An insightful journey.

" We are always taught to run and compete. We are always told there are only two things in life 'success' and 'failure'...." he continued as I nodded my head in agreement. He asked me all of a sudden " are you working?" to which I said " I was but not anymore." He didn't make any reference to it but said " We compete when we are studying, we compete when we are working,we appreciate knowledge and intelligence only when somebody achieves victory.Looks like we have forgotten to respect other aspects of life and neither do we consider other emotions.We always want to show the world how strong we are but whom do we consider as world?" .

His last statement reminded me of something that happened couple of weeks ago. Not sure whether I wanted to show off that I was very strong or not but I didn't want to cry before anybody. I showed it to the entire world(?) I was strong and I was least affected with whatever happened at work and now I was happy not being associated with work.This didn't last long,the moment I met my hubby at home I broke down and he had to comfort me ,console me and assure me that nothing was lost. He stepped in for my mother which he always did. If I said he was my world then whom was I trying to show off that I was strong.

He continued " There's nothing like success and failure in life,it's all series of incidents that may happen to anybody as long as they have life. Having life is entirely different than just living. The kind of incidents and number of occurrences depends on the type of actions you take and the kind of reactions you produce.Since the beginning we are not taught to learn from them but we are only taught to categorize them as success or failures. "

He sounded more like a management guru but a completely different one,so different than anybody who had published N number of books so far. I was learning the lessons now. We wouldn't share a bad news or a sad emotion with any friends as we think it would burden them.

He said " If you cannot share such a thing with a friend then you can never grow stronger. This only means you don't have enough people with you and without your own people you cannot grow. Remember any work is a team effort at any point of time and this is what everybody learns in the initial stage but fails to remember till the end ." I was travelling alone to meet my parents and met an old man in the bus who was in his late 60s. This was a small talk over something we initiated which I don't remember now but the lessons are unforgettable.

An old man,a young woman and the life's best lesson !