One stick, a bundle of sticks!

In my childhood, I often heard the story about a single stick and a bundle of sticks, which actually portrayed that 'united we stand and divided we fall' message.  One stick was easily breakable, but a whole bunch of sticks was a tough and almost impossible to break.

But today I see it in a different way.  It has nothing to do with the story having a great moral,  but it definitely has to do with sticks.  I apply this example to our daily life.

If we take life as one day at a time, it becomes easier to handle and overcome rather than perceiving it as a cluster of days which may become overwhelming and complicated.  A road from far seems curved and crooked but when we come closer it appears nothing but a straight road.  Similarly, another example I will give is also about the road.  From far it seems to be uphill or a ramp, but when we move closer it somehow appears flat.

Hence, if we see life as one stick at a time, it is easy to endure and overcome.  We can crumble a whole fat bunch of sticks by snapping one by one and the job gets done.  A whole bundle scares us and discourages us.

Today I see the same bunch of sticks with a different application.   Not that I am saying that the former lesson does not apply to the sticks anymore.  But only that I see that example in yet another way.

Lessons learnt in childhood stays with us and we can relate them in so many ways.  Amazing.  Right!

LOST

                         Lost

That midnight when I woke up lost,
My mind got tangled, my thoughts got crossed
It seems like ages, when I was found
And the more I think, the more I look around
Dark deep night, as it seemed
No moon, no stars that gleamed
In the darkness and in the solemnity ahead
I see the eyes that was so perfectly made
Pretty angel eyes, makes my heart beat
It makes my heart ponder and bleed
As humorous as it may sound,
The more I see the more I get drowned
When the morning creeps in
It makes my heart so keen
Craving for the food of my thoughts
Those eyes that I look for the most
Sunshine in shades of yellow and brown
And I find those pretty angel eyes, that makes my heart drowned.

Dividing away................

We are dividing rapidly! Faster than we can count 1 2 3......!  That is how fast we are dividing and falling apart and often standing alone, lonely and miserable, just like this rare and unique butterfly in a world of its own.

We are dividing up based on faith, culture, nationality, race, color, academic qualifications,  economic level, physical appearances etc.  We are just looking for means to break up and classify.  There is little to nothing keeping us together and united.

All this ceaseless effort, stress, and time consuming drive only functions as a method of proving ourselves to be better and superior.  What are we going to achieve by this?  What are we going to attain by our  strive to rise in our own eyes?  Whom are we deceiving and harming, other than ourselves? 

In these attempts to prove ourselves to be better, we are breaking our relationships,  forgetting our friendships, abandoning our family ties, isolating ourselves from our communities...........which is leading us nowhere but to a miserable island inhabited by us and our ever growing ego.

The only REAL differences in existence are not our physical or acquired differences but the differences that exist within us.  What makes us different is good or bad, nice or mean and kind or cruel.  

This is our true identity.  This is how the world actually visualizes us.  We are not known by our certificates, bank balances, appearances, or by our admirers.  We are valued for our behavior and responses.  

But we have buried these values and emerged as individuals who sees themselves as superior beings who reject others to live dejected lives.

How much more are we going to divide?  Instead of looking for similarities,  we are constantly looking for differences to pull apart and fall apart?  By trying to be different, are we making any difference?   

If being together is celebration, why must we chose isolation?

Truth always!

8

Speaking truth is no easy job.  No Way! Especially if it does not favor oneself. The reason it is so hard is because it is the right thing to do and let me ask an important question, "Since when has it become EASY to do or say the right thing?"  Tough question, right? 

It may not be easy to be truthful against one's own self but imagine how simple it can be later.  Living on lie and deception may feel easy and nice in the beginning but it is a long and non ending journey to complications and crisis(and humiliation too!).

Being truthful is annoying, pretty difficult but it tosses us OUT of unforseen problems and gives us a safe landing on concrete ground of certainty, creating problem free zone.  Phew!  

As a stitch in time saves nine,a truth saves us from troubleS we did not even imagine could exist.
When you need to be truthful, do not think of the trouble it will drag you in, but of the trouble it will bail you out from.  Got it!

Poverty is not a curse, nor empty purse. It is a purpose.

I happened to overhear a conversation today about how both the political parties in the upcoming election in  United States are ignoring the poor.  I mused and chuckled and said to myself,  "Who doesn't?"   Isn't that how it is supposed to be?  This gave me an idea for my blog.  Something that has been sitting on my chest and making me wheeze found its way out, finally.

