. But modest and virtuous people shun such behavior. You need to live a life without the greed to become big, without exhibiting arrogance, without portraying an untrue image of yourself; otherwise, you will earn the permanent title of "TOO BIG FOR YOUR BOOTS."

BE HAPPY WHERE YOU ARE

Most of us live for the future, which we do not know and in this process, ignore the present. There is always a condition before we say we are happy. These conditions or obstacles keep coming our way, and we keep postponing our happiness indefinitely. I want to be satisfied, not now but in the future. We keep saying live for the present and be happy, but none of us can follow the mandate. Our worries to pay bills, pay debts, possess a house, a car, insurance, good education for children, and the list goes on endlessly, and more lengthy the list far away is happiness. We convince ourselves that life will be better after all life's "to-do list" is completed. The truth is, there is no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, then when?

I was once in one of the training programs, and I remember a portion of the lecture by one of the speakers. I am trying to recollect what he said because that is relevant to my theme:

 "Once a son went to his father and asked where the happiness is, the father replied, "You go to school, you will have friends, and then you will be happy. Son goes to school, comes back, and after some time asks, "where is the happiness." Father replies, "you go to college, have bigger groups, lots of fun, and be happy." The son returns from his college and asks where the happiness is. Father replies that you pick up a job, earn money, and then be happy. Son returns from the job and asks again where the happiness was. Father replies, "you get married, have a beautiful wife to spend time with, and be happy." After marriage, the son again asks where the happiness is; Father replies, "now you will have a child. You will be happy to see him growing." The son returns with the child in his arms and asks his father where the happiness was. In a very relaxed mood, Father replies, "now you cannot come back to me. Now it is your child's turn to ask you where the happiness is like you have been asking me right from your childhood."

Our entire life is figuring out where happiness is, but joy is there at every step. We did not recognize it. We keep pushing happiness to the next milestone and saying someday I will be happy.

Life keeps on moving forward. So it is essential to be happy now, in the present moment.

We keep on waiting for the next moment that will make our life happy, the moment that is not known to anybody. We are busy finishing some unfinished work first, paying some bills first, doing some work first, serving our elder parents first, looking after our child first, and at the back of our minds think that life will begin after this. However, the reality is that whatever we are doing is part of our life. The challenges, the obstacles, deterrents, and situations are a part of life, and these will go on with us like a shadow. So it is not wise to think, let me overcome them first and then be happy.

There is no way to happiness, and HAPPINESS IS THE WAY.

IMPORTANCE OF LIFE PARTNER

I am not a preacher nor an author. However, I wanted to write to share how I realized this fact "IMPORTANCE OF LIFE PARTNER IN LIFE."

January 13, 2013 (01/13/13) has been the most blessed day. Although most of us believe in the unlucky 13, I have started thinking of the luckiest 13. Not that I was blessed, but I realized the Importance of Life partners in Life.

On the same very day, January 13, my husband was driving in the NCR region, and I was at home watching Big TV. Suddenly I looked at the watch and realized, oh, it is a while now since my husband has not returned home. What about giving him a call and finding out how far and how much more time he will spend on the road.

I called him, and his cell phone was off. An unknown person was operating another one. I got frightened and tried hard to reach his number, and I could get the number but not him. I repeated this for 15 minutes, but my efforts were not paying me off. I was not getting connected to him. We usually quote that If we pretend to feel a certain way, the feeling can become genuine all by accident.

It was completely dark in front of me when I looked inward; it was even darker. Looking at my family, I asked, "where is my Life Partner," emptiness, hollowness, darkness, started following me, and there was only one thought coming to my mind, where is my life partner? Can Life go without speaking with him? I looked around, I saw the family everywhere, but I did not see him.

The bad vibes followed me and continued for 30 minutes, but it looked like they had been following me since I knew myself. Every millisecond was tormenting me badly, taking me through highs and lows up and downs, asking me now and then where is my Life Partner.

Suddenly, my phone started ringing, I picked it up, and I heard the voice of my husband, which my ears were desperate to hear. I asked him where are you, and he replied, "I am fine, was re-born. God gave me a new life. I cannot believe I am alive,"

I ran to my temple and thanked my SAI; not that he is now around, but that made me understand the Importance of Life partners in Life.

In the end, it's not going to matter how many breaths we took, but how many moments took our breath away.