Addressing One’s Life

 

Photo Credit: Idlehearts

Addressing One’s Life

There are two ways to address life. One way is to set goals and go for them. What kind of goals will we set? Something that we are impressed with in the world, something that we have not yet done, something that is yet to be in our life. We are trying to be like someone else or do something that someone else is doing. Whatever goals we arrive at, they are all in some way within the limitations of what we already know, or maybe a little exaggerated version thereof. Is it not tragic to spend a whole year trying to achieve what we already know? What if things we do not know start happening to us? Things that we have never imagined should enter our lives. Only then will our life be truly enriched. What is the point of only doing things that we already know?

It is easy to set up financial or material or professional goals – these are things that we want to achieve. These too are a waste of time – once we achieve these goals, we have motivational speakers telling us to aim higher – you’ve got a good house, car, job, income – do better, climb higher, faster – aim for a sleeker, lower car, a villa in the mountains, income to grow 10x and so on. This is nothing but introducing inflation in our lives. We inflate the tyres of our car with air, but economically this is what happens when certain parameters go out of control. Now we are consciously causing inflation in our lives – that is not an intelligent way to go about it. By setting time-bound goals, we may achieve a few things, but it will be of no consequence to the life that we are.

Instead of setting goals for the whole year, just set this one thing: By the end of the day, we must be a little more joyful, a little more enhanced, a little better. This will not work as a goal – it is better to look at it in retrospect. Tomorrow evening, just check, “Am I a little better than yesterday?” Just look at these twenty-four hours – it will make us more conscious. This is not about us being joyful or peaceful. This is about us being conscious of as many aspects of our life as possible.

We will do our best about whatever we are conscious of. Most of the nonsense happens because we are unconscious about so many things. All we need to do is to become conscious about everything – about our own nature, our mental states, our emotional states, our life, our physical situations, our financial situations, our ecological situations. If we become conscious, we will always do our best. That’s all we need to do in life.

But right now, we believe that unless we create a tension, we will not achieve anything. To get from where we are to where our goal is, we create a tension – it is like a rubber band effect. We try to keep moving from one place to another. From one level of social status to another. From one financial status to another. From one educational status to another.

When we meditate and start focusing on our inner core, then life starts working best for us, as our soul ensures that we do our best in the present moment, without worrying about what we will get or achieve. The results always prove to be beyond our expectations!