Lost in time and lost in translation

Blame it on the restlessness of today's youth, but delays in any and every form are so excruciating. The more you want things to move faster, the slower they crawl. The line you're not in is always moving faster. Even getting used to it takes time! Maybe it's just our obsession with the don't-wants that brings us more of them. The unattainable is always the most desirable. Of course the unattainable status is what we accord to things and it might not always be the other way round.

There is always too much time for those who don't want a lot of spare moments. Life has a habit of acting in opposition of our wants. It's left to us to tame the tempest and bring about a turn around.A lot of times you've no choice but to put up and shut up. Unless of course if you are determined enough to stop at nothing but the best for yourself. Often it is a delicate balance between the two. People say that nothing happens before its time and before it's meant to. But for how long are you supposed to hang from that rope of hope?Uncertainty isn't always the most exciting thing that can happen to you if you ask me honestly. How long can you grope in the darkness? Yes you reach new places, but there has to be some sign that you are headed in the right direction. How much can you draw from your well of strength? How long do you stand the test of time? Guess we'd never know until we go on, because, the only way out is through.There is always an end to every tunnel and there are always cues if you have the vision enough to look.And to get through you have to move. It is scary moving through darkness and venturing into the unknown. But what's comforting is that we came with nothing that we can loose. This is another of those things worth trying. It's like if you don't like the picture, change the glasses but don't call it quits yet because there is a lot more to it than meets the eye and there is a light at the end of the tunnel and a silver lining to the clouds :-)

Great Expectations

Nobody works for charity, it’s said. We do things because we want something in return. Or to put it differently we expect something in return. Of course not many would admit it. Expecting things of people, events and circumstances is ingrained in us. And this is where we sow the seeds of letting ourselves down. Time and again. Primarily because those are OUR expectations from things outside of us. The people we deal with might not even be aware of the same. But we keep building upon it and are exhilarated when things fall into our scheme of things and are hurt big time when they don’t. This becomes our benchmark for judging people. Those who always live up to our expectations of them are hailed as the best things that happened to us and for those who missed the bus, a lot of ridicule awaits. It can be argued that when we do your best, people should take notice of us and reward us. When we go out of the way to help people, they should be nice to us when we need them. But the world doesn’t always work that way. Sadly so! You win some, you loose some.

An unexpected call from a friend we had long been waiting to talk to, an unexpected act of kindness by a total stranger, an unexpected turn of events for the better is truly exalting. What increases the joy manifold is that if it happened great, and if it didn’t, well, we’d still be ok. At times, like it’s famously said, the joy is in the giving without expecting anything in return. And that’s a selfish act too! Heck! There’s just this one life. Live it up, drink it down :-)

The ever elusive Happiness....

The pursuit of happiness is indeed a chase of a lifetime. We humans are a dissatisfied lot. We are motivated by goals which we think will lead us to things, both material and non-material, that will pave the way to our happiness. We work deliriously towards it, leaving no stone unturned. We don’t want that feeling that we narrowly missed getting that because we didn’t try a wee bit harder. Hard work coupled with an unfailing approach eventually gets us what we always wanted and prayed for. Now this is where we come to the surprise element. We still aren’t happy! What we got is STILL not enough. The salary is still low, the house still small, the work still not challenging enough. After the initial euphoria, the enthusiasm of enjoying the fruits of our labor wears off. Was all that sweat and pain just for that one moment of ecstasy? What is it that we are looking for and what it is that we really want? To the world we might appear as go-getters. We know what we want and we know how to get it. Nothing succeeds like success. Touché. But the one person we cannot con is ourselves.

Eventually we come to the conclusion that this wasn’t what we were looking for and start working towards another such goal. And life goes on. Till the end of our days we keep at it. What we are chasing is then obviously an illusion. While we can see what lies at the end of the road, that, which is worth pursuing, what we are overlooking is what is with us right through.

It’s said that money can’t buy happiness. Of course it’s obnoxious to say that we don’t need money for survival. Sure we do. There is no such thing as a free lunch these days. True. Point taken. But what is also true is that the best things in life are free. Certain things are just priceless. No amount of money can buy the protective assurance from a loved one which says that even if all goes wrong with the world, they are always there for us and are just a backward glance away. Nothing in the world can diffuse a tense moment like a joke from a friend at hand who can view the lighter side of life and make you feel as ease. Nothing can match the innocence on a child’s face when the world begins to seem like a complex place. The essence is to strike a perfect balance between materialism and all that and who truly matter. What’s the point in a victory when you’ve no one to celebrate it with? Time we make a reality check. “ Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”.

Whatever I needed to know...

Everything I Need to Know, I Learned in the Corporate World

* Indecision is the key to flexibility.

