The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away.
–Unknown
Congratulations, Dear Readers, for partaking of the inspirational messages I have been sharing with you. These, and many more to come, form the treasure chest that continues to bless me with a glimmer of success. I consider myself incredibly fortunate because I had wonderfully compassionate parents and an extremely intelligent maternal-grandfather. The series unfolding in front of your eyes reflects the values I inherited from them. Of course, financial constraints through the early years acted as a bonus. Not only did the formative years teach me how to fine-tune my overall personality, but they also honed my outlook towards life.
SEE PARTS V AND PRIOR ⤵︎
Before moving forward, let us recapitulate my previous five confessions in this series. We started with an easy formula to create and maintain a proper balance in life. Taking each step forward, we have come to the stage of an invocation to our inner strengths. I guess it is time for us to explore the far-reaching nuances of the ‘Success-Mantra’ I use today. The wild ride in store shall take us through various hoops, including, but not limited to, dreams, hopes, proper sleep, focus, concentration, observation, judicious use of resources, and many, many more. So, let’s not waste a moment and begin the journey:
Celebrate your success and stand strong when adversity hits, for when the storm clouds come in, the eagles soar while the small birds take cover.
–Author Unknown
This particular quote resonates 100% with the lessons of my early childhood. When it came to running errands around the house, I was always in high demand due to the privilege of being the youngest. Everybody found it convenient to give me orders. This particular piece of adversity taught me to become self-reliant. As I grew up, the hard work paid off as I had learned to fly high rather than sitting idle and too with a smile. Guess what; I had the last laugh in ways more than one. In those painful days of middle-class living, joint-family, and a pressing financial crunch, I was blessed with many firsts. The first one to buy a brand new, Indian vehicle from the showroom, I bought my first house, Cash Down. I am the only one in my entire extended family to own more than 40, fully-paid, investment properties at the same time. Another notable highlight of my success was importing a brand-new Mercedes Benz at 5X the actual showroom price overseas, thanks to 320% Import Duty on Cost + Freight. Credit for all of the above achievements goes to my elders that taught me the I CAN ‘mantra’ in deference to IQ.
My mother taught me one important lesson: always dream lofty dreams without being labeled an eccentric. But, back up your wild imagination with achievable targets. She made sure I readjusted my targets as per circumstances and maintained a focus on the lofty dreams as the ‘do-or-die’ goal. She nurtured in me the strength to spread my wings so I could test my will-power and soar beyond the limits of ordinary life. She taught me how to enjoy adversity. Her simple formula: look out for the rainbow after the rains. She also instilled in me the faculty to sharpen my vision instead of remaining focused on abilities alone. What good is our ability to perform if we fail to visualize its impact over the long term?
Let us derive some value out of the following Hindu proverb: “He does not live in vain; who employs his wealth, his thought, and his speech to advance the good of others.” Guess what? I made it the over-riding principle of my life, and follow it to this day. It gives me pleasure to assist the needy in whatever way or form I can become an instrument of relief in their hour of need. Before we go further, please allow me to reiterate helping others does not necessarily involve money. We can assist the elderly with their daily chores, or read out magazines or newspapers to lonely patients in hospitals or older people’s homes (exception: COVID-19.) Our interest in sports empowers us to assist the neighborhood midgets/juniors’ teams. We can spare an hour or two each week to serve the needy in Community Kitchens or volunteer to any social cause wherever we live. Those with management experience can offer to mentor the disadvantaged and help them build a sound career. Perhaps, even the sky is not a limit once we decided to help others without expecting a reward.
I am reminded of yet another important lesson I learned the hard way. “By seeing the seed of failure in every success, we remain humble. By seeing the seed of success in every failure, we remain hopeful.” -Author Unknown. The rays of hope of a better tomorrow have seen me overcome every obstacle through the years. It has helped me gain strength, removed negativity, and honed my analytical skills. The renewed, re-energized outlook keeps helping me find solutions to the most challenging problems with ease.
Before I put together more of the simple, and yet highly impactful messages from those ways more intelligent than myself, let us keep in mind the following age-old wisdom: “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air, but only for one second without hope.”
Thank You!
