10 Lessons Driving Taught me About Life

It is true that you do not need to be a philosopher to learn many things about life, you just need to be a good observer because everything around us has something to teach us. In my humble opinion, all the great philosophers were keen observes before anything else. The problem with many of us is that most of the time our observation is switched off. Try looking above your eye level, look at the roof tops of the buildings you come across everyday, and you will find a totally alien sight, which you might have never observed. So, today, let me share with you the lessons of life which i learn from driving on the road. 

1. Driving teaches me how i should give way to those who are progressing at a faster speed than mine and i am an obstacle in their way
2. It teaches me how i should overtake others without harming or hurting them. Our progress in life should not be at the cost of others. 
3. It teaches me to stay in my own lane and not interfere in other people's lives
4. It teaches me to keep my car within limits of speed and lane, because in life sometimes "over speeding" and "driving" in a wavered fashion can, not only harm ourselves, but it can also harm others. 
5. It teaches me that when i encounter a speed breaker in life, i should slow down my pace and cross the speed breaker with patience.  
6. It teaches me, through a bigger windshield, to have a bigger vision about my future and through the smaller side mirrors to keep an eye on the past while taking turns (decisions)
7. An accident on roadside and the cars passing by, teaches me that no matter what, life goes on. 
8. It teaches me that before a red signal, comes a yellow one, and i should slow down as soon as i see the yellow signal. In life, if you will stop on the "yellow" signals of your conscience, then there are less chances that you will cross the line when it will turn red.
9. It teaches me patience and discipline when the signal turns green. I always say that if you want to analyze the reason of a country's bad circumstances, observe its drivers especially when the signal turns green and observe the guests when the food opens in a wedding. 
10. It teaches me that only good roads are not enough to avoid accidents. Good roads are of no use if the drivers are not trained and ethical while driving. Hence, to develop a nation, implementing a better system will not be enough, educating people is one of the major success factor. 

I have shared some of the lessons i have learnt from driving. Keep the eyes of your intellect wide open, and remember that the road to intellect is keen observation. Would love to hear your roadside lessons, so please do share.

Wherever you are, be a source of comfort and joy for others

Life Without Passion II : Passion and Perseverance

Recently, i wrote something about Passion. The basic premise in my previous blog about passion was that "a life without passion is nothing but just moments without life". The readers of this blog can find it by following this link. "Life Without Passion". 

While reading about Passion, i found a wonderful small article on Passion, written by Rehan Ahmad Yusufi. After reading the article i realized that i missed one very important aspect of following our passions, which was perseverance. The article i am about to share with you explains perseverance in its own way. I found it worthwhile to share it with the readers of my blog.  Happy Reading :)

"The attributes of Allah, “Rahman” (Beneficent)" and “Raheem” (Merciful)" are mentioned together on various occasions in the Quran. It’s a common perception that both these attributes are used to present the same dimension i.e. the mercy, of God and are used together to emphasize on the idea. This idea that both the properties exhibit the mercy of God is true, but there is a minute yet important difference between the two. The word “Rahman” has a factor of passion and expanse more dominant in it while “Raheem” has a dominance of permanency and tenure in its meaning. When combined, both these attributes, excellently represent the absolute mercy of Allah SWT

These attributes of Allah SWT, hold a great lesson for us in them. A pulse of passion for righteousness is not enough and a perseverance and permanence is also required. Be it the matter of helping the religion or that of helping the poor, surely human passion convinces one to start doing something, but with this passion one should also have consistency. Only then can he permanently adopt kindness and good in his life.

The fact is that a person who does good only once due to passion can never compete with someone who is consistent on his good deed, however small that may be." 

Source: Al-Mawrid

Wherever you are, be a source of comfort and joy for the fellow creatures. 

Peace be upon you all

Life without Passion

'Are you bored? Do you feel deprived or frustrated? You must be a person without a Passion'

In our daily lives, there come moments when we feel bored, when the hearts sinks and we feel deprived, desperate and frustrated. All this Borusperation (boredom+frustration+desperation) is inevitable while living in this world. We cannot eliminate such "ailments". However, we can reduce them and that’s why the degree of Borusperation varies among individuals. 

Some among us are actually living every moment of their lives. They are satisfied and happy and love their lives. They have Life in every moment they live !

