Getting what you want

There is a procession of thoughts and pictures passing through your mind continuously. Unless you consciously control the flow of thoughts and pictures, unwanted thoughts and pictures will fill the mental space and your subconscious mind will be all at a loss in guiding you. This failure, in turn, will make you a big zero in life. These uncontrolled thoughts and pictures can be pleasant day-dreams or worry, anxiety, resentment, hatred, emotional experiences or situations. The negative thoughts and pictures will become the source of subconscious guidance with disastrous consequences.

It is important that you learn to streamline your thought process.  Normally an average human has 70,0000  thoughts passing through his mind in quick succession. If more than 35,000 thoughts are on a single aim for a considerable period, it will be translated into reality. It is enough to keep your mind focused on the goals you have set for more than half the time you are awake or for about 8 hours.  

How to control this uncontrolled flow of thoughts and pictures?

Relax your body with a few deep breaths, close your eyes and black out all pictures from your mind and fill your mental screen with darkness until your mind is relaxed. Calmly but deliberately replace the temporary darkness with bright and intense mental pictures of what you want to become. Plant constantly these mental pictures to virtually overwhelm the subconscious mind.

. You subconscious is not impressed with the importance of attaining your life goal more than you care.  You have to constantly hold a self image of the person you want to eventually become so that it is etched indelibly into the screen of your mind. You have to intensify the mental picture so that it will be your constant dominant thought and all your principal thinking will relate directly or indirectly to it.

Your subconscious mind will produce what you want in direct proportion to the intensity and frequency of the mental pictures. You can emphasize with words what you are picturing. Repeat your life goal in three or four words very forcefully hundreds or thousands of times at every opportunity.

Suppose you want to become a renowned author you can coin the rods, ‘publish famous books’ and repeat them often with accompanying mental pictures. Or if you want to be ri ch, say ‘make a billion’ often forcefully. Be excited about what you say and picture as the subconscious mind picks up the vibrations of thought which are emotionalized. Constantly repeat your coined words in 1-2 seconds excitedly and emphatically accompanied with vivid, colorful mental pictures at least 2000 times during a day. It will be helpful to think about why you want to be successful or rich or anything else and what will you do with the riches you accumulate or the fame you get. The why of your goal will emotionalize it and pass it over to the subconscious mind more forcefully. If you constantly flood the subconscious mind with the mental pictures of you succeeding it will translate your thoughts into reality

Yes, there is inequality at birth

  I have to agree that there is a lot of luck in life.  The country, state and house one is born into, educational and economic status of parents, their ability to promote their children and much more are all beyond one's conscious control. One's structure of the brain, IQ, biology and emotions, energy level, physical appearance, confidence levels and social skills are all, to a large extent, transmitted from parents oracquired from one’s early home environment over which you do not have any control . The great singers, painters, poets, actors, authors, have all inherited a great talent. But there is no point in crying over the bad luck or inadequacies(that is how the game of life is played); let us try to better ourselves with whatever we have got.  The simple reason is that our future does not depend on our past. We are not determined by our heredity and environment.  We can create the future of our choice by simply dreaming what we want continuously, and taking suitable action, perhaps, until we get them. And when you dream, don’t forget to dream big. 

Those who are born luckier did not ask it. If you keep harping on your cultural and social backwardness, inadequate education, early poverty, low IQ, not-so-nice looks and bad childhood upbringing, the world is not going to be amused. The world is after the winners only. You will be ignored and despised. Hence take it as a challenge and tread your way up; it may be more uphill and the task daunting but there is no other way. You have enough abilities in you to succeed and you can rise up with whatever you have.  If you have inherited a feeble brain or if it is not functional we can only sympathize with you. A normal individual like you has no excuse for not succeeding. There are those who have come up to the very top without legs, hands, eyes, and ears.  Fully paralyzed (from head to toes) people  like Stephen Hawkins has become  a great scientist.  Yes, But you have the freedom to dwell on your inadequacies to your own peril.  

How do we select a partner?

 “Why do we feel attracted to someone at first sight?   You do not know him/her or the background, family religion, views, likes, dislikes qualifications, job status, nothing. All the same you just felt attracted instantly. Need not be a ‘thunderbolt love’, but some unknown strings pull you to him/her. Sometimes you feel like you have made a connection. You looked at this one person out of the entire people assembled there and thought, wow! This person is made for me!”

 In countries like India dating or living together before marriage is unthinkable and consent for marriage is very much based on the first-sight- impression and a few words exchanged largely in the presence of the elders. . (Even in societies where free-mingling is an accepted norm, the first liking always happen in an identical fashion which leads to a relationship later.)    

 When you meet a group, you like some of them; you dislike a few others and a third category does not evoke any particular emotion in you. Dressing, appearance, body physiology and grooming do differentiate them, but that may not be the real reason that has brought these reactions in your mind.  

You instantly like one who has similar features to someone who was dear to you during your infancy and early childhood (these features are all indelibly inscribed in your subconscious mind.)   Further, from your life experiences you have drawn a list of the nature of the characteristics (‘criteria’) like  the color of the skin, height, weight, facial appearance, hair, body profile, body language and communication ) that strongly appeal to your mind.  If you find these criteria and the features  in a particular person you tend to like him. This is universal, and it has no east west or south north divide   

This is an unconscious process and it does not result from any objective study of the person in question.  The first attraction will create a lasting mental bias towards him or her and unless conscious efforts are later undertaken to correct the same., you are positively inclined to the one who matches with your map and criteria of the ideal person and negatively inclined to another who is a mismatch.   There is no effort made to study whether your views, outlook on life, emotions and others are compatible.  The strong sexual attraction conveniently hides the differences and you become passionately involved. An impartial assessment of one’s nature and personality is very difficult. The real colors will surface only after the consummation of marriage and  no wonder half of all marriages end up in divorce.   

