This is Jim Thorpe. Look closely at the photo, you can see that he’s wearing different socks and shoes. This wasn’t a fashion statement.
It was the 1912 Olympics, and Jim, an American Indian from Oklahoma represented the U.S. in track and field. On the morning of his competitions, his shoes were stolen. Luckily, Jim ended up finding two shoes in a garbage can. That’s the pair that he’s wearing in the photo. But one of the shoes was too big, so he had to wear an extra sock. Wearing these shoes, Jim won two gold medals that day. This is a perfect reminder that you don’t have to resign to the excuses that have held you back. So what if life hasn’t been fair?
What are you going to do about it today? Whatever you woke up with this morning; stolen shoes, ill health, failed relationships, failed business, don’t let it stop you from running your race.
You can experience more in life if you’ll get over the excuses and get on with living. You can have reasons or you can have results…but you can’t have both.
The greatest depths is the soul within ….a spark of the divine!
As one deepens the focus inwards in a journey of awareness, greater empathy is felt for the world outside , and when the focus is towards the outer materialistic world the focus turns towards being more self centered than self aware.
A few ways to deepen self awareness
Question your thoughts but try and be nonjudgemental.
Check your actions and deeds in mindfulness
Improve and keep inspiring the self.
Let go the holding back and allow nature to manifest its flow
Own up to a beginner’s mind and keep your sense of wonder alive!
Your intentions in your journey makes your choices along the way. All manifests as your intentions are.
“Many paths present itself.
Every path is infinite in possibilities.
The question is are we ready to walk the path?
And how we evolve, walking the path of choice?”
Savvy
Sometimes comments on a post germinate a seed of creativity.
A compliment in appreciation of a life lived in dare and adventure on a fellow writer’s post… evoked a reply from him that reflected many sentiments in a sentence … that he would never wish to advise another to live so! And yet is proud of the journey that was, is and will be!
Sharing my reflections to it…
Every Life is unique
And has all the potential to be a masterpiece.
All is in the choices one makes!
Speaking of a life lived on the edges
Or a life safely sailed in smooth waters
Never reaching the rapids
Both have a reason and purpose to be
For as the purpose reveals itself in time.
The life in question will have answers to itself
Why it was the way it chose
Why it lived a life
Of dare or in safety?
And it will know
It has served its purpose
In simplest of ways
Or charted new ways for others
In adventure or sacrifices
All is a play of life
Asserting itself over and over again.
All said and done
I believe every life is best lived
By the spirit and soul that is given the life!
For it is meant to have
all the wherewithal of existence.
Every life is best lived by itself
So while we can appreciate
The adventure of lifes moment
No life should be wished
or advised for another
As each is meant to be!
And yet through it all
in hope for a better world…
It matters to be seen
Whether the given life
Is simply existing or living the moments!
But then
That is in the power of choices we make!
Many times in our lives, many of us are at times challenged and confounded by these moments, that I would prefer to call ‘ What if ‘moments. Like for instance ‘if only I had done this , if only I had said that, if only I had the sense to think this way and so on and so forth!!!
The main reason I feel these feelings occur is that when we are faced with a trying situation for e.g. sometimes some of us buckle under the pressure, maybe to conform with the norm or worry about what is the ideal way to behave that we don’t focus on what is necessary for the moment and fail to capitalize on our strengths.
A few of us feel threatened enough to attack the offender or be brutal enough verbally or physically and regret later about our lack of discretion and control.
Still others who are so numbed by what is happening end up being dumbfounded that they don’t know what struck them… And there are those who are quite indifferent to the situation so much that you wonder if they are human at all only to realise later that there is an emotionally charged outburst long after the stressful event.
Basically when one is feeling pressured or during extreme stress of a new situation with a feeling of being pushed to a wall , we need to be aware of it , but the force of what is coming must be cleverly deflected from our path and neutralised.
If only this learning is valued, taught and applied many of us will be much happier souls. This means we must learn to be present in the moment, for which we first need to develop a keen sense of balance and control in all areas of our life. In thoughts words and deeds. This in itself is a powerful tool to calm a person enough to handle any so called crisis. When we are in a state of balance we are clearer in what we want and our existing resources.
This opens up possibilities of channelling the strengths of our resources positively to the common good of all.
Daily we could simply strive to imbibe at least some of these in our lives…..
To reduce our impulsive reactions
To balance our needs and expectations
To conquer our ego but value ourselves.
To focus on the present moment
To cleanse the mind by thought awareness
To cleanse the body by healing movements
To learn to be patient and develop perseverance
To understand the importance of
equanimity and composure
To control anger and other sensory indulgences
To be kind, generous, open minded and tolerant
To believe in equality
To conquer our unnecessary fears and inhibitions
To live our lives lovingly, completely being in every moment of it without passing it up for another time!
