Love what you do & do what you love

Love what you do and do what you love!
I see a lot of grumping where work is involved. A stressed out society is full of sullenly people. Tensions are written on faces and translated in actions. Short tempers are common and ready to snap at the drop of a hat.

Try telling someone to enjoy their work and get ready to hear the endless train of complaints about how that person is bogged down with responsibilities and pressures. It all is true but if one has to do whatever needs to be done, then why not do it with a little bit positive attitude?

I remember in my childhood, it always seemed like a cumbersome chore if my mother asked me to do something. On the other hand, I would thoroughly enjoy doing the very same task if I had decided to do it out of my own free will. Once I noticed this difference, I started keeping tabs on my own responses and sure shot, there was a pattern. We don't like to be dictated. We want to be free to make our own choices but in life we have to follow instructions or time tables.

We avail the knowledge of others and follow instructions to benefit from their experiences and we work around timetables to manage the task. These are restrictions and human nature is to resist restraints. Observe children! They are happy when they try things on their own but they throw tantrums at times when forced to do something against their will. Adults train children to behave and teach them logic of discipline.

Discipline and logic need to be taught, learned and implemented. Human mind has an astonishing capacity to learn and adopt. Our brain is the director that runs the whole show. Our thinking effects the rest of our bodies and our life pattern. Mind and thinking get comfortable with patterns that we allow. Nagging pattern leads to negativity in life. Each and every task becomes a burden. The person wastes energies in remorse and does not enjoy the moment.

If we train our minds with logic to accept every situation and make the best out of it, then it becomes a habit. The person starts looking for ways to enjoy an annoying task. The internal positivity leads the person to make an effort to improve the situation.

Fear

Fear
It paralyzes.
It makes one prisoner.
It effects the psyche, the life style and the health.
What is this fear?
It lives within oneself.
It is based on observations, experiences, realities but more often on imagination.
Sometimes it's intentional, like the fear of the Supreme Being in religion but generally it creeps in uninvited and take over our lives.

There are two kinds of fear.
Fear of the known and fear of the unknown.

A person exposed to a traumatic experience is always vulnerable to the memory of it. Our inner defense mechanism sends red alerts to warn us if it senses a similar situation. A person always finds it difficult to drive on the same spot where s/he happen to have an accident. Although the chances of ending up in a similar situation are extremely small and a ration person recognizes it, yet the mind remembers the experience and a fear develops. This fear can be overcome with time and with traveling over the same spot a few times.

Time can help one overcome or develop the fear, depending upon the personality, situation and the experience.

I often hear "face the fear to overcome it".
It is true in many cases but sometimes it is not the solution. In some cases, there is no other way but to simply avoid it. For example, some people have fear of public speaking. If they try to overcome it by going on the stage and instead of overcoming it, become tongue tied in front of the audience, then the situation becomes even worse than before.
I remember my own experience.

During my first pregnancy, I had no idea about the level of labor pains. I underwent the whole experience with a naive bravery. The second time, although my whole pregnancy was much easier and the labor pains were shorter and delivery quicker, I found myself frozen with fear during delivery. Up until then, I had been quite confident and comfortable but then suddenly I realized that my mind and muscles remembered the previous excruciating pains and fear took hold of my whole body. No amount of logic and reasoning would let me relax. It's been some years but I still remember that feeling and experience of fear.

Another kind of known fear is when one observes someone else in a situation. People often make use of this fear to intimidate others. Social pressures work on this principle. Parents give examples of others to scare their children in many households. News channels broadcast stories to warn us of devastating consequences. For example, smoking can lead to lung cancer, etc.

The fear of the unknown is extremely common. From the beginning, fear of the unknown has intrigued, ruled, destroyed or made human beings. Yes, in general, it is a negative thing to be scared as it makes one weak and vulnerable but sometimes it works wonders as well. Religion uses it to make people better human beings. It talks about punishment and consequences. Fear of God. Fear of evil. Fear of hellfire. Fear of karma....all this fear is intended for the individual and collective good. Noble works have been done in the name of this fear. In fact, all other fears fade away when the fear of one God grips a heart.

People like to control others and use fear as a device to achieve this purpose. Instead of focusing on themselves, some people use the religious fear to control, degrade or insult others. Not just religious, they use any other sort of fear for that objective as well. Fear is a weakness and weakness makes one vulnerable. People look for vulnerability to hurt others. If they don't find one, they work on creating it. 

The Terrorist

Terrorists!

We associate them with bombings, murder, guns or situations worthy of news channels but terrorists lurk among us in many other forms!
Who is a terrorist?

A person who terrorizes or frightens others!
An abusive parent, a drunkard husband, a bully, a pedophile...anyone who crosses boundaries of respect and acts against human rights is a terrorist. Yes the scale of destruction varies and decides the verdict and the punishment but every human life is precious. A rape victim who trembles at the mere mention of the intimate act, an innocent child giving in to the demands of a molesting adult, an adult haunted by the childhood abuse, a battered wife terrified of even mentioning it to someone....they are on par with a person who loses an innocent relative in a drone attack or a suicide bomb or a gun shot....they are all terrorized....their lives are changed forever!