Why do we fail?

 Life is what you make it, good or bad, rich or poor, famous or mediocre, happy or unhappy. But in my experience, winning isn't about being rich, or having everything. It's about meeting your own goals, and living whichever way makes you happy. Why the majority  do not succeed? They never know what they want. Without knowing what one wants how can one get it? They do not have specific, time bound goals. Too many goals will have the same effect as having none. Vagueness or general wishes is not going to help. "I want to go up," " I will make a lot of money," " I will win in life……" all these are vague and mostly meaningless statements. 

There are many who set a specific time bound goals or decide what they wants to get precisely but they  never start or take even the first step. Things seem too hard for them and they just remain in their comfort zone. If you are stuck at the first step itself, get moving. The only reason you haven’t acted yet could be that you find it difficult to overcome the inertia, or you do not want to move out of your comfort zones. You could be afraid of failing or you may be thinking what others will think if you fail.  No one has succeeded without failing. If you do not start there may not be any failure but you will never succeed too.  Do not be afraid of what others will say; the only people who matter in your life are your dear ones and they already know you aren't perfect and that even if you fail they will accept you. The sad part is those who do not take that first step or retract after a few steps start believing they never can achieve it and forget about the whole thing. 

There are people who blame others for their failures. Stop blaming yourself or anyone else. If something negative happens or has already happened, life is still in your hands.  Let us not forget this; let us not be overwhelmed by the stress of failure or set-backs.   Do not forget you are not the only person in the world with problems. The pain of failure,  loss and regret is something a lot of people feel daily. There are those who fail due to the lack of a realistic plan. They started in right earnest and went ahead but failed as there was no concrete, realistic plan to lead them to their goal.  They give up after trying hard or when they face a difficult challenge or a temporary setback. Absence of review and corrective actions is will seal your fate.  At the end of a particular period there should be evidences of advancement. 

The absence of mentoring or a quality coach can be detrimental too.  You have to acquire all the necessary skill and knowledge about your goals, update yourself of the latest developments and seek expert advice whenever required. There is no use in looking back and trying to correct yourself; you would have already reached a point of no-return. Failure is only a potential feedback. There is nothing called failure unless you mentally accept it. Everyone fails; those who succeed take it as a feedback, analyse the reasons and take corrective steps. Hear  what the great Edison speaks about failures: Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” ….  When you are ready to quit you may be closer to the success you have been dreaming than you ever was.”  

A tiny achievement of a poor boy

The other day when I was in the midst of seminar, at the peak of the motivation I was giving to those assembled there, someone asked me: Who has inspired you most?  Without a moment’s hesitation I replied: “my mother.”  She had worked hard to see that her 7 children did not die of starvation or diseases. Without her hard work I would have been dead and gone long back.

We were so poor that I had to work when I was five. I had to complete weaving one bamboo mat before I could be free in the evening. There was no square meal any day (except on festivals) and we were hungry, emaciated and half naked. My mother would work from dawn to dusk weaving bamboos at the same time looking after all the 7 of us, feeding us whatever little she could afford and getting us rustic medical aids whenever we were sick or in trouble. There were times when I longed for 1 cent to buy a sweet. How hard I had wished for 5 cents (when I was in the fifth grade) to watch a circus show arranged in the school! There were times I would wait for an ordinary Marigold flower at the gate of my class mate’s house.  (As I was very poor I never felt like entering the house and he never invited me in) 

Every day I worked and worked and went to school  hungry. I passed matriculation without knowing one English sentence correctly. Envying those who knew the language well, I vowed that I would master the language. As my family could not afford to send me to college, I sought the help of my parish priest who admitted me into the petit seminary for ecclesiastical studies. It was a god-given opportunity for me as we aspirants had to converse either in English or Latin. I started devouring English words and phrases like a lover. I used to read anything I could lay hands upon, noting down every beautiful word and phrase. 

I would write down ten difficult words every day in a piece of paper to study and to commit them to memory on the way to the urinal or on the way back from the dining hall. I would sit glued to the old radio in the study hall to hear news from BBC.  As I wanted to develop the correct accent, it was important to listen to English spoken best. This practice continued for years. Even while I convalesced in the infirmary, I used to devote my entire time (there was a lot of it as I did not have to go for mass, classes and prayers) to improve the language.

 I started writing one page a day (at the advice of my  seminary rector who found a streak of writing talent in me) starting with simple topics like ‘my mother’, ‘my father’, ‘my school’, ‘my village’ and so on. In about three to four years what I had written in loose paper was enough to fill 5 volumes or more. I appropriated difficult words and phrases by using them in sentences of my own and even in the conversations I had with the fellow aspirants. I was rather obsessed with the study of the language and in a few years I was quite good at it. Words would cascade down in an incessant flow and I had developed a style of my own (These days, as I do not pursue ‘everyday a page’ writing habit, I feel I have lost a lot of the sheen of writing I had so painstakingly developed). But even today I am very comfortable with English and I can continue speaking to an audience for a full day or two uninterruptedly and in good command as I do in my seminars in India and abroad. .

The Beauty of giving

The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.” Albert Einstein

Life has taught me a great lesson: the beauty in giving. The greatest souls that have grazed this planet are those who gave themselves up for others fully and unconditionally. Let it be Mother Teresa, Father Damien, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. or Abraham Lincoln……they surpassed all living souls with their selfless service to the needy.  There are thousand on this planet today who give  their money, time and or  hard   work to make their fellow men’s life less painful or more comfortable.  

