Life: A Celebration
Like the birds flying through the dark gray skies in anticipation of a storm on the horizon, I sit alone reflecting on what life has come to be post the lockdown; with a few that’s leftbefore one turns another page, with nothing but experiences or a lesson that came about as an outcome of choices made, hoping that I’ve gotten better and are a better fit for the times ahead.
A topic that has intrigued me most, is one’s experiences and what we make of them, limited by habits, self-critical, self- loathing and self-blame often leading to disappointments instead of being mindful that failures or falling short of expectations is always a possibility; and taking responsibility for what was within one’s control and finding solace that one got to try, and got to fail, and got to learn.
One got to get better. For one to embrace and acknowledge that every situation has multiple variables at play that are beyond one’s control, be it a wrong, a failure, a bad relationship, a conversation gone wrong, a project that failed, a commitment one could not keep.
Make peace with imperfections and shortcomings; let go of that rigid stance on the outcome, to fit a social narrative or standing. A profound reminder that one should hold on to, is that no one cares, or even if they do, it cannot be for long, because everyone is busy fighting their own demons and shortcomings.
So be kind to yourself; they say “regret is like holding on to burning charcoal; the longer you hold it; the more it burns you from inside”.
So, choose to let go and move on with your learning. Surely what we shine light on finds a mental impression to last, learn from and realize; let’s consider not negating but making better mental impressions that empower us.
We’ve all at some point of time been told to watch what we speak, be careful of our thoughts,simply because we manifest and facilitate a creation that fits. Life sure is no coincidence; it’s a sequence of incidents that could strike a chord in this conversation; like the constant sighting of a car of your choice and color when you are considering buying one. You surelytend to see more of what you shine your light upon.
Be assured that your intention created your reality and the experiences with it, so when things go wrong and there is nothing one could have done better, exit with a learning. And, exit quickly, knowing you are better equipped if it were to come around again.
Don’t let it linger and cause more damage than necessary, but instead shift focus onto your wins; shed some light on them, a little longer than needed; celebrate the wins no matter how small, for the mind does not discriminate between a big or small win.
So, when your day comes to an end, you are left with two choices; either reflect on all that went wrong, to wake up feeling anxious and anticipating more trouble, or instead reflect on your wins or at least all that you got to do and all that you celebrated through the day, thus waking up to a day full of continued celebrations and wins.
Surrender to the fact that life isn’t fair and there is a need to tilt the odds in your favorintentionally, to make things better for yourself and find contentment in the incremental progress that you achieve by repeatedly practicing positive habits.
Closing with a quote by Zig Ziglar:
“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”
Your life experience is a personal choice made each day; celebrate when you can and you shall find more in life to celebrate!
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Ajith Anirudhan
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Thank you for the thought-provoking post Ajith. Reminded me of a favourite book – Viktor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning’. Our reality is what we choose to focus on, and the realization that we have the ‘power to choose’ is liberating & empowering.
Thank you Raj, It’s often that we fail to learn with the flow until choosing better is the only options that is left.
The realization that follows that we always had it at our disposal is trasformational indeed.
Ajith – Hats off to this blog! The centric theme of Life being a Celebration has been aptly curated. Life in many ways is a series of precious moments and choices. It depends on what one makes out of the happenings by way of conscious choices to experience, learn from and move on, to take on further challenges and accomplish more elements of the larger pursuits in life. I quite like the Quote of Zig Zaglar with which you ended this narrative: ‘Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.’
Thank you Uday… I pen my struggles and evolve as i do as not many mornings of recent has been so great as i would have liked it to be, so i give myself a that “little push” more like a nudge to help me up and about in a direction purposeful..
More like a Luna or TVS50 of the 1980’s when going uphill, one needs to peddle up to keep moving forward.
Hey Ajit, so much of truth in what you say…. Let go of what is not in your control and focus instead on the positive learning n key takeaways. Definitely helps you to grow as a person but sometimes it’s difficult to let go. Thanks for sharing
Your article helped me a lot, is there any more related content? Thanks!