A few weeks ago, my ten year old was lying in bed with me and Marcia and out of the blue, he said, “I’m grateful I have a wonderful life.”
I’m sure you can imagine the surprise and delight I felt hearing my child express such gratitude. It made me think, “Hey we’re pretty decent parents after all.” But seriously, this says a lot about Ian’s attitude.
I was interviewing someone who does social work as part of my preparation of doing a presentation.
He said to me, that if I was to ask some of his clients (age 19 +), what they would like for Christmas, they might ask for an apple or a coloring book!
He said that doing social work for him has been rewarding and humbling. Rewarding because it gives you the satisfaction of making a difference and getting perspective of life! Humbling because it makes you realize how simple life can be!
Life can be very complex or very simple or anything in between. It is what you make of it.
At one extreme, there is death and the end of it all. At the other extreme, there is birth and start of it all.
You ask, if in the end we all die with nothing, what is the point of all the struggle?
You ask, if birth brings about all the struggle of raisng a child, making them go through school, work life, financial challenges all for them to die with nothing, what is the point of it all?
Last night we went for late night dessert with my daughter Sahar who had just returned from University. We had a great family bonding, however, we ended up eating too much.
The next morning I was feeling guilty of eating too much. At the same time I was feeling good about the great family time. After going back and forth with these two emotions, I decided to focus on feeling good about the great family time.
This shift made me feel happier, resulting in far superior work productivity and better food control.
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to them what their own riches are.
Every person has challenges – yes some are much bigger than others. Every person has “riches” too. Maybe we should spend less time on the challenges and more time on expanding our talents and riches.
At any given point in time there will be some people ahead of you and some behind you.
Even if you become # 1 in your chosen field there will be some areas of your career where someone else is ahead of you.
So if you are a person who compares yourself to others, you will always be dissatisfied.
Instead, if you compare yourself with where you were and where you are now, this is more fruitful. At the end of the day you want to be better today than you were yesterday. You want to strive to get better and better every day in every way.
There is a beautiful meeting point between having clarity of vision and living in the moment.
Having clarity of vision gives you the sense of direction and a knowing what you want. It does not, in itself, get you there even though it helps you make some good decisions.
Living in the moment is where execution happens. Here is where you are able to translate your vision into action. This is the moment of integrity! Also by being totally present you are able to implement efficiently and effectively because all your energy is focused on the task at hand.
Is today going to be a great day for you?
It all depends on you!
If you look at every situation giving it the best possible interpretation, it is going to be a great day!
If you look at every hurdle and obstacle you face today as a blessing, it will be a great day!
If you look at every defeat or failure today as a source of learning and therefore a victory, it will be a great day!
If you look at every tear you shed today as a tear of joy, it will be a great day!
Everywhere I turn, someone is asking for something!
People often say to me, “Azim, everywhere I go, people are asking me for something. Where is the power of giving you talk about in these situations?”
Every day there are some things that will work for you. Sometimes you will have big wins and sometimes small.
Every day there are some things that will not work for you. Sometimes you will have big withdrawals and sometimes small.
Today, I had some magical moments and victories. Today, I also had some setbacks including people cancelling important meetings at the last minute.
I am choosing to focus on the few magical moments and expressing gratitude for those moments. By so doing I feel energized and happy!