 Winston Churchill once said,   “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give”                                      

Our lives will be very much less fruitful if we are not giving what we have to others. It can be motivation, knowledge riches, time, comforting words; it can be anything that alleviates others’ pain or something that make others’ life richer and more meaningful.  This life is a gift to us and we should remember we have a responsibility to give back something.  It is, perhaps, this realization that motivates the rich to give significant portions of their wealth to the poor and many common people to help the poor, the needy whatever way they can.  

I am not good in this great virtue and this could be the reason why I extol the virtues of giving often enough and with enough conviction so that it will encourage me and others to take the practice of generosity more seriously. I have noted that all great leaders and thinkers of history have opted for selfless lives. I also remember very often the ancient Chinese saying,  'a little fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.’

 Those who have the attitude, ‘May I serve you,’ enjoy life far better than those who are constantly after material possessions, power or professional advancement.  Hence learning to give is a great success secret

Give little get abundance

Let me state a great secret to become richer: start giving a portion of what you earn or what you posses. What goes out comes back. Selfless giving ensures manifold return.  All the rich people of this planet are inclined to help others.  And that could be one of the reasons why they become richer. They get back what was given out, in true charity, hundredfold.  Giving is a sure way to receive more. 

   

Blessed are those who can give without remembering. That could be why our present world is getting filled with those who want to give without any string attached. They are quick to part with a part of what they have earned as they know giving has a superior value when one does so quickly and not waiting for to be asked.                                                                                                                                                                                   The best way you can evaluate a person is by how much he gives and by how much he feels for others in his wallet. Giving is always a thermometer of one’s love towards others. When it comes to giving some people stop at nothing. ‘Give all you can,’ is an excellent formula for a successful life.  living for others is the best way to live. That could be why Henry Drummond once said, ‘there is true happiness only in giving.’ Before we conclude let me remind you  Arthur Schweitzer’s words:   “ There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”

Warren Buffet has so far given in excess of $30.7 billion to healthcare, to alleviate extreme poverty, for education and for access to information technology. Bill gates through Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has doled out close to 34 billion so far  mainly to the development of education and AIDS prevention. Azim Premji from India has donated  in excess of $2 billion for education and healthcare.  Every rich man is known for a charitable frame of mind (that could be one of the reasons for their immense wealth--what goes out comes back many fold it seems.                                                                                                                                                                 All of us may not have the wealth, the time to do charity in a massive scale. Let us follow the advice of  

Mother Teresa: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”  

You can too rise up from poverty

You are not bound by the circumstances of your birth, structure of your brain, your biology or your glandular functioning.  If you have an average functional brain you can decide your life. Desire strongly to succeed, find a profession you will enjoy working,  and be willing to spend all your time to go after what you want in life.  If your mind is obsessed with it, your brain will guide you to a plan to achieve them. 

It is the ordinary people who fear failures and worry about their misfortunes. Please go through the story of Oprah Winfrey, the most well-known 'rags to riches' story of our era. . Having been born into abject poverty in rural Mississippi, Winfrey went from being a young girl clothed in potato sacks  to the richest and most powerful female media mogul in the world today. Winfrey had not only poverty but she had to confront a disruptive and abusive household with her strict father. She did blunders and committed many mistakes as a teenager. Winfrey underwent all imaginable tribulations and was subjected to all sorts of humiliations. Still, she did still well in school and she became an honours student. She got her big break when she became a newscaster in Nashville after finishing college. She did her work with all her heart, all heart soul and all her time. And Winfrey climbed heights and has come a long way from her poor upbringings, and she  is worth $2.9 billion as of 2009, according to Forbes.

Those who win in life accept failures and misfortunes as challenges and start working for success . They do not sit back and cry over them  nor do they get frustrated. No one really fails until he accepts failures. Analyze the failures, find out their causes,  correct yourself, overcome trying hardships and move forward. Make sure that the same mistakes are not repeated. Those who fear failures are actually inviting them. Their minds will go on probing the different ways defeats can surface. Failures eventually appear as if they have been waiting all the while. If you think about the possibilities of failure, the probability is that they will keep coming. Be prepared to meet them when they appear. Take them in your stride; learn your lessons and move forward. Those who succeed think always that they create their worlds. They believe that they are solely responsible to what happen in their lives.                   

  Things happen as per your thoughts and you have  perfect control on your thought process.  If you think that it is fate or circumstances that shape your destiny, or that you have been born with a grey cloud over your head, you become a fatalist who has no control on what comes to pass.

The impossible is possible

If you think you can and if you think you cannot, you are right either way. If you think you are deep down in a grave or if you think you are in the midst of abundance you are right too either way.  A very difficult task is assigned to you; you may not have the know-how. But if you say "yes, I will do it," you will certainly acquire the knowledge, get the necessary assistance and get it done by yourself. But if you think "oh, this is too much for me" you will never attempt to learn and it will remain always beyond your realm of possibility.  

Sudha Chandra was a famous South Indian dancer and movie star. She had a serious accident while still in her youth, and one of her legs had to be amputated.  "I will dance like before," she declared. "Impossible," said the doctor.  "Impossibility is not a word in my dictionary, " she retorted. The very next day she ordered an artificial leg from one of the best doctors of her times.  "Never try to balance on it without a support," the doctors advised her. 

But Sudha put it on the very next day and tried to stand up without outside help. She fell; she tried again. Fell down again. Thousands of attempts followed. At last she could stand on her own! With an indomitable will she tried to walk but failed. Without giving up hope she tried again and again. And at last she could walk! Simple dance steps followed. The complicated ones came after months and years of practice. At last she succeeded and danced in a movie like she used to before. She proved the impossible is possible.                                                                                                                                                                                    

Has your life been hard so far?

