Expressions......Perceptions.......

These are two contradictory theories – theories which rule our life. Determinism theory argues that whatever happens in our life – events and incidents – small or big – they are pre determined, that is, they are destined to happen. And that means the places one visits, the people with one associates and the achievements one make are decided in advance. Man simply acts. Thus, this doctrine portrays man as a passive force. It emphasizes that it is the nature or the supreme power and the man’s past deeds which determines what happens in life. And interestingly, it also advocates that whenever some events happen-good or bad, they send prior signals (omens). And that none of the events in a person’s life are meaningless, they are pre planned and executed. They are meant to teach something or suggest something. The one who picks the clues, gains. Exact opposite is the theory of Randomness. It disputes the Determinism Theory and vindicates that events and incidents in a person’s life are pu...

A soldier deputed in  Afghanistan  received a letter from his girlfriend back home. It read as follows: “ Dear Ricky, I can no longer continue our relationship. The distance between us is just too great. I’m sorry. Please return the pictures of me that I sent to you. Love, Becky ” The soldier was hurt. He asked his fellow for any snapshots they could spare of their girlfriends, sisters or ex-girlfriends. In addition to the picture of Becky, Ricky included all the other pictures of the pretty girls he had collected. There were 57 photos. To them, Ricky attached this message: “ Dear Becky, I’m so sorry, but I can’t quite remember who the hell you are. Please take your picture from the pile, and send the rest back to me. Take Care, Ricky ” Moral:   IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE YOUR FATE, CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE!

1. Are you feeling guilty of anything you did in the past? Not able to forget and feeling bad every now and then? Here, read on…I’ll tell you what to do. Let go of the guilt feelings; after all “To err is human” and “Nobody is perfect all the time”. So, if you have done some mistakes – however small or big they may be, let go of them. Let us not carry them forward and let us forgive ourselves for committing them. Let us swear not to do them again (there are plenty others to do:)) and take them as good learning experience. 2. Someone betrayed your trust? Did some wrong to you? Hate them? Exhausted rebuking, still not feeling okay? Wait! Read on! Again, I’ll tell you what to do. Analyse the wrong they did as either of these: A.      Intentional B.      Unintentional If its unintentional, then ‘forgive them unconditionally’ (even if they don’t say sorry). Tell to yourself that you have forgiven them. And don’t carry forward the grudges anymore, ...

“Short and cute” is what I would say about the book, if I were to put it in a single phrase. There are books which feed your mind. Also, there are books which touch your heart. “Love Story” is among the latter ones. It is a nice short love story well written by Erich Segal; A very short book indeed. It moves with humor and ends giving the reader tears in his/her eyes. The story is about two young students – Oliver Barret IV and Jenny Cavilleri. They stand like Arctic and Antarctic Poles – I mean they come from such contrasting backgrounds. Oliver from the royal Barret family from whom his father has expectations to live upto the standards of the Barret family. But Oliver seems not to like his dad and his ways. He refuses to take his help and believes his father has no emotions. Whereas Jenny comes from a mediocre family but is extremely close and attached to her father. As opposites attract, these two people fall in love, after some initial bullying of Oliver by Jenny. They plan to...

An eagle's egg was placed in the nest of a prairie chicken. The egg hatched and the little eagle grew up thinking it was a prairie chicken. The eagle did what the prairie chickens did. It scratched in the dirt for seeds. It clucked and cackled. It never flew more than a few feet because that is what the prairie chickens did. One day he saw an eagle flying gracefully and majestically in the open sky. He asked the prairie chickens: "What is that beautiful bird?" The chickens replied, "That is an eagle. He is an outstanding bird, but you cannot fly like him because you are just a prairie chicken." So the eagle never gave it a second thought, believing that to be the truth. He lived the life of and died a prairie chicken, depriving himself of his heritage because of his lack of vision. What a waste! He was born to win, but was conditioned to lose. The same thing is true of most people. The unfortunate part of life is that we often go with the flow, doing what peopl...

        Once upon a time (uff !), there was a competition for baby frogs. The target was to get to the top of a tall tower. The winner would have fabulous prizes. Quite a number of baby frogs came to take part and a huge mass of parent frogs, their friend frogs and audience frogs were present to cheer them up. When they saw the huge target, none of the onlookers really thought that any baby frog could actually accomplish the task of getting to the top of that tower.           The start bell rang and all the baby frogs started off with great enthusiasm. Soon, one by one, the baby frogs started falling down. All they could hear was words like “Ah! Its too difficult” “They will never reach the top” “No way, the tower is too high”. Some spirited baby frogs kept climbing. But there were no words of encouragement. All, including the ‘cheer girls’, oops! no, I mean ‘cheer frogs’ were only saying “No one is going to make it”. ...

I like the way things are…. It will never work… I don’t need to do that… I am comfortable with what I am… I don’t want to try stuff which I am not familiar with.. This is how I usually do… That’s how I am… These are the phrases which we often get to hear from people (includes you and me).   These exhibit, of course, the “STATUS QUO”. STATUS QUO refers to the existing or present scheme of things, with no signs of change or progress. It rather suggests stagnancy. Often while running the race of LIFE, we get ourselves totally lost in the day-to-day activities. We don’t halt to think or reason as to why do we do things in that fashion. That way, we lose our purposes in actions and get settled happily with this status quo. Would anyone like to nurture a plant in his/her garden that does not grow? How about having an investment that does not grow in value? Absurd, is it not? Then why sit back and live a life of status quo and fade away from the world. So lets’ begin; let’s begin to g...

A young priest asked his bishop, “May I smoke while praying?” The answer was an emphatic “No!” Later, when he sees an older priest puffing on a cigarette while praying, the younger priest scolded him, “You shouldn’t be smoking while praying! I asked the bishop, and he said I couldn’t do it!” “That’s odd,” the old priest replied. “I asked the bishop if I could pray while I’m smoking, and he told me that it was okay to pray at any time!” Well, thats on the lighter side to reinforce the title "PERSPECTIVES DO MATTER". Try approaching problems in the right perspective and there, they are half solved. Obviously different people approach problems from different perspectives. The way one frames the problem profoundly influences the solutions one get. Often, in life, it is not the problem that attacks us, but our perception of them, the colored meanings which we attach to them and the readiness with which we yield to them. Our mind keeps setting traps for us to fall and as naive hum...