Take Action

SEVEN SIMPLE STEPS TO TAKE ACTION

Taking action is the very thing that each and everyone dreads. Why is it so difficult to take any action? The reasons, rather the excuses we give to ourselves are not important. What are the frequent reasons we give? “I am not good enough”, I do not know much about the issue”, “What will others say”, “This is not conventional or normal in my culture” and many such ridiculous and baseless fears.

Here are the seven steps that will actually help you take action in life.

First things first: The first thing is to get over the above mentioned ridiculous reasons or the fears we house in our hearts and mind. When we say “I am not good” or “I do not know about it” we can look further to know about the topic and improve ourselves. Many people embark on this journey, only to find themselves lost in the sea or information that is available to us in this age of the internet. Why do we get stuck there? Because we are scared, we fear. We have to learn to let go of the fear. No matter how much you read about swimming or cycling, you will never learn it unless you get into the water or ride that bicycle. So the first thing is to take your fears (your biggest obstacle) out of the way. There is no reason for you to worry about how good you are, every expert was an amateur at first. There is somewhere you have to start.

Secondly, if your fear is still holding you back, the second thing that will motivate you is how you reach out to others and extend help. There is no other feeling greater than the satisfaction which you get when you are able to help someone. You should always find a reason to help and see your satisfaction and inner peace rise exponentially. You have to think, if I take this step, someone will get help, someone’s life can take a turn, and someone’s world will change for good. Isn’t this a good enough reason to make you take action?

Thirdly, clarify your aim. Once you are motivated to help others you motive of life will be clear. You can take time for introspection and look at what is the best thing you have that can be helpful to the world. Make sure to make time for clarifying your life calling. Meditate, spend time on the issue and think about it. Each human has something different and you are here to do what only you can do. If your service and need could be replaced, you wouldn’t be on this planet.

The fourth step after having a clear motive is to focus on what you are doing. Do not drift away from the aim. Keep on track and make sure you have streamlined your target. You would say, you want to sell fish, but then you start selling vegetables alongside and then open up a shoe stall, won't make you the perfect fish seller. Be focused.

I know it is not easy to reach your bigger dreams, but then it isn’t that difficult to visualise what you want. When you are clear about your goal, try to walk backwards in your journey. That is, work your way backwards. Your fish shop is the largest in the city. You opened up a smaller one before, you bought a place in the marketplace, you chose the best marketplace in your city. You got funding for your business, you searched for suppliers and advisors – go on working backwards and reach the present day. While you are working that way, write down the steps. This will tell you the path or the next steps that you need to take. Break them up into smaller and detailed steps. Thus, your action plan is ready in no time.

Once you have a plan or layout ready, it is easier to pick yourself up and achieve one thing daily. Make it a point to achieve at least one of the smaller steps every single day. Each day of your life is important when you are pursuing your life’s calling. This is the very reason why we should focus on achieving at least one thing daily.

Discipline, as instructed by our elders, parents and school teachers, is a very important virtue in life. If we discipline ourselves and stick to it, there is no way our action plan will not work out. To do all your work, it is only 'discipline' that will keep you going until the end. To accomplish every single thing in your life’s recipe discipline, perseverance and consistency would be the main ingredients.

So go ahead, and take action!!!

Kiran Pandit (Married, mother of a beautiful daughter)

Working as a corporate communications person, loves reading and writing, New Thought Movement interests me a lot and I believe if you want to achieve anything, learn to let go of the past. Take Action, and move on! Rock the World!

The truth sets you free!

Based on two of the Bible verses, one can actually understand the truth mentioned in Mark 11:24 and actually be set free as stated in John 8:32.

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free – John 8:32 (KJV), this is one of the most quoted verse of the Bible when it comes to the New Thought Movement, while the top quoted verse is “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24 (KJV)

What is this truth, some call it ‘THE SECRET’ some call it the ‘NEW THOUGHT’ others may call it something else, but what is this truth? Before the truth can set you free, you need to recognise which lie is holding you, hostage. The Truth is not a secret nor is it new. The truth is as the truth should be – open and known for ages to mankind.

The only thing that makes it a secret or that it is used in a new thought is that people have been veiled from the truth by the law-makers and religion creators. The people who declared themselves as the agents of GOD or the ones to set the rules for people to follow have created this veil and placed it between MAN and the TRUTH.