Anyone can rise up from the depths of defeat, depths of gloom. You need to desire to overcome it and you need to understand that you can. Great achievements always have come after bitter defeats. The more are the defeats the better. The reason is simple. Those who succeed have to face more failures than those who fail. Nature does not allow one to savor true success without having put him/her through a real test of defeats and failures. Success does not come in a silver platter. Yes, there are people who are born rich and powerful or who acquire success easily.  But then the world does not acclaim anyone unless personal merit has been vindicated.                                                                                                        

Has your life been hard so far? Have you toiled hard and reached nowhere? If you stick your finger in the fire, it gets burnt. This is really easy as the effect comes immediately after the cause. But it is not easy to figure out what has caused your present.                                                                                                                          At the end of a winding, long, dark tunnel there is always light and plenty of it. If the tunnel is long and difficult the whole world would be aligned to receive you as a hero when you emerge. You can never get such an acclaim if the going has been rather easy.   You can see light ahead of the darkness now surrounding you, and walk confidently forward. You can also curse it and accept defeat.  The freedom is yours. 

There is no defeat however hard the situation may be.  

I was reading about Oscar Pistorius the other day, a double amputee who is the  fastest man on 'no legs' He is the world record holder in the 100, 200, and 400 meters events (sport Class T44)) He was born on Nov.22, 1986 and  is a South African sprint runner.   A man running on artificial legs can be faster than all of use!  Stephen Hawkins cannot even lift a finger, talk, walk, stand, sit or eat.  He is all paralysed with Neuron Motor Deficiency. Only his brain is intact. But he is the greatest scientist living. He is occupying Newton’s Chair in Oxford University! He has turned into flood light the darkness that surrounds his life. 

You can be lucky too.

Generally people do not know how much they can accomplish. They think that only a few are destined for success and all the others are just unlucky or destined to be mediocre.                                                       ‘There is a grey cloud over my head,’ they say. Or ‘I have been set like this.’ They feel they have effectively no control over their lives. They go wherever the river of life takes them. 
                               

There is no luck or ill-luck. Luck comes when your thoughts and actions are streamlined to what you want. Ill-luck comes when you idle away your time, do your work perfunctorily and accept whatever life doles out to you. The truth about luck is contained in the following verse of a famous poet:

"He worked by day and toiled by night;  He gave up play and some delight;  Dry books he read, new things to learn. And forged ahead success to earn;  He plodded on with faith and pluck,  And when he won men called it luck.”  

The world fails to see the efforts and toil one does before he triumphs. No one is doomed to failure. It comes as a result of intense desire, full-time focus and controlled thoughts. There has been a conventional belief that you have to earn success either by doing hard work or by doing always good. This is no longer true. It is all vibrations. When you think and believe something with all your heart, all your soul and all your body you will get it. When you see your goals as already achieved in your thoughts, feelings and emotions it will become a reality very soon. 

The laws are for the poor and the weak!

The laws of the land are always for the poor and the weak. The rich and the powerful are above any law. They, with their money power and connections will always find a way to come out clean with a not-guilty verdict. The poor are hooked by the long arms of the law-enforcing agents and the judiciary. Without adequate resources they cannot find a good lawyer to present their case and in many instances the mighty criminals go scot free and the poor get punished!  Remember half of all the people are in abject poverty!  The poor are, in general misguided, harassed and exploited. Why is it that none of the government officials, ministers and leaders punished or sent to jail in any one of the cases involving bribe or cheating? The law can be twisted in their favor; there are innumerable loop holes for the rich and the powerful. The arbitrators himself can be otherwise bought. We all have heard about the allegation that there is a syndicate between the judiciary, government officials and the politicians; could it be the reason why the latter always find a way out from innumerable scams and corruption cases they are charged with.  

Further the poor slum dwellers and those born to criminals are more inclined to commit a law-violation than the rich and the well bred from good families. The former have to sometimes resort to stealing or prostitution just to survive. There are so many who get a criminal tendency through the genes. There are others who are forced into gambling or drug-trafficking. How can a law be equally applied to one and all?. No law enforcement agency arrests a high society lady who gets the services of a gentle-men in a 5 star hotel. But the poor who does it in a third rate lodge is caught red-handed for adultery. A higher-up who uses marijuana cannot be caught as the one on the street who has to openly inhale the fumes. A government minister who manages to appropriate millions of rupees through illegal means goes uncaught while a traffic constable who takes a bribe of Rs100 ends up behind the bars. Equal application of law to all alike is looks to be totally meaningless.      

Darkness the reality?

There are many of us, including me, who feel that we have been lucky enough to have been born. We are now living in the most advanced civilization (compared to the past and not to the future). We are lucky to marvel at this beautiful world and the most beautiful experience of life. But for how long? For a fleeting second! When the curtain falls everything is over. Darkness will prevail forever. Was it better to have had been in the darkness forever? There was no need for a flicker of light for a second. 

May be  for time,death and birth are all like the joy and sadness we feel in this fleeting second.      

The sands we tread on live for millenniums. Those balancing rocks have existed for billions of years. This giant Bunyan tree has seen the smile and sighs of so many generations of humans. Its roots have been wetted by the tears of so many generations. It has witnessed the wooing of so many couples and later their great grand children’s romance. It is standing there very strong now to witness the courtship of the 21st century teenagers in a unique way. Much more change is yet to come. The mountain over there have witnessed so many such trees come and go. The earth has been spinning around the sun for almost 3 billion years now. And it goes strong even now without any change at all in the speed of spinning or the in time taken to go around. 

