Well, this post happened, thanks to a beautiful 'dp' template that i chanced upon, from off my cussy paapa’s profile
picture, that i guess, sure proves such an invigorating tonic and a motivational shot for all of us to live by! Added, she has such a unique way of artistically designing beautiful 'display picture' templates that sync so
beautifully with these wisened power-quotes! More power to paapa! :-)
The quote again for us all -
“Make the most of
yourself, for that is all there is of you.”
Made me ruminate much and
do a profound ponder on the intensity and impact of this lovable quote!
This was the question that popped up so spontaneously and impulsively on me!
Do I make the most of
myself?
Or
Do i make the worst of myself? by whiling away all my precious time, my precious resources, my precious hours, my precious days, my precious weeks, my precious months, my precious years, my precious money, my precious study time, my precious work-time, in the busy-idle company of vain, frivolous, good-for-nothing, time-passing,
gossiping minds, or else on vain social networking sites, frittering away my individuality, my self-hood, my power, my
time and my strength, that results in making the ‘worst’ of myself, when I have to be making
the ‘most’ of myself?
Indeed, the famous Emersonian
essay on “Self-Reliance” begins with a wonderful Latin quotation which goes
thus: “Do not seek for things outside yourself.”
What a beautiful way
of asking a person to celebrate a sense of ‘Self’ or have the 'courage to be
yourself!
“Trust thyself” he
says, and continues, “every heart vibrates to that iron string.”
An amazing thought, ain't it?
“The great man is he
who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of
solitude,” Emerson adds!
An individual hence
becomes powerful or extraordinary, just by tapping into his or her inner strength,
and not the other way round! Strong individuals
make up a strong society, says Emerson, and adds to say that, this strong
individual is a result of one’s strong, personal truths and convictions!
He also adds to say that, conformity
is the most dangerous pathway that is anathema to the individual truth, and
hence, “for non-conformity, the world whips you with its displeasure.”
It is in this context
that Emerson gives out his most famous line ever: “To be great is to be
misunderstood”, which means to infer that, to be great is to think beyond all
previous boundaries of thought, or in the Ulyssean dictum, ‘To sail beyond the
sunset, beyond the utmost bounds of human thought,’ something that would
unnerve and give much unease to mediocre thinkers of all hues!
Using this wonderful aphorism
of Emerson, that advocates believing in ourselves, or in celebrating ourselves,
let us now go ahead and look at some literary allusions to augment the claims of
Emerson!
First and foremost,
let’s turn to eminent Indian spiritual guru Osho who talks about the three
stages or steps in freedom, in his amazing read titled, Freedom: The Courage to Be Yourself!
The first stage of
freedom is called a “freedom from,” a freedom that one receives by breaking
free of the immense ‘psychological slavery’ that is forced and conditioned upon
oneself by outside forces such as friends, parents, society or religion!
The second stage of
freedom is called a “freedom for,” a positive freedom that one receives by embracing
something and/or creating something: something like a fulfilling relationship, or
focusing on some noble artistic or humanitarian vision.
And finally, there is
the third stage of freedom that he calls, “just freedom,” which according to
Osho is the highest and ultimate form of freedom. This freedom is much more
than ‘being for’ or ‘being against’ something! It is the freedom one inherits simply
by being oneself!
And this is exactly the
type of freedom that Emerson advocates in his groundbreaking essay, ‘Self-reliance’!
Something akin to what
Mahatria Ra, advocates in his series of
motivational discourses!
Giving y’all snippety-excerpts from his awesome discourse on ‘Being
yourself’!
Mahatria Ra speaks -
Only if you enjoy a
good relationship with yourself, you can enjoy a good relationship with others.
If you are too critical about yourself, if you have a complex about yourself,
if you keep thinking ‘I am not good enough’, if you constantly feel low about
yourself in the presence of others… when your own relationship with yourself is
lousy, there is no way you can enjoy a good relationship with others.
You can only give what
you have. If you have wisdom, you can share your wisdom with others. If you only
have ignorance, you can only share your ignorance with others. If you are full of love, you can share your
love with others. If you are full of
hate, you can only share your hatred with others.
So, even if no one
likes you, you got to like yourself. In
fact, only when you learn to like yourself, the world will begin to like you.
Even if no one loves you, you got to love yourself. In fact, only when you
learn to love yourself, you will begin to recognise the love the world has for
you. Simply put how the world sees you will make only a small difference to
you, but how you see yourself will make all the difference to you.
And, why would you not
celebrate yourself when you are a born winner.
Do you know that long time back about 700 million participants ran a
race, out of which only one emerged the winner. Those 700 million participants
are the sperm from the father racing towards the egg in the mother. Only that
sperm, which is the fastest and the healthiest, first fused into the egg, for
YOU to be born. YOU are that Winning Sperm.
Your very birth is a symbol of victory. You are born to win. You are a
winner by birth. Your very beginning was winning.
Every seed has in it
the potential to become a forest, every rock has in it the potential to become
a statue, and every human has in him the potential to become a Legend. You are
that sleeping legend. Wake up to the sleeping potential within you.