I have often witnessed the sufferings of the poor and needy and somehow felt their pain.  I know what it is and how it hurts.

 Poverty means suffering and humiliation, and sadly nothing else. Today, poverty is looked upon as hideous, sinful, and shameful etc. 

The poor today are the ignored, isolated, despised and unwanted class, a category of individuals who are forgotten, invisible and treated somewhat inhumanly.  Hence, no one wants to be poor and thus resort to unfair means to get rich, to evade from being called "poor".

Poverty has been created to test prosperity and reward generosity.   Being poor is not an affliction but a privilege. They are the chosen ones who suffer so that others can be tested, and they are chosen as means of reward to others.  

Poverty gives a very special meaning to kindness.  Poverty has created humanity and humanitarianism.  Poverty brings happiness, for if not because of poverty, there would be no existence of words or feelings like caring and sharing.  

Besides, poverty also controls our behavior and tendencies. It has created fear.........fear of losing.  It disciplines us, warns us and reminds us of our limits.  It imposes a huge threat to pride.

Above all, poverty to me is a game of passing the pillow or musical chairs.  We never know who it may land on.  It goes from hand to hand and we all get a turn, sooner or later.  The question is, how we choose to handle it.

Poverty is not a punishment,  it is just a condition, and temporary setback.  It is a challenge which comes with multiple lessons, awareness of friends and foes, and realization of the pain of deprivation and joy of helping.

Poverty is a waiting time for great wisdom and road to humanitarianism  and eternal happiness.

Poverty is a choice, a very honest choice of the brave and the wise, who are not afraid to face and embrace reality.   They choose to be poor, rather than resort to unfair means to be rich.  They patiently wait for their share and turn of prosperity.  They know and understand that poverty and prosperity is meant for everyone and anyone.  They spare no one.   

Helping is healing. It is a cure.

I was just so impressed with this quote that I had to save it for my blog.  I at once felt a connection with it because it was so me.  Someone,  somewhere knows my mind and shares my thoughts........

I had heard in my childhood a song whose lyrics say that if you are helpless, be of help to someone.  This had a very deep impact on me. I felt then, in those days of my tender age, that it was the best way to handle days of dark gloom.  

Today, after undergoing a lot of mixed experiences in life, I strongly feel that there is no better road to recovery than to walk someone and show them the way to recovery.  It makes one forget of one's own pain and there is just so much joy in wiping the sorrow from someone's face.

  "Praying for the healing of others", is like putting them first, when helping and healing take place simultaneously.   Helping is healing in so many ways.  When you help, all you are doing is giving away.  Giving away your time, your resources,  your effort, your love, services etc.  and incidentally you are also giving away something else.........your stress, anxiety, negativity, and depression, which had piled up and blocked your way to your own recovery.  

Helping while you heal and healing while you help, are the beautiful discoveries of recovery.  

Help, for in it lies the cure that is pure.  Sometimes helping is the 'only' cure.  
Try it!

Advices on "How to advice (others)."

How to advice "Others"? Yeah, I know, so easy right?  Easy as Pie! Can't wait to get started when it comes to advising others.   We have tons of advices that we are just waiting anxiously to release and unleash.  Wait a Minute!  Sometimes we just cannot wait and start advising without being asked.  Yes, unwanted advices!  But imagine the pride and pleasure we draw from it!  Wow! 

Let's get started.  To begin with, let us try with using ourselves as the model.  Let us ask what kind of advices would we like,  whether we would like to be advised without being asked for and whether we would like to hear insane and impractical advice?    Should we continue with our advice even if the person is not listening, or even getting bored?  

For once, let us keep aside the word,  'advice,' and go for a milder term and call it "suggestions," which implies that we may be wrong or ignorantly immature.  Which is okay because not every time are we able to grasp the situations or know the real person seeking a little help.  

Be restricted and considerate in your suggestions.  Pass on only those options which you are honestly more than willing to apply on yourself.  Suggestions should be encouraging and inspiring not depressing and deteriorating.  

Make the person feel as if there was no problem.   In fact it was just a mood swing  or misunderstanding.   Sometimes it is just part of growing up or let's just say part of life that each one of us "have" to undergo.   

Further, comfort the person and give assurance that you are there and they can count on you.  Anything that you can do, you will.  I think that sometimes that is all a miserable person wants to hear and it can make a huge difference.  