Irrespective of what we experience now, it is going to be pitch darkness without the faintest glow of light from anywhere after a short while.  Just eternal darkness will surround us  all. Darkness will become the only reality. 

If Jesus comes now!

Jesus Christ lived and died a poor Jew. He had no house, not even a hut and he slept on the open or in the wilderness and preached nice things to the people. He showed a supreme example of how to love each other and to identify with the masses who were, like him, poor and weak. As he openly criticized the Jewish high priests and elders as 'white washed tombs and sons of serpents', he was crucified by the Romans as they feared a Jewish uprising otherwise. He died ignominiously never dreaming of establishing a religion. 

But look at his followers today! They live in the most luxurious palaces where the best delicacies are served and there are servants to make sure of the minutest aspects of their comforts. They wear the costliest dresses and they fly first class or charter an entire aircraft and go 'in search of souls'. They build splendid palaces, summer and winter resorts to make their stay more comfortable on this earth.  No wonder the joy of the spiritual life, they so vehemently advocate, is earmarked for the poor and the weak. 

If Jesus comes back today, he would march with a whip in his hands and beat up most of the luxurious and pleasure -loving priests, bishops, cardinals and their leader and drive them away from their palaces to the huts of the poor to share their pain and sorrow and to show them love.  

"Will You Enjoy Doing It?"

Let your profession and goals harmonize with your inner you. Listen to the still voice, the inner guide within. Let your inner instincts and the reservoir of intuition guide you in your choices. As a rule, by the time you are in your early twenties you will know what work or profession you enjoy, what harmonizes with your inner 

you.  

Chose a profession in which you have a passion which is like a hobby.

One of the timeless secrets of a long happy life: pursue a work that you can enjoy. The common denominator of the happiest souls is that they all loved their work. It was fun for them. They did not work a single day. It was all play and work. The truly successful ones simply pursued their goals without knowing whether they were working or playing. 

This is the greatest criteria you should bear in mind.   Not the pay and perks.  Not the management and the working climate. Not the scope for promotions or personal aggrandizement. Not the pension or the distance from your home or anything else. It need not be a regular job; you follow what your mind is after. It can be photography, singing, painting, bird –watching, animal or plant love, nature conservation, fashion, movie direction, sculpture, selfless service,  whatever. The question is: ‘Will you enjoy doing it? Will you be able to develop a passion for it?  This should be the only guiding principle in choosing your work or goal. 

Does any help come from Above?

Not for the poor. They are in pain and poverty all the time. One in 3 in India get only Rs.11/- or less a day! When I write these words there are dozens of children who are dying without food and water. There are thousands of infants who die out of mal-nutrition and sickness each day.  When a tsunami occurred a few years back a few hundred thousand people -mostly poor ones living along the costs- perished in a moment. Earthquakes, floods and hurricanes kill millions every year. If there is a supernatural purpose for sending man down here why are they mercilessly killed? If the gods are sending their souls to heaven why should they send the poor, blind, mad and crippled ones to suffer here? Do those above enjoy the suffering and shrieks of agony?

             Of all the children born into this world a vast majority of them died before the age of 10 up to the twentieth century when man developed the medical science. There was no cure for any contagious disease until then and entire societies used to be wiped out in a plague or an epidemic. Where were the gods? Pain and suffering has been the reality ever since man’s appearance on this planet. It continues even today, at a lesser degree as man has developed medical science, agriculture and technology. There has been no help coming from above in any way. If man tries hard he can succeed or prolong his life or he can be in abject poverty and sickness until death.

Well there has been a lot of help for the kings who ruled in the name of gods, for the popes, cardinals and bishops who live in luxurious palaces amidst wealth and luxury (with the money collected from the faithful in the name of the gods) and for the religious heads who live like Maharajahs without doing any work.  There is no tangible benefit for ordinary people and any intangible benefit received is only a creation of their own brain.   
The religious guys have taught us that gods are responsible for every thing good in our lives and we are responsible for every thing bad! Even though we have to work hard to bring in a success,  the credit goes to gods. Even if a failure or misfortune happens, for no fault of ours, the blame is on us! 

Secrets of success

 1. "One of the biggest things that holds back people in life is the limiting belief about what is possible. We are always talking about how we cannot do this or how we cannot do that.  It is  really surprising to see that what we believe actually came true.  Think and say all the time I will achieve my goals. There may be doubts creeping in occasionally. Through an effective intervention you can drive that negative thought away and affirm you will win again and again. Everyone has got doubts and worries. Do not consciously entertain the same. You have to bring your mind to an unwavering state where you simply believe that you will get your goals. What you believe will eventually come true. we are surely only limited by our own thoughts

2.     Put in black and white what exactly you want and develop a workable plan for the same. (It's very important to begin with a clear definition of what "success" means to you.) You take at least a small step towards the target each day. Without a small win you do not retire (anything constructive you do to attain your goal is a win.)  The essence in winning is in taking action.

3.   .    Take failures or set-backs as challenges. As you move forward, the road may not be smooth or trouble free. Have the grit to overcome each obstacle and keep on going on.

4.    .   Get all the facts, all the details about what you want to achieve. Make it a point to learn something new about it every day. Update yourself on the subject and become an expert on the same.  Analyze and learn from your mistakes.

5.      .  Remain laser focused on your goals and surround yourself with positive people and thoughts that you will succeed. Idling away the time is the common cause of all failures.

6.      .  Become a person of integrity and honesty. Without this no one can succeed in anything.