There are few who are standing on the other side of the shore. They hate their lives and feel depressed and bored quite frequently. These people are also living, but the moments they are living are without life !

Majority of us lie somewhere in the middle of both extremes. We sometimes find ourselves loving our life and sometimes we hate it. Sometimes we are enjoying it and sometimes we are frustrated and bored. These kind of people are just living their lives. 

To the best of my intellectual abilities and thinking, what makes the difference is a 7 letter word called ‘Passion’. It is the presence of a passion in our life, and the degree to which we actually follow it, which determines the amount of life in the moments we live. It is the passion for something which keeps us going, which is the driving force in our life. It is this passion, which makes us love our lives. Some people call it goal, but i disagree with them. In my opinion, everyone of us has some goal in our life. It is the passion associated with that goal, which actually makes it more than just a goal. Secondly, this passion can be for anything, from activities like music to our love for a person, it can be somebody’s passion for music to the passion which Mother Teresa had for the betterment of humanity.

We all know what our passion is, but somehow some of us forget it and some put it behind their backs. For the ones who just put it behind their back, there is only one suggestion. Guys, come on there is something just “behind your back” which can make your life awesome, just take it and LIVE. Create your own world without fear. For the ones who forget it, the trick is to do some soul search. I was recently reading a post on Facebook by a Pakistani journalist named Aamir Khakwani. He mentions a small soul searching technique for this purpose, which goes like this:

"Sit in a quiet room and consider for a moment that you have died and people are writing your gravestone. This is your final destination, the end of your life. Now think, what do you want them to write on that? Whatever you wanted to be in your life, you will choose the same to be written on the gravestone. Keep thinking in the same way, choose 3 writings and then keep thinking over them and finally choose one"

So the simple, yet difficult, recipe for a wonderful charming life, without Borusperation, is in finding our passion and then following it without fear. To be honest, i have not worked on it, but i have got the solution.

Wherever you are, be a source of comfort and joy for the fellow creatures.

Peace be upon you all

Definition of Life

"The way we define things determines our attitude towards them" Aamir Amin

It is very important to have a right definition of important aspects of our life. It is important because it determines our attitude towards them. It determines how we react to them. So, i decided to start with the definition of 'Life' itself. As they say "life is 10% how we make it and 90% how we take it". Hence, the definition of life is a very fundamental question which may determine the way we take our lives.

I have seen people defining life in various ways. Some define it as "Life is all about Fun". Such people will try to find fun in almost every aspect and phase of their life. For such people, anyone who will hinder the 'fun' part of their life will be an enemy. Some times the enemy can be their parents, some times friends, sometimes a teacher and even worst it can be God. The problem with such a definition is that sooner or later the reality-hit will shackle it, as life does show its colors one day.

Another wrong way of looking at life is believing in phrases like "do good have good" or "everything happens for good". Although such phrases are good to motivate someone to do good with others or in a situation when somebody is emotionally down because of a misfortune. But in my opinion, such an attitude, again, does not represent the real face of Life. It is not always true that if you will do good, you will have good. Similarly it is not always true that everything happens for good. An individual, with a positive attitude, should try to find positive out of every situation, however, we all experience that many times an event carries nothing but trouble for us.

As a result of such definitions and perspectives, people either start blaming life and other people for their miseries, or they become too arrogant. Other definitions and perspectives on life also do not comprehend it fully and fail to give a right attitude to the person.

This lead me to a definition which echoed around me several times, but i did not put my ears on it. According to this definition "Life is nothing but a test". Test of our decisions, choices and personality, with the intervals of happiness and grief, which are themselves parts of this test. A sage once rightly said that "this life is nothing but a test of gratitude and patience". Keeping this in mind, an individual will stand on the ground of reality. He will accept pain and sorrow as part of life, will know that his actions may not be responded in a similar fashion, will expect that sometimes life does give you trouble to test your patience. In case of a 'Gratitude-Test' the individual with such an attitude will not be arrogant and in case of a 'Patience-Test', he will be patient and positive.

Hence in my opinion, the definition that "Life is a Test", not only defines it realistically but also gives a right attitude to the individual.

Looking forward to your definition of life :)

Wherever you live, be a source of joy and blessing for all the creatures !

God bless you all