We have been forced to fear “GOD” we have been taught that FEAR is equal to RESPECT. This is a lie, why should we fear our God in order to respect him or to have reverence? There is no rule book that commands the people to FEAR GOD, rather every religious text mentions LOVE as the prime virtue. Love one another, Love God.

Exactly, that is where we are going – LOVE. Love is the truth that will set you free. There is no malice or hidden agenda in Love. Love is pure, unconditional, clear, kind, hopeful. Once a person learns to love – purely and unconditionally he / she is set free. If you love someone or something completely, you overlook the negatives; you surpass the issues and rather accept the person truly as the person is. It is love that keeps us together. It is love that sets us free from all worry and anxiety. It is love that makes us want to love more and be free even more.

Each one knows the saying “If you love someone, set them free” and our mighty GOD – the creator, the universe, the superpower, and the higher self – loves us and wants us to be free. Free to do our will. It is Gods will to let us have our will through love. If everything is done with love – nothing is wrong.

There is no wrong or right, there is only love – the only truth – because if you love you do your best; if you love you remove all negativity if you love it is perfect even with defects. The truth is love.

Love unconditionally and set yourself free from the negativity of the world. Love freely and love will return to you. Love completely and your life will be complete.

The truth is God is in us. As Saint Kabir has said in his poetry

मोको कहां ढूढे रे बन्दे

मैं तो तेरे पास में

ना तीर्थ मे ना मूर्त में

ना एकान्त निवास में

ना मंदिर में ना मस्जिद में

ना काबे कैलास में

मैं तो तेरे पास में बन्दे

मैं तो तेरे पास में

ना मैं जप में ना मैं तप में

ना मैं बरत उपास में

ना मैं किर्या कर्म में रहता

नहिं जोग सन्यास में

नहिं प्राण में नहिं पिंड में

ना ब्रह्याण्ड आकाश में

ना मैं प्रकति प्रवार गुफा में

नहिं स्वांसों की स्वांस में

खोजि होए तुरत मिल जाउं

इक पल की तालाश में

कहत कबीर सुनो भई साधो

मैं तो हूँ विश्वास में

English Translation by Rabindranath Tagore

O servant, where dost thou seek Me?

Lo! I am beside thee.

I am neither in temple nor in mosque:

I am neither in Kaaba nor in Kailash:

Neither am I in rites and ceremonies,

nor in Yoga and renunciation.

If thou art a true seeker,

thou shalt at once see Me:

thou shalt meet Me in a moment of time.

Kabîr says, "O Sadhu! God is the breath of all breath."

The truth the God the Love that we all are seeking is not without; rather it is within us, within our heart, within our soul, within out very existence. We all need to know this truth and we all are free to exercise love – to live – to be what we want to be in love.

The truth that will set man free is to love unconditionally – realise that the world was made in love and we all are created in love – in love there is no limitation in love. There is only abundant love and abundant supply in love. Love abundantly and live abundantly.

This truth will set you free!!!

The "Whys" of life - Be the fragrance... Love will follow!

Life isn’t this way, gives you what you are not interested in and keeps those things beyond reach which your heart dearly desires.

 

The greatest gift a parent can give a child, is the ability to become independently happy.

And the greatest gift a child can give a parent is exercising that ability.

Life is meant to be lived on one's on terms and I believe that I want to live my life on my own terms. But it is easier said than done. It takes a great deal of courage and indifference for doing so. The life that has been created with things that have been thrust in your hand is, after all, your own life. You are responsible for it. Responsibility is what has been ingrained in our morals and heads since our childhood. Thus, it seems a great deal to give up responsibility, it is even heavier a burden than just following you heart and taking a step in the direction of your choice.

Why does it have to be so difficult to choose what you want and why is it easy to live your own life the way society instructs (read= wants) you to live? Why is it easier to sacrifice all you want than to choose what you dearly desire? Why is the question so difficult even to answer?

You have been given a family, some morals (according to the society you are born and brought up in), some relations (because you were born there), some culture (because you happen to live in that cultural society) and you are thus expected (rather forced) to live with those set of rules that have been laid down.

Why does life have to be all about sacrifices, adjustments, respecting others choices rather than respecting our self? Why does one have to be so careful about what OTHERS will think, rather than looking into what “I think”.