7.      . Become different and stand out from the crowd. We all need to start seeing the world from a different perspective. It comes from learning new and exciting things that force us to stretch our minds and move outside our comfort zones. Do not be afraid to do what you believe in irrespective of what others will think. You need not confirm to the crowd culture. Most people fear risks and are reluctant o try new things or tread unfamiliar grounds.

8.       Become connected with others. No one is an island. Have friends everywhere who will help you achieve your goals. 

9.       I think it's also important to get over fear of success itself. For many, their deepest fear is not that they are inadequate but they are afraid of being successful. Many of them feel they don’t deserve it. Hence a majority are content with what they have or how they are. There is no greater sin than this.  We all deserve success irrespective of what we have done or how we have grown up. No one needs to hate or reprimand oneself; there has been a number of early childhood and genetic influences beyond your control.   You are not responsible for the way you have been molded. But from hereafter you take charge.

10.   You must realize and come to terms with, and find a way to turn into a positive, the reality that any long-term goal  worth acquiring--whether it's playing an instrument, writing, or making fine furniture--entails a long, exhausting period of not being very good at it. If all you have in mind is the endpoint at which the world acclaims your skill, then you'll never make it through the wilderness of mediocrity. You may think it is not worth it. Long-term, persistent hard work only pays off. Alright you care about the end point but you have to find a way to enjoy the journey.

99% of the readers will agree with this post; but not even 1% will actually take the needed action. That's why we have the successful and the unsuccessful. Know that Time will not wait for anyone; start now with your life journey. Don't wait for opportunities to come to you. The person who grabs opportunities usually wins. You may say superb article! But what matters in life is how much we implement these thoughts practically. Remember the high price of success is bought with sweat, blood and tears. Success is all about applied knowledge powered by positive thinking. And as a passing remark let me mention you will never know where you are going unless you know where you have been already.

There are so many worse than we are

Stop feeling bad about yourself. When something goes awry, do not start to blame yourself. There are such incidents in everyone’ life. It is comforting to know that everyone worries too. If you are feeling bad about your terrible childhood, well, what can be done about it? Those who enjoyed a splendid one are lucky. But it is not their mistake you did not get a good childhood. Further, they did not ask for theirs either. That is the way life is. But if you harp on your unpleasant past no one will be interested in you. There are so many who have gone through much more trying situations. There are so many who are blind, deaf, mute, crippled, mentally retarded and imbeciles. In comparison you are thousands of times better. 

Life gives no guarantees. But you have a choice. Spend your time brooding up in self hate or roll over and get back to your feet and have a big laugh at the small irritants and simply march forward. Remember over 90% of all worries never happen. And worrying is not going to help the 10% that might happen. Be prepared to face them. But there is no need to cross a bridge before you come to it.  

Mark Ingles had lost both his legs in a mountaineering expedition. The double amputee managed to climb Mount Everest! Helen Keller was blind, mute and deaf. Still she kept a warming smile and inspired millions to go up in life forgetting their afflictions. Our problems are small in comparison. Let us dump our troubles into the waste basket and rise up with a heartening smile. There are so many out there much worse than we are. 

A simple secret to success

Quitting is the easiest thing to do. But if you persist you will win. Anyone will. EVERYONE CANNOT BE SUCCESSFUL LIKE THE BIG ONES. BUT ANYONE CAN EXCEL IN WHAT HE DOES. The person who never does anything never makes a mistake but he never succeeds.    
Excellence comes when one takes pride in what he does. If he is working to make a living he will not do his work excellently. As Martin Luther king mentioned in his famous speech,
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep the streets so well that the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, there lived a great sweeper who did his job well 
All of us have the qualities of success. If anyone feels he does not, then he does not want to succeed. You can be a Success in whatever field you are in. Just try to be like that street sweeper. Big success involves a lot of risks. You may not know every step forward. You may not even know the faintest outline but still you make a calculated risk and move forward believing in your eventual success. You may have heard about the farmer who never cultivated anything as he feared a drought might destroy his crop and kept his land barren. There are those who worry about getting hurt if they go out. They will end up sitting indoors doing nothing.
If you are afraid to proceed to do something, the only way to overcome the same is to go and do it. Confidence comes by doing things. If you make a mistake along the way, admit it and correct yourself so that you do not repeat the same. Failure is certain if you repeat a few, same mistakes.
Successful people believe that they will win and go the extra mile. They create small, wins every day. They do more than they are paid for.  Winners do whatever they are supposed to do and then some more and then some more. Even small achievements require a lot of focused thoughts and work. You do not have to be highly intelligent or have high academic qualifications to succeed. You only need to have a disposition to do more than required of you. Have you ever thought, ‘why highly educated and highly qualified ones fail in life?’They do not apply whatever they know in a focused way and they do not want to do more than required of them. No wonder, the world is full of educated derelicts. ALL SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE ARE PERSISTENT UNTIL THEY SUCCEED. Remember Edison failed 10,000 times before he succeeded in finding out the tungsten filament. Abraham Lincoln was a failure in almost everything he undertook. Still he became the president of USA and he succeeded in emancipating the blacks. There must be hundreds of such examples around your neighborhood if you bother to study the successful ones.  Winners overcome and bounce back when faced with difficulties. Losers don’t. 

Who believe more?

In many parts of the world there is a very strong belief in India that those who are religious are good and the others bad. Those who don’t believe are despised and found fault with. Hence  let us look around the world.  China is a fast advancing atheistic country. It will  soon be the super power in the world (133 crore people or one in six of the world population do not believe in God at all) Previous USSR, and the former soviet communist nations followed atheism as their state religion. Even today Cuba follows the same line although some others have been liberalized. 