* You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.

* There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation.

* Happiness is merely the remission of pain.

* Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

* The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.

* Someone who thinks logically is a nice contrast to the real world.

* Things are more like they are today than they ever were before.

* Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.

* Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate.

* I have seen the truth and it doesn't make as much sense as you think.

* If you think there is good in everybody, you haven't met everybody.

* If you can smile when things go wrong, you have someone in mind to blame.

* One-seventh of your life is spent on Monday.

* By the time you make ends meet, they move the ends.

* Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious.

* The more you run over a dead squirrel, the flatter it gets.

* There is always one more imbecile than you counted on.

* This is as bad as it can get -- but don't count on it.

* Never wrestle a pig. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.

* The trouble with life is, you're halfway through it before you realize it's a do-it-yourself thing.

* The first rats off of the sinking ship are the best swimmers

Letting go

Don’t go down the memory lane, for there you’ll find a lot of pain. To achieve something in life, very often we have to let go of a whole lot of things. Things that pull us back from going forward. An object appears blue when it gives up the blue light and absorbs the rest. Life is an ongoing and continuous battle with the demons within. Sometimes we win, sometimes we loose but battle it out till the very end. We are like the leaves of a mighty tree and life continues to challenge our perseverance by threatening to uproot us. If we loose grip, we are sure to be blown away to unfamiliar territory. A place we never wanted to land up in. It’s a choice we make. To either hold on or to go where life takes us.

If we are to be enclosed in a dark room that seems to be closing in on us we won't sit back and relax.We will keep groping in the dark till our last breath. We will continue to find some opening, some ray of light and some way out. It sure is the survival of the fittest. Those who dare to overcome their fears reach the pinnacles of success and those who get cowed down wither and perish.

If one situation can have so many different ways of looking at it, then it sure is all in our mind. It’s a choice we make to either focus on the positive or delve into the depths of negative. When we think we’ve had enough and can’t take it anymore, rest assured we are being prepared for something that needs us to be well equipped with all that we've learnt in the past. If there is a problem, there is a solution too, somewhere near at hand. And when you have the assistance of angels we call friends, nothing is insurmountable and no problem too big.

“ Only as high as I reach can I grow,
Only as far as I seek can I go,
Only as deep as I look can I see,
Only as much as I dream can I be ”

Humor

The Real Ending to the Three Bears story

Baby Bear goes downstairs and sits in his small chair at the table, he looks into his small bowl. It is empty. "Who's been eating my porridge?!!", he squeaks.
Papa Bear arrives at the big table and sits in his big chair. He looks into his big bowl, and it is also empty. "Who's been eating my Porridge?!!,"he roars.
Momma Bear puts her head through the serving hatch from the kitchen and yells, "For Pete's sake, how many times do we have to go through this with you idiots?
It was Momma Bear who got up first, it was Momma Bear who woke everyone in the house, it was Momma Bear who made the coffee, it was Momma Bear who unloaded the dishwasher from last night, and put everything away, it was Momma Bear who went out in the cold early morning air to fetch the newspaper, it was Momma Bear who set the damn table, it was Momma Bear who put the friggin cat out, cleaned the litter box, and filled the cat's water and food dish, and, now that you've decided to drag your sorry bear-asses downstairs, and grace Momma Bear's kitchen with your grumpy presence, listen good, cause I'm only going to say this one more time.

"I HAVEN'T MADE THE FUCKING PORRIDGE YET !!"

The First Mass
A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak. After mass he asked the monsignor how he had done.
The monsignor replied, "When I am worried about getting nervous on the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass." "If I start to get nervous, I take a sip."
So next Sunday he took the monsignor's advice. At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink. He proceeded to talk up a storm.
Upon his return to his office after mass, he found the following note on the door:
1. Sip the Vodka, don't gulp.
2. There are 10 commandments, not 12.
3. There are 12 disciples, not 10.
4. Jesus was consecrated, not constipated.
5. Jacob wagered his donkey, he did not bet his ass.
6. We do not refer to Jesus Christ as the late J. C.
7. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not referred to as Daddy, Junior and the Spook.
8. David slew Goliath, he did not kick the shit out of him.
9. When David was hit by a rock and was knocked off his donkey,don't say he was stoned off his ass.
10. We do not refer to the cross as the "Big T."
11. When Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper he said, "Take this and eat it for it is my body." He did not say "Eat me"
12. The Virgin Mary is not called "Mary with the Cherry,"
13. The recommended grace before a meal is not: Rub-A-Dub-Dub thanks for the grub, yeah God.
14. Next Sunday there will be a taffy pulling contest at St. Peter's, not a peter pulling contest at St. Taffy's.