A G.P.S. FOR LIFE
Nowadays almost everyone travels according to a route set by a GPS- be it within one’s own city or outside it. But, even if you have the latest GPS instrument and uninterrupted high- speed Internet service, what is most important, is to give the correct address of your eventual destination. If you give the GPS an address in Paris, when you really want to reach Rome, you will obviously lose direction and be truly lost.
Similarly, we need to know, understand and decide what we want from our lives, and most of us, I find, know what we want.
During my Seminars and trainings I often ask a question to the people in the audience,
“ What do you really want in life? ”
And invariably, most people reply with,
“I want Happiness, love and peace.”
If your answer is also similar, then think about this:
“ Have I set this on my GPS?”
Right from childhood, our GPS has been set to studies, marks, a special degree, high paying job, money, a comfortable lifestyle, bungalow, big car, and so many other such things. But nowhere have we entered pure uncomplicated happiness, mental peace or satisfaction.
So how can we ever get what we never have asked for? How can we attain that which has never been our goal?
Unfortunately, we are setting the wrong addresses and destinations on the GPS of our loved ones too. Money and comforts of life are important, no doubt, but if love, happiness and satisfaction are to be desired, they too have to be set on their personal GPS. We have to teach our loved ones how to live in love and contentment, irrespective of the challenges of life, just as we teach them how to study in order to prepare for an examination. And in order to be able to teach them we must first learn it ourselves. Where do we even start?
Maybe there might be a few things we can keep in mind:
1) While leaving your home for work, be sure to say goodbye to your family. Hug your wife /husband/ children/ parents close. Within a day, you will experience true happiness.
2) On returning home, don’t go online or chatting on social media or make phone calls unless in an absolute emergency. Instead of forwarding insipid jokes to phone contacts, make actual eye contact with members of your own family and make them laugh over your jokes.
3) Understand your children. Don’t make them run a race just because everyone is running in one particular direction.
4) Appreciate them on a whim. For no particular reason. We always reprimand when there is a need. Why not appreciate them on a whim? They will beam…
5) If they are misbehaving or are lazy, talk to them, discuss the issue rather than their character. If you find yourself overwhelmed, try taking them to a counselor.
6) A married couple must spend at least some quality time together, regardless of their age. Watch a movie, catch a dance recital or just hold hands sitting on a park bench.
And this is just a beginning. You can do quite a lot. You need to answer just one question-
“Have I set my GPS and that of my children to the correct address and destination?”
Similarly, we need to know, understand and decide what we want from our lives, and most of us, I find, know what we want.
During my Seminars and trainings I often ask a question to the people in the audience,
“ What do you really want in life? ”
And invariably, most people reply with,
“I want Happiness, love and peace.”
If your answer is also similar, then think about this:
“ Have I set this on my GPS?”
Right from childhood, our GPS has been set to studies, marks, a special degree, high paying job, money, a comfortable lifestyle, bungalow, big car, and so many other such things. But nowhere have we entered pure uncomplicated happiness, mental peace or satisfaction.
So how can we ever get what we never have asked for? How can we attain that which has never been our goal?
Unfortunately, we are setting the wrong addresses and destinations on the GPS of our loved ones too. Money and comforts of life are important, no doubt, but if love, happiness and satisfaction are to be desired, they too have to be set on their personal GPS. We have to teach our loved ones how to live in love and contentment, irrespective of the challenges of life, just as we teach them how to study in order to prepare for an examination. And in order to be able to teach them we must first learn it ourselves. Where do we even start?
Maybe there might be a few things we can keep in mind:
1) While leaving your home for work, be sure to say goodbye to your family. Hug your wife /husband/ children/ parents close. Within a day, you will experience true happiness.
2) On returning home, don’t go online or chatting on social media or make phone calls unless in an absolute emergency. Instead of forwarding insipid jokes to phone contacts, make actual eye contact with members of your own family and make them laugh over your jokes.
3) Understand your children. Don’t make them run a race just because everyone is running in one particular direction.
4) Appreciate them on a whim. For no particular reason. We always reprimand when there is a need. Why not appreciate them on a whim? They will beam…
5) If they are misbehaving or are lazy, talk to them, discuss the issue rather than their character. If you find yourself overwhelmed, try taking them to a counselor.
6) A married couple must spend at least some quality time together, regardless of their age. Watch a movie, catch a dance recital or just hold hands sitting on a park bench.
And this is just a beginning. You can do quite a lot. You need to answer just one question-
“Have I set my GPS and that of my children to the correct address and destination?”