Let us analyse the developed world where people are more educated, more enterprising, more technically and educationally advanced.

Only 9% of Americans in a 2008 poll said religion was the most important thing in their life, compared with 45% who said family was paramount in their life and 17% who said money and their career was paramount. More than one in three (36 per cent) do not believe in any god in Canada today. A 2006 poll published by Le Monde of France in January 2007[12] found that 51% of the French population are  Catholics (and only half of them  believe in god.  In other worlds  50% of the Catholics (by birth) are atheists. Of the general population 31% of are atheists, In Germany 36% openly declare they don’t believe in a god. 40% of the UK population, 53% of the Swedish,  41% of the Fins,   47% of the Norwegians,  49% of Denmark ,39% of the Swiss, do not believe in any god. In the former communist countries like Estonia, Czech republic and Poland, above 50% do not believe in any god at all. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_EuropeIn) The pattern is in similar lines in all the developed countries and they are less corrupt, willing to help fellow men more and much more advanced. 

In India almost 100% believe in God and we are less educated, a lot more poorer(one in 3 lives in abject poverty; almost one in two is illiterate and among children one in two is malnourished, stunted or sick). And India is one of the most corrupt nations of the world (an indicator of public dishonesty). The leaders and politicians, unlike in the advanced nations, are more interested in their own selfish motives than in the development of the nation. From this, can we conclude that believing go more easily with illiteracy, poverty, suffering, dishonesty and selfishness?

'Lucky People'

 Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the world (1930s) was born in such a poor background that he had to steal apples from a nearby estate just to survive. When the owner came to now of this he set his dogs on him. Andrew ran and he managed to climb on to the wall. He declared to that arrogant owner, “When I grow up I will buy this estate of yours.”   Later, he migrated to USA and worked in a steel mill.. He continued there until he fully understood how to make and market steel. Later, he started a mill of his own. The rest is history. He became the richest man of his times. 

Henri Ford started as a mechanic for a meager $2 a month when he was a little more than a boy!  After years of hard work he was promoted as foreman and later, with the money he saved, he started a small workshop and slowly he built up an industrial estate. Rock feller was a little luckier. He could start with $4 a month! He too worked his way up and became very rich later. 

Thomas Alva Edison was sent out of the school. But his poor mother refused to take the teacher’s words and she taught him.. By the age of 10 he was selling newspapers. He started  experiments in his little home. This is the boy who later patented  thousands of inventions! Inventions did not come very easy. When he was working on the electric bulb, he failed over 10,000 times. His friends and family members asked him, “Have you gone mad?” “Well, I know 10,000 things that won’t work. Hence I am nearer to my goal than I ever was,”  The very next day the Tungsten filament was identified and electric bulb became a reality. No wonder he said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”   

 Helen Keller was blind, deaf and mute.  Her teacher, Ann Sullivan had to take her to a river and put her feet in the running water and later,  pour a number of buckets of water over her head to make her feel  “WATER” Just to learn one word she had to struggle so much!. Still, she mastered  words and later wrote  many books and traveled all over the world inspiring the blind, the crippled and the sick.

Wilma Rudolf was a black child born to illiterate parents. When she was 2 she was afflicted with polio and she lay in a corner of her hut cursing herself. But her mother  used to tell her, “Wilma you will be able to walk, run and do anything like any other girl.”  She repeated this for years. When Wilma was nine, she told her  “Mother, I want to be the world champion in running.”     The very next day she threw away the braces that were kept to straighten her legs. With great difficulty, she tried to stand up but fell down. She tried again, fell again. Thousands of attempts followed! It took her almost one year to stand up. With another year’s efforts she could put a step forward.  She managed to slowly walk! Running was a natural step forward. Immediately, she arranged running competitions with her neighborhood children. But she was the last to finish. . She decided then and there to beat them and started practicing. Within a year she ran ahead of all of them. Later, she went to a sports university and practiced harder. In the 1960 Rome Olympics this polio affected girl won 3 gold medals becoming the undisputed champion of the world!  
Learn your own lessons from these.  

Is believing good or bad?

 There is a very strong belief that those who are religious are good and the others bad. In our place those who don’t believe are despised and found fault with. Hence it would be appropriate to check into the related facts around the world. It is known to one and all that China is an atheistic country but fast advancing. It will be soon the super power in the world (133 crore people one in six of the world population do not believe in God at all) Previous USSR, and the former soviet communist nations followed atheism as their state religion. Even today Cuba follows the same line although some others have been liberalized. Let us take a picture of the developed world where people are more educated, more enterprising, more technically and educationally advanced.

Only 9% of Americans in a 2008 poll said religion was the most important thing in their life, compared with 45% who said family was paramount in their life and 17% who said money and their career was paramount. More than one in three (36 per cent) do not believe in any god in Canada today. A 2006 poll published by Le Monde of France in January 2007[12] found that 51% of the French population are  Catholics (and only half of them  believe in god.  In other worlds  50% of the Catholics (by birth) are atheists. Of the general population 31% of are atheists, In Germany 36% openly declare they don’t believe in a god. 40% of the UK population, 53% of the Swedish,  41% of the Fins,   47% of the Norwegians,  49% of Denmark ,39% of the Swiss, do not believe in any god. In the former communist countries like Estonia, Czech republic and Poland, above 50% do not believe in any god at all. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_EuropeIn) The pattern is in similar lines in all the developed countries and they are less corrupt, willing to help fellow men more and much more advanced. In India we have a different picture. Almost 100% believe in God and we are less educated, a lot more poorer(one in 3 lives in abject poverty; almost one in two is illiterate and among children one in two is malnourished, stunted or sick). India is one of the most corrupt nations of the world. The leaders and politicians, unlike in the advanced nations, are more interested in their own selfish motives than in the development of the nation. Does believing go more easily with illiteracy, poverty, suffering, dishonesty and selfishness?

