Suffering has the noble purpose: the genesis of consciousness and strengthening of our ability and mental toughness.
It’s never against us. In fact, it’s helping us.
The fire of suffering becomes the light of consciousness
My February reading was Ken Blanchard's and Spencer Johnson's book "The One Minute Manager" which I find very interesting.
It's a very brief book about 100 page long with a beautiful short story that highlights three techniques of and effective manager: One Minute Goal Setting, One Minute Praising and One Minute Reprimand.
Not only does it provide these three techniques to manage people effectively, but also provides why each of these techniques works. I find these three secrets simple and very powerful.
In 2017, I came up with the book, "The Power of Positive Thinking" written by Norman Vincent Pearl.
Written in 1950s, this book is more relevant now. In the hurried world, the stress, anxiety and negative thoughts has been spiking. And in this book, Pearl provides some very powerful skills that can help to shift negative emotions to positive one.
The valuable lessons learned through this book back in 2017 has help me a lot in all of my daily activities and during the tough times.
"If God/Universal power is with me, who can be against me?" says pearl in one part of his book with the idea of overcoming inferiority complex and developing faith. He also insists the primary way of gaining a mind full of peace is to practice emptying the mind full of fears, hates, insecurities, regrets and guilt feeling.
The most valuable practice I learned from this book was to pray for the betterment of other people. I tried to use this idea many times earlier but today I guess was the right time. and a relevant time. I feel grateful that I have prayed or transferred some positive energy to one of my friend, who is having hard time these days.
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you."
-Norman Vincent Peale
Marcus Tullius Cicero born in 106 BC, was one of the leading political figures of the era of Julius Caesar, Pompey, Marc Antony and Octavian. He was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar and Academic Skeptic who played an important role in the politics of the late Roman Republic and upheld optimate principles during the crisis that led to the establishment of the Roman Empire.
A string of misjudged alliances saw him exiled and eventually murdered him, but Cicero’s writings barely waned in influence over the centuries. Cicero’s wide variety of responsibilities in ancient Rome makes his work that much more interesting. His works on How to grow old, On obligations and How to be a friend have been alive in today's world.
Some of the Stoics Lessons from Cicero are:
Stoicism considered death (Memento mori) as the unavoidable even and one should accept it when one's time comes, but Cicero's idea of taking it as an achievement is something else. He said:
“Therefore, when the young die I am reminded of a strong flame extinguished by a torrent; but when old men die it is as if a fire had gone out without the use of force and of its own accord, after the fuel had been consumed; and, just as apples when they are green are with difficulty plucked from the tree, but when ripe and mellow fall of themselves, so, with the young, death comes as a result of force, while with the old it is the result of ripeness. To me, indeed, the thought of this “ripeness” for death is so pleasant, that the nearer I approach death the more I feel like one who is in sight of land at last and is about to anchor in his home port after a long voyage.” — Cicero
We say we have learned from past from histories but the more we learn the more we miss. What is more interesting is these mistakes made 2000 years ago is still prevalent today. The reason does not matter. What matters is we should not make these mistakes.
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century:
Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others;
Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected;
Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it;
Refusing to set aside trivial preferences;
Neglecting development and refinement of the mind;
Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.” —Cicero
“Read at every wait; read at all hours; read within leisure; read in times of labor; read as one goes in; read as one goest out. The task of the educated mind is simply put: read to lead.”
“If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.”
“Non nobis solum nati sumus (Not for ourselves alone are we born.)”
“Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.”
“What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage. The mere act of believing that some wrongful course of action constitutes an advantage is pernicious.”
“The authority of those who teach is often an obstacle to those who want to learn.”
“While there's life, there's hope.”
“To study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one’s self to die.”
“For books are more than books, they are the life, the very heart and core of ages past, the reason why men worked and died, the essence and quintessence of their lives.”
Health, Wealth, Love and perfect Self-expression complete the square of life. All these element bring a perfect happiness in us.
Self-expression is the art of expressing our inner ‘us’. This has a key role in bringing perfect happiness.