What not to Do?  Please do not advice others to have patience and courage.  It is so old fashioned and out dated.  The person is already being patient and courageous in dealing with you and your not helpful advices.  Please oh please, do not start relating your own sad and tragic story (ies), and make the person further and a lot more miserable, frustrated or depressed.

The best way to advice is to listen, just listen.  Give the person a golden chance to pour his or her heart out and feel lighter and better.  Wipe the tears away.  Put on a smile by saying you understand and care.  Say a small prayer.  Let the person know that you will always be there. 

When giving advice or suggestions,  we should not forget it is about them and it is they who matter.  Let us not make it about ourselves and seize it as an opportunity to praise ourselves and a chance to narrate our own stories.  That is not going to help.

It is about helping not ruining. If you cannot help just be a passive listener and comforter, that's helping!

  

The more you sweat, the more you get!

Ever heard of getting anything 'worthwhile' the easy way?  
There -is- no- easy- way. Period.  In fact there is no other way, other than the rough and tough way.  To get to the beautiful roses, we have to tread on the path of thorns, bleed a little, bruise a bit, get pricked and finally we pluck the rose that we were eyeing.  Gosh! That rose was certainly worth the toil.  

So it is with the entire journey of life.  Whatever we dream of, aspire for, comes with a price tag.  Pay for it with your sweat and blood and top it all with determination.   

The hard way will not seem hard if we keep focused on the reward behind it.  The more we strive, the closer we get to our goal and the reward looms larger and larger.  Keep going till you actually reach the final line, no matter how far it may seem.  

Sometimes the ending may seem harder than the initial stage.  Now this is the most teasing and trying part of the whole task.  Be steadfast, even a slight imbalance may cause the entire effort to tumble down.  

As we discussed earlier, all along, (let me emphasize), ALL ALONG, stay focused on your goal.  That is the hidden key to success.  Your goal will develop a bond with you and draw you closer.  You will not pay heed in 'how' you get there, but just in getting there.  'How', will be immaterial,   getting there will be the priority.  

Getting there may cost you a whole lot of hard work, pain, frustration,  failure, irritation, endurance, patience, courage and what not.  We already discussed that earlier.  If you cannot recall what we discussed, then start reading all over from the beginning.  You were not paying attention.  Right?  Caught you!

Anyway, what is being said here is that, to achieve, one has to give!  Are you ready for this?  Further, the more you give, the more you achieve!  Hence, the more you sweat...............the more you...........? 

(It works for me, maybe it will work for you too!)

What the mind does not know, the eyes cannot see!

Yesterday, during a conversation with my brother, he happen to mention this phrase, "What the mind does not know, the eyes cannot see."  This at once struck me and put my mind into thinking mode.  I asked him to repeat it so that I can note it as a topic for my blog.

Another way to say this perhaps is,   "ignorance is bliss?"

This  phrase caused me to think of how ignorantly we are living.  How unaware we are of what is happening around us.  We live our lives based on what little to no knowledge we have and make no effort to venture o-u-t of our cocoon, whatsoever.

We take no risks, we are afraid to make mistakes, we limit ourselves to what we hear, we never verify or learn, we never remove our doubts, we never explore, we do not like changes, we do not like to learn anything new or increase our knowledge.  Hence what?  

We are in darkness, we are blind, we don't know better and we do not know right from wrong.  If we get criticized, condemned, corrected..........we take it the wrong way and get upset, offended and uprooted.  

Conclusion: People give up on us and we give up on them.  What we do not know we fail to see.  As simple as this.  

Who to blame?. No one, other than our very own minds where ignorance has built a nest and caused blindness.

Enlighten the mind so that the eyes can have better and clearer vision.  

This blog is about you!

You!  It is all about You!  You are the life of this blog. You nourish it, and you are growing it, supporting it, spreading it, sharing it, motivating it and so much more.

Had it not been because of "U" , the Unspoken Words would be incomplete, silent and buried forever.  

You give me the ideas, you provide me with the pictures, you share your writings with me,  you read the posts and share them on Google. You subscribe to this blog and share it on social media, you comment on it, and you inspire me to keep going.  Every time I think that maybe this is the last one, you bring me back to write one more.

I am loving it and doing  what I am doing because YOU are the reason. 

So.........."Thank You!"  Thanks to each and every one of you.