Live beyond 100

Living to a healthy centenarian is not a dream any more.  It is happening everywhere in the advanced nations. There are so many who have completed a century and going strong. Even in the underdeveloped ones, those who know and apply the secrets live beyond one hundred years. It is altogether another matter that man’s average life will be above 100 years in a few decades from now.  Man may eventually conquer ageing and death itself. There are scientists who believe that this may happen in our life time itself. There will come a time when man will die when he wants to. But let us now concentrate on living beyond hundred without the usual old-age diseases and decrepitude or retaining youthfulness to the last. We want to Keep the agility of our limbs, the power of our bran and memory and all sensory capabilities intact throughout our lives. Most of us today think that we have to grow old soon and that we will become senile with impaired hearing, arthritis, weak brittle and thin bones, high BP, high cholesterol sagging skin, less eyesight, less strength and poor hearing. That we will become abandoned, disowned, useless and unwanted. Is it not our expectation that produce the result? After all expectations are self-fulfilling. Suppose you strongly desire to retain youthfulness, delay ageing and live longer, that will become the reality. Haven’t you heard an elderly   parent declaring  ‘I may not be around for the next Christmas.’ In all probability he may not here. Your brain is a computer. It functions as per a written program. If you continuously think that you will die before the nest Christmas, in all probability the brain will carry out that command. On the other hand if you continuously think about your goals to be achieved after your eighties and nineties and the wonderful life you are going to have, it is certain that your super computer will accomplish the dreams in a similar vein. But without desiring long life you will not get one. Everything starts with an intense dream. That is not enough, of course. You need something to live for at any moment of time. There are to be worthy goals after which you set your gaze and you need to be purposefully engaged all the time. This is perhaps the nest mantra to keep you in eternal youth.

Thoughts become things

Have you ever thought as to how things happen? How do people become sick, poor or successful? Thoughts become things all the time. Not just positive thoughts but negatives ones too. This is good news. We can create what we want.  It is not just limited to attracting material things but also love, joy, pleasure and laughter. Thoughts have energy like everything else in the universe. Even an atom or a grain of sand has a lot of energy in it. Money, house, dress, cars, ships, kitchen equipment, love, affection, anger, hatred, empathy, concern—anything is a condensed form of energy. As energy cannot be created or destroyed the energy of your thoughts gets simply converted into whatever it represents. If you keep the same thoughts for long periods, more and more energy becomes available and the conversion becomes easier. Have you not heard someone say, Be careful of what you wish for, because you might just get it?’ You have heard about the powers of positive thinking.  You may have also heard about the art of visualizing. What is the secret behind all these? Let me put it in 3, short, simple, life changing words?Thoughts are things.  . 
Thoughts and things are related. Things activate thoughts and thoughts activate things.  Thoughts do transform, rearrange, and set into motion the material particles in our brains thereby creating a specific mental state capable of attracting the things our thoughts represent.      
  
Ordinary people think things happen just like that. They don’t. Thoughts produce them 
To demonstrate, just see this: Replace your negative thoughts with positive ones; you will find that undesirable persons and happenings start to disappear and  positive conditions start to appear. Different or disconnected thoughts produce incoherent energies without the power for materialization. That could be the reason why so many thoughts do not materialize’ You wish or daydream something now, the next moment you wish something else . The next day something altogether different comes in. But coherent thoughts produce similar energies. They get stored in your mind and they materialize the things they represent. More forceful and sustained the thoughts, more the energy output. 
Thoughts with conviction have a power of their own. If you have full faith in your thoughts, enormous energy is produced and the materialization becomes almost instant. 
Weak thoughts have little energy and hence they lack the power to materialize. 

Succeed with big goals

Success or achievement is our goal of life. Everyone wants success, the best life can offer. No one wants failures, poverty, sickness, wants, mediocrity.  But most of us think that success is destined for only a few. Why a few only succeed and the vast majority are crawling or living in mediocrity? 

        If you believe you can succeed you will and if you think you will fail you are certain to fail. Ask yourself, ‘do I believe I will succeed?’ If your answer is a spontaneous yes, there is no doubt you will be a success. If your answer is no, still you can succeed. You have to bring your mind to believe that you will succeed.

There is nothing magical about the power of belief. Belief generates the power, skill and energy needed to go and win. The majority of the young people who start with a career do not believe they will succeed. And they do not reach the top. Since they do not believe they will succeed, their input is below average and they remain at the bottom of the rungs. But a few march forward with the belief and the how to reach the top is revealed to them by their brain. Strong belief makes it figure out the ways, means and the how to. They take initiatives to climb up the ladder.  When the mind thinks of mediocrity or lowly status, it attracts ways and means to support the belief.

Our mind is a thought factory. It produces thousands of thoughts a day. There are thoughts of success and thoughts of failures. The latter is more prevalent. It is easy for your brain to find out reason why you will not succeed.  It will show you so many alibis.  And you walk into the traps of failure you set for yourself. How to get believing thoughts of success?  Start thinking about success and the reasons for the same. Say to yourself, ‘I will win’, ‘I have the ability’ and ‘I can reach anywhere’. Keep in your mind all your successes, courageous acts, confident encounters, all your strengths. You are in fact better than what you think. Start keeping big goals in front of you. The effort to focus big or small ones are the same. Big ideas and big plans are easier to achieve than mediocre ones as you more inspired to go after the really big goals.