Somebody said,” No man gives to himself, but himself and no man takes away from himself, but himself.” Hence, it is up to us the result depends upon. The square is complete with all of these four element which play a vital role in making our life a divine design.
These is the perfect square...
“Being different matters. But you have to be different in a ways that users will feel right way.”
2. Ginni Rometti, Chairman, President, CEO of IBM:
“The only way to survive is to continuously transform into something else. It’s this idea of continuous transformation that makes you a innovative company”
3. Jason Fried, Founder and CEO of Basecamp:
“There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with small team.”
4. Leopat Magnus, Creative Director, Infinit:
“If you have doubts, try. If you have certainties, doubts.”
5. Margaret Gould-Stewart, Director of Product Design, Facebook:
“You need to build a culture that cares about quality.”
6. Max Levchin, CEO, Affirm:
“Being a start-up CEO feels a lot like a pinball machine. On good days, you move the flaps to keep the ball up. On bad days, you are the ball. “
7. Peter Awad, Founder, Slow Hustle Podcast:
“You have to zig when they zag.”
8. Peter Shankman, Founder, HARO:
“You can’t make anything viral, but you can make something good.”
9. Peter Theil, Co-Founder Palantir:
“Founders should have a history before they start a company – otherwise, they are just rolling a dice. “
10. Renne James, President, Intel:
“In my experience, in this industry, the things that have been breakthrough have all been about connecting human beings to each other, communicating with each other. “
Our character determines our fate. This is one of the lesson we can learn from ancient stoics.
"The good fortune is what you make for yourself; Good fortune is good character, good intention and good action. " Marcus Aurelius said.
In short run, deadline is near and time is short. In long run, deadline is far and we have more time. More time means more resources.
In short run, decisions seems more urgent but also unimportant while in long run, decision is important as it makes the long run sustainable and productive.
In short run, urgency wins but it can fools us. In long run, trust wins, relationship wins.
Short run seeks more attention. Long run seeks more knowledge, experiences and involvement.
Short run gets the job done. Long run creates the value.
We all have to encounter both short and long run. We can't escape from one because it is a human nature. But what we can do is act accordingly …
... we all are playing different game; the game of freedom, the game of security, the game of innovation, the game of success (social and financial), just to keep moving ahead. But most of us scramble seeking distractions along the way in music, social media, in people, in drugs and all the short-term gains.
We seek things that gives us ephemeral pleasure. We seek things that fill the emptiness. We seek things that attach meaning and significance to our life. We seek for reality. But what we don’t realize is that reality exists only in someone’s perspective, beliefs and attitudes.
So the missing factor?
The missing factor of this game is our purpose, our values, our “WHY”.
“What is quite unlooked for is more crushing in its effect, and unexpectedness adds to the weight of a disaster. This is a reason for ensuring that nothing ever takes us by surprise. We should project our thoughts ahead of us at every turn and have in mind every possible eventuality instead of only the usual course of events…Rehearse them in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck. All the terms of our human lot should be before our eyes.”
-Seneca
Premeditatio malorum is the premeditation of the evils and troubles that might lie ahead. It was the practice of imagining things that could go wrong or be taken away from us. It's an awareness that bad things are inevitable. I find this as an important lesson that is passed down to us from ancients.
Those who have been meditating for the evils are prepared for any kind of evils and terrors and they remain unharmed when they encounter them in future. It is a kind of "defensive pessimism". Right before his death in the "Moral Letters to Lucilius", Seneca would say,
"To-day it is you who threaten me with these terrors; but I have always threatened myself with them, and have prepared myself as a man to meet man's destiny. If an evil has been pondered beforehand, the blow is gentle when it comes. To the fool, however, and to him who trusts in fortune, each event as it arrives "comes in a new and sudden form," and a large part of evil, to the inexperienced, consists in its novelty. This is proved by the fact that men endure with greater courage, when they have once become accustomed to them, the things which they had at first regarded as hardships. Hence, the wise man accustoms himself to coming trouble, lightening by long reflection the evils which others lighten by long endurance."
Seneca would say, "It is when times are good that you should gird yourself for tougher times ahead, for when Fortune is kind the soul can build defenses against her ravages."