To develop a sense of respect for self and equally respect another.
Finally to be grateful for all that we have at this moment…
When we have the grace of gratefulness we will possibly be more balanced and composed to deal with situations wisely and life’s moments will turn to be positively enriching experiences.
All that is visible
May be just an illusion
Or tricks and perhaps a facade
In the name of reality.
There is a maze running through
Of potential possibilities
Of fears and failures
Of success in endeavors.
Perceptions can create deceptions
Perhaps scripted and meant to distort.
And create a illusory reality
That can confound the smartest minds.
Humans are a work of art
Of mesmerizing magnitude
Each with a heart and mind of their own
Uniquely endowed beings…
Between the white and black
Are so many shades of grey
What appears right or wrong
May have so many layers to it.
Know such is the manner of life and living
Care to take note of emerging perspectives
And understand the shifts of behavior
Before you decide or draw a conclusion.
Learning any skill requires disciplined and repeated practice. Skill Development is an art itself .
Without the effort of practice , skills cannot improve or sustain.
While practice may not make every person perfect it will certainly better them gradually.
Practice makes you learn until you start to work instinctively.
To reach the level of an expert, practical training is a progressive module which creates challenges as you go along. Every stage a bit tougher than the earlier one.
What is important to remember is that practice is not only necessary but it is necessary to practice efficiently and effectively.
Does practise makes it perfect?
Practice is to engage and rehearse repeatedly in order to perfect a skill to mastery , but not all who practice acheive the level of an expert even with structured and deliberate practice standards in place . So we can safely say practice makes one better gradually.
A consistent practice of any talent or skill will begin to show results for sure. It could be tangible jump or it could be a little step according to the amount to time, focus and energy given to practice. In time the results could be exponential in its rewards as well.
Practice can be truly rewarding and a great source of confidence.But practice needs not only consistency but also determination in perseverance.
A few tips to improve and implement a practice routine..
Be ready to self reflect so as understand why you are motivated to continue practicing.
Be willing to develop the learners mindset and maintain it.
Be mindful of your behavioral changes as you improve and work on it positively to sustain you.
Be engaged proactively to adjust your practice levels as per requirement.
Be focused to set short and long term goals and work on achieving them.
Most of all…
Continuity of practice is important after achieving a set goal…
Four monks decided to meditate silently without speaking for two weeks.
They began with enthusiasm and no one said a word the whole day.
By nightfall of the first day, the candle began to flicker and then went out.
The first monk blurted out, “Oh, no! The candle is out.”
The second monk said, “Hey! We are not supposed to speak!”
The third monk said in an irritated voice, “What is this? Why did you two break the silence?”
The fourth monk smiled and said, “Wow! I’m the only one who hasn’t spoken.”
Reflections:
Each monk broke the silence for a different reason, each of which is a common stumbling block in our inner journey: distraction, judgement, anger and pride.
The first monk got distracted by one aspect of his experience (the candle) and forgot what was more important – the practice of witnessing without reacting.
The second monk was more worried about others following the rules than in actually practising himself. He was quick to judge without noticing that he himself was guilty of what he was criticizing.
The third monk let his anger towards the first two monks affect him.
The singular burst of anger ruined the effort of the day.
The fourth monk lost his way because of pride. He was convinced he was superior to the others, proving his ignorance.
Why did the fourth monk speak at all? He could have simply maintained his silence and he would have been successful in his endeavour.
But if he had, chances are, the other three might have continued to argue and not even noticed his silence. Some people are like this.
Their motto is “If I am doing something good, but no one notices, I might as well not be doing it at all.” They believe that the reward is not in the effort, but in the recognition.
There is a beautiful quote, “It is the province of knowledge to speak; it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.”
As we learn to truly listen, witness and observe without impulsively reacting with distraction, judgement, anger and pride, then we understand the true meaning of silence.
The Wisdom of Silence
Silence has the strength of spaces in sublime consciousness…
Silence shows the way of patience
Silence activates our guiding spirit
Silence powers the strength of intuition
Silence moves towards deep contemplation
Silence evolves the spirit of understanding
Silence graces atmosphere with quietude
Silence defends without a word
Silence strengthens the soul.
Silence can be a knowing of the peace within .
Silence is painful in its struggles and valuable in itself. Silence is in utter desperation, deep contemplation with phases of meditative connectedness. Silence is never thoughtless or mindless.
Silence dwells in the spaces between the steps to access whenever. Silence leads and the path appears.
Savvy Raj 
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