Lesson from Flowing Water

nuisance, it is not solely determined by me and therefore it is an unrealistic target. I have no control over others causing nuisance on the streets in front of my house. I will have to delink the two, otherwise I will succumb to depression because of non-achievement of an unrealistic target. In this world, one invariably suffers losses, even Mr. Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, the most powerful person in this world is reported to have said that he felt like he is living in a cocoon in the White House with all the protocols and restrictions. That is his reality. He can be the most powerful person in this world but he cannot change his reality. Everyone suffers losses. If loss is considered a matter of fact, everything falls into place, otherwise not. In order to determine reality, we must not get emotional. Being objective about reality entails acceptance of what we have received. Any other criterion to evaluate reality is incorrect. We should learn the practical way to approach life. How workable should our targets be and not give into frustration when things are not happening our way. There are always two kinds of factors in every situation, extrinsic and intrinsic. For example, we can be the most responsible driver on the road but we can still land into a fatal accident due to someone else’s mistake. Similarly, we can be the best prepared for an exam but we can never actually have any influence over how the question paper is designed. We can sit for an interview fully prepared but we can never actually guarantee that we will be selected or how the selection committee will review our candidature. The realistic approach is to factor in the extrinsic elements in life and accept them as a reality over which we have no control. This is the only way we will not depress ourselves asking questions such as ‘Why me?’ and ‘Why isn’t it working after all my efforts?’ What are the signs that you are wasting your life? T he worldly criterion to evaluate the success of life is to measure it against results. If you are getting results for the goals you had set out for yourself, then life is not being wasted away. Otherwise, you are wasting your time. It is often said to aim high, but the correct approach is to aim realistically high. It is only when our ambitions are realistic in nature that we will observe desired results due to our hard work. The approach should not be to work hard towards anything but to work hard towards what is ‘workable’. We must therefore envisage realistic and unemotional targets. A realistic target would never lead to frustration whereas an unrealistic target would cause depression and frustration. What is patience?