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If it made you happy yesterday, don’t put the pressure on it to make you happy today as well.

We humans change. External things don’t.

A wiser choice is to pick something different that matches your current state of happiness.

One of the happiest definitions of happiness is to know that happiness isn’t rigid. Nothing could be a happier realisation!

When we consume antibiotics, we need them.
Right now!

We don’t need vitamins right now.
If we consume them though, we may not need antibiotics in the future.

Good books, thoughtful conversations, observing and learning, are vitamins.

We don’t need them right now. However, if we have them, we may not need to have the urgent need for antibiotics in the future.

A vitamin a day keeps antibiotics away!

When we consume antibiotics, we need them.
Right now!

We don’t need vitamins right now.
If we consume them though, we may not need antibiotics in the future.

Good books, thoughtful conversations, observing and learning, are vitamins.

We don’t need them right now. However, if we have them, we may not need to have the urgent need for antibiotics in the future.

When you’ll do things their way, they will be happy.
And so you kill your own happiness to make them happy.

However, they still don’t get happy.
Guess what happens? You aren’t happy either.

Why not do what makes you happy?

If you’re getting it right for others, you are certainly not getting it right at all.

I often talk about suggesting kids in their 20s to go about exploring different career options.

But what should you do when you have really found what you love, you’re good at it and the world is ready to pay you for it?

Double down on what you’ve found. Think of what all could be possible and what kindles the fire in you. Ask yourself what is the next level in the field you’ve picked.

And then, work super hard on being the best at it.

Exploration never stops. Vertical one just follows horizontal. Rinse and repeat.

As humans, leaders and wise humans, we love to solve problems for others. It makes us feel better, and we believe that it would make them feel better as well.

Except, that it doesn’t.

Smart people suffer from a problem called The Curse of Intelligence. They want to solve things fast. Make everything aligned. Remove the chaos.

It hardly helps anyone. The one whose problem needs to be solved – the company, the family or friend have a certain way of operating that is different from who we are as an individual.

A really smart way is to ask questions. Questions help them understand the problem better. So do they help us.

The best part? The one seeking for help gets it in the manner best for them.

Comfort is a trap.
It’s worth sacrificing – for your happiness and for your growth.
It sadly seduces us into believing that we don’t need to try.

However, one comfort is worth always living with: Comfort in your own company.

The world is designed to tell us to hang around people, be like them, talk like them, and do everything that makes us fit in.

Finding comfort in your own company and growing your relationship with yourself is the only comfort to forever strive for.

I’ll be happy when I find my partner.
I’ll be happy when my parents understand me.
I’ll be happy when my efforts are applauded.

I’ll be happy “when”…

When we attach a “when” to happiness, we make it conditional. Someone else has to take the responsibility to do something that will make us happy. That’s a huge onus to place on those who aren’t even aware they are carrying a heavy load.

The safer and more convenient option is to own our happiness. To be able to control our factors and definition of happiness. To be happy alone.

Happiness in relationships is not contingent. Happiness is a relationship with ourselves. When we have that relationship right, we become happier in all other relationships.

“It’s okay to work long hours. I will make my parents happy with the money I make.”
This was one of the biggest mistakes I made, when I was younger.

I thought I would send them on vacations.
Buy them new things.
Make their life comfortable.

Pamper them so much, for all the sacrifices they made to help me reach where I am.

Truth is — the busier I got, the less happy they were.
Despite all the things they now had.
Because they didn’t have the thing they valued the most now – my time.

Here is the undeniable truth.
Our parents are going to die, and we have no idea when.
Sadly, we do not have all the time in the world.

I’m grateful I saw the wrong in my ways.
Today, my relationship with my parents is the best it has ever been.

True relationships do not need things to grow.
They need time.

Make sure to give your loved ones this time.

Remember the time you did something wrong as a kid?
And instead of lying about it, you decide to own up and tell your parents about it?

However you got scolded, instead of being appreciated for speaking your truth

That becomes your worldview.
That is how you get to understand how the world works.

Are we doing the exact same thing to people around us?

By not appreciating someone for their vulnerability and truth, all we do is cultivate liars.

We see our reflection in the mirror.
It tells us how we look, how our smile feels, and what we are feeling.

However, who were we before we saw a mirror?
Who were we before an image was shown to us daily?
Who were we before we were made to fit into a box of reflection?

That person is the one we need to get back to.

The one who we were before we saw ourselves in the mirror, is the one we truly are.