Do you know what a
blessing it is to be born as a human being? If God wanted, he could have
created you as a mosquito or as a monkey or as a pig. But God chose to create
you as a human being - the greatest of all His creations. Abusing the gift is
abusing the giver. Cherishing the gift
is cherishing the giver. Cherishing yourself is your way of saying, “Thank you
God, for creating me as me, and as no one else.”
You begin to cherish
yourself only when you begin to cherish your originality. It seems the plum fruit once said, just
because a banana lover came by, I converted myself into a banana. Unfortunately, his taste changed after a few
months and so I became an orange. When
he said I was bitter I became an apple, but he went in search of grapes. Yielding to the opinions of so many people, I
have changed so many times that I no more know who I am. How much I wish I had remained a plum and
waited for a plum lover.
This is the story of
most people. Just because a group of
friends do not accept you as you are, there is no necessity for you to drop
your originality. Never stoop down in
order to gain recognition. Never lose
yourself to gain someone else. It is not
worth it. This is the only chance you have got to be yourself. Live to express and not impress. The group that doesn’t accept you as you is
not your world. There is a world for
each one of you, where you shall reign as the king, as the queen - by just
being yourself.
Find that world… in
fact, that world will find you. And only
that world is your world.
What water can do,
gasoline cannot and what copper can, gold cannot. The fragility of the ant enables it to move
and the rigidity of the tree enables it to stay rooted. Everything and everybody has been designed
with a proportion of uniqueness to serve a purpose. You, as you alone can serve your
purpose. You are here to be you… just
you. You don’t have to try to be anybody
else. Be yourself and be the best you
can be. Don’t miss yourself and let the
world not miss you.
It seems Vikas, a
ninth standard student, had this habit of always carrying the pocket version of
Jain Dharma in his shirt pocket. This was a source of major sarcasm,
especially, for many of the senior students.
Vikas would be bullied, joked at, laughed at, mocked at - and this went
on. One day, a bunch of seniors
surrounded Vikas and insisted he should not carry the scripture in his pocket
anymore. Almost spontaneously, Vikas
lifted the scripture out of his pocket and extending it towards the seniors
said, “Anyone of you carry this holy scripture in your shirt pocket for at
least one day, and then I will stop doing so.”
The first one retracted, “No chance - everyone will bully me,” then the
second one stepped back, “No chance. I
don’t want to be bullied,” so went the third, the fourth, the fifth and
eventually all of them refused. With
subtle pride in his smile Vikas concluded, “Anyone can be like anyone of
you. It is easy to be one in the crowd. Not everyone can be like me. It needs courage to be different from the
crowd. You be you. Let me be I,” saying so, he put the scripture
back in his pocket and majestically walked away.
Most people cannot
appreciate others that easily and they also cannot handle it, when others
appreciate them. How will you celebrate
yourself, if you cannot even accept the appreciation of others? So the next time anybody appreciates you,
gracefully say, “Thank you,” and whisper unto yourself, “I deserved this
appreciation.” Learn to feel good about
yourself. Also, learn to see good in
others and appreciate it. The more and
more you see good in yourself, you will be able to see it in others. The more and more you are able to see good in
others, the more and more you will be able to see it in yourself.
And most importantly,
to come out of the self-rejection mode, always take the initative. Always be the first to take the first step
forward. In fact, the more and more you
take the initiative, the more and more you become self-accepting. People who refuse to take the initiative keep
rejecting themselves. Instead, take the initiative to appreciate. Volunteer wherever possible. Never miss a
change to raise your hand for any opportunity presented to you. Never focus on what others would think. Focus on what you can do. Be the first to wish. Be the first to shake hands or extend a
hug. Be the first to take the initiative
in all the matters.
Above all, celebrate
your uniqueness. So what if you are imperfect. You are still the only one of
your kind. So what if have erred in the
past. There is no saint without a past,
and no sinner without a future. So what
if there are blemishes in your personality.
What’s the future there for? You
can become what you choose to become.
This is you. Period. Of course, you have the responsibility to
strive to become the best ‘you’ that you can be.
It seems a man went to
a studio to take his picture. The
photographer gave him a warm welcome and said, “Just pay me 10 Rupees, I will
make your picture look like Shahrukh Khan.”
The man hesitated and immediately the photographer said, “Okay pay me 50
Rupees, I will make your picture look like Sachin Tendulkar.” Looking into the eyes of the photographer the
man said, “I need the picture that will look like me.” For that the photographer said, “I will
charge you 1000 Rupees for that.” The
man was willing to pay 1000 Rupees because only his picture will serve his
purpose. Nobody else’s will. You can look up to anybody but you don’t have
to become anybody. Become the best you
can be and you will be looked up to.
My Resolve:
I am rare.
I am unique.
I am original.
I am a masterpiece.
My Master’s piece.
What beautiful
thoughts to live by, for us all! What beautiful thoughts to invigorate us all!
What beautiful thoughts to make us feel special! What beautiful thoughts to
celebrate the uniqueness that makes you, ‘YOU’!
You may want to read our past post on ‘Know Thyself' HERE!
To be continued…
images: paapa & amazondotcom
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