JOURNEY OF LIFE: FOCUS WITH ENJOYMENT:

LIFE IS A JOURNEY:

Come on friends! Let us learn to enjoy the journey of life. Life is tough for most of us. Everyone is busy. There is a great level of competition. People are struggling to achieve something. Even small children are under tension. Because, homework is not allowing them to play.

Teachers have their own problems. If you are in a job, boss will take everything out of you. But if you are the boss, your subordinates must be creating problems for you. Similarly, businessman have lot of tension, specially about their finances. You may be a leader or a follower. Everyone in life has his or her own set of problems.

Knowingly or unknowingly, you make some set of rules in life to fight with challenges. You have dreams to accomplish. You have goals to achieve. Therefore, you need some action in life. You need some focus and some discipline. With strong focus on one particular goal, you forget to enjoy what lies close to you. You may know someone who was seriously behind a goal. He disciplined himself, forgot everything else, and achieved the goal. But, in the process he missed lot of happy events in life. On the other hand, you may also know a person, who was seriously pursuing his goal and achieved it. But, alongside he was enjoying the life, also. Which one would you like to follow?

Friends, life is a journey. You have a goal to achieve. In the process of moving towards goal don’t forget to make a balance. A balance between your efforts and your enjoyment.

THE LIFE CYCLE:

In this competitive world people are entangled in a circle of complications. When you are a student, you think that everything will be fine as soon as you get a job. But, job comes with different challenges. When you marry, you are happy and start enjoying life. But entry of child in the family creates certain disturbances. Helping your child to grow is a part of the game. You may love to do it. But this itself is not trouble free. Specially the teenage years of your child has lot of positive and negative experiences. At this stage you think that after his or her marriage, your life will become less adventurous. But then after the marriage you have grand children and the cycle starts repeating.

On the way you set goals. http://improvemylives.com/focus-on-goals-from-my-memoirs-part-2/ The importance that they give most are their financial targets. I agree that money is very important in life. In the process of earning money people often put extreme labor. They shift from one job to another. And they forget to analyze as whether the new job will give them more freedom or put them in more critical condition. They may reach or exceed their financial targets but at the cost of their physical, mental or spiritual health. Similarly, businessmen also put themselves into this type of situation. They succeed in earning, but, get mentally disturbed.

Dalai Lama once said that one thing that is most surprising about humanity is Man. Because when young, he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then when old, he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. http://beyondtheopposites.com/2011/05/11/the-most-surprising-thing-about-humanity/#sthash.WycWZ5Jt.dpbs

SIDE EFFECTS OF BLIND FOCUS:

Strong focus on goals is essential for success in life. But, if you ignore all other things, then you will not really enjoy life. Let us discuss some side effects of blind focus:

• You may ignore your health. If not today, it’s negative effects may show up tomorrow.
• Your relations with friends and relatives may get affected.
• Your family life may develop troubles. You may not have time for them when they need it most. It may affect the all round growth of your children.
• Your attitude toward others may become ruthless. Empathy may not have any influence in your life.
• Your nature may become demanding. It may affect your home and office environment adversely.
• You may develop mental tension when you seems to be far behind your targets.
• Sometimes, your goal itself may not be productive or ethical. In the words of Stephen Covey, you may climb to the top of the wall and then find that the ladder is resting against the wrong wall.
• You may not have time for spiritual growth and may be left behind in this area of your life.

There are times when you may fail to achieve your goal. Still you can not avoid these side effects. Think what will happen if that happens?

MAKING LIFE JOURNEY PURPOSEFUL:

I have a friend who loved to play basket ball. After his studies, he joined a Company for a job, and at the same time he started playing basket ball. But while doing his job, he got extremely busy and could not continue playing. Now he is retired today and still wants to play. But is unable to do so due to his poor health. Another friend was a fitness freak but then he started his own business & got busy. After 15 years today, he is suffering with diabetes and cardiac problem. These are lifestyle diseases and could have been avoided with proper physical activity. There are several such stories taking place all around.

That is why friends, in order to have a meaningful life we must learn to make a balance between what we are forced to do to achieve our goals and what we really love to do in life. This will make the journey of our life meaningful.

Friends! Of course, it is good to have goals in life. One of my friends says that even when a person is about to die, he must be having at-least one goal that he is pursuing. Next, a strong focus is required to achieve the goal. But, most important of all: you must learn to enjoy in the process of achievement.

I remember a song from Khubsoorat movie. Sare niyam tod do, niyam pe chalana chod do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8dKaa0U1gU. Sometimes it is good in life to come out of self imposed restrictions. And, do any other activity which helps you to develop physical, mental and spiritual strength. Do something which gives you happiness. Work on developing your hobbies.

LET US RESTORE THE BALANCE:

Always think about balance between work and play. Following 10 steps outlined below may be helpful:

1. Set goals. Don’t let your life take any unplanned course that you have not thought of.
2. Make an action plan. Plan to reward yourself on achieving each one of the steps.
3. Celebrate the achievement. Sing, dance and party. Enjoy with friends and relatives. But, move on to next goal, quickly.
4. Respect people who are part of your team. Have good positive relationship with them. Treat them with empathy. Appreciate them for their role in the process.
5. Pursue your hobbies. Don’t give up them. Leave sufficient time slot to work on them.
6. Plan your holidays and visit different tourist places. Spend time together with family. In the process, learn and enjoy.
7. Health is wealth. My mother used to say: pahali hei aas nirogi rahe kaya i.e. the first expectation from God is that we stay healthy. Therefore, develop a healthy lifestyle. Eat right, exercise, go to gym and do yoga.
8. Work on your mental health. You need to be mentally strong. Everyday challenges of your life should not disturb your mental set up. Develop friendship with mentally strong people and learn their traits.
9. Your family is most important for you. With focus on goals, give sufficient time to your spouse, children and parents.
10. Have faith in Almighty. Understand the purpose of life. Learn meditation from a deserving guru and practice it.

Make the journey of life interesting, friends. Achieve big but not at the cost of unnecessary sacrifices. Work for your goals but keep enjoying on the way.

Wishing you a happy and exciting journey….

Dr Lokesh N Rai