This is not an outburst, but all these “WHYS” have been a part of my thought process for a long, long time. Let me guess, since I started working? Or since I started going to college? Or since I started growing up? Every time, every single time, there is someone who whispers slowly into your head “What will others think?”

It is no outside person who says that it is just the person who has been designed and moulded by the society living in which we are living. What makes it difficult for us to choose what we love, to live the life of our dreams? Why is choosing freedom so complicated?

Well, I am no expert, these are questions that I raise. But as I write this blog, Peter Sharp, founder, The Liberators international comes to my mind. In his dance for freedom video, he says “FREEDOM IS A STATE OF MIND”. I love this thought, and I am to incorporate that in my life and just keep my state of mind in the thoughts of freedom, I guess half my stress will be blow away.

I have also read that it is “ALL IN THE MIND” what all is in the mind? Freedom and bondage, love and hatred, courage and fear, joy and sorrow, everything are in the mind. All these questions that I have raised definitely have answers, but all those answers too are in the mind.

I’d rather say, MY answers are in MY mind, YOUR answers are in YOUR mind. Just as each individual is different, so are each one's answers. I have decided to look to and listen to what my mind has to show and tell me. I have decided to understand and answer my calling. I have decided to post this blog and share it with everyone who has these questions or feels has answers to these questions.

It is still a huge rather a tremendous step that I would need to take to answer my calling, but yes, as my mind says I have to follow and answer my calling I will be doing so now. There is no right time to answer, it is just done as it comes, and go with the flow. This is my answer, I will love the people I love, I will do what I like to do, I will allow what people around me want to do for themselves.

Life is a very personal thing and living it according to your choice too is a personal choice. We are all here to learn, to meet, to understand, to bond, and after the learning is done to move on to the next plane. The next life, or an afterlife, as called by some, moving on is the nature of life, there is no time space limitation, there is no age – race bondage, the universe is infinite, so are the possibilities!

Go out, choose to listen to your mind and move – move on and on and on till you reach a stage where you aim to be, where your learning will be complete, where you will be ready to move on further.

 

We are not trees to be in one place for ages and ages, till you perish for the worse. We are the pollen grains from that beautiful flower that flows around, to wherever it wishes to reach and pollinate. To bear the seed, grow other trees and promote the growth of many more flowers and generate many more pollen grains and cover the entire universe and spread the fragrance that is not bound by any wall or any rules.

Fragrance and love are the two things that can never be kept hidden, be the fragrance, not the tree! Live life spreading joy, love and fragrance... Love will follow!

Infinite Possibilities Project

#InfinitePossibilitiesProject 

          The universe is infinite and achieving your goals drawing power from this infinite universe is what we all aim for. But actually jotting them down, prioritizing them and acting upon them is what no one actually achieves. Taking small, timely steps to understand our self, our needs, our priorities and goals in life is important and this is what #IPP has done for me over the period of 30 days.

The Project has helped me introspect, made me set my priorities. Some activities have motivated me to dream and pursue the dream; given me energy to work towards the goals and the completion of this project has given me a sense of accomplishment.

Learning is the breath of life, and this project has helped me to learn about myself. To look at myself too, learn to be at peace with oneself. I have learnt to dream and to take steps towards follow the dream. To keep myself motivated, smile and make the day – a memorable one. I have learnt to love myself and my dreams, aims and goals. Nothing is too far to be achieved, and nothing negative in the present actually matters in the long run. This project has taught me that taking small but definite steps, helps you to move towards your goal.

To love yourself doesn’t mean that we forget others, it means, give time to yourself and to what you want to achieve in life, meanwhile, as you stay happy others stay happy around you. You have a sense of accomplishment which drowns the stress and worries about trivial issues around.

I have been able to realize what my priority in life is. How important my dreams are and I obtained the zest to follow my dream. It has taught me that “no dream is too big”, it is your imagination and your perseverance that makes or breaks your dream.

Over the period of 30 days of this project, I sense a feeling of happiness, and accomplishment. This has made me look forward to take steps towards making my dream a reality. It has taught me that it is not impossible to achieve anything; just – keep moving, rather than being stationary – tiny steps can complete a long journey.

Last year I read a lot of books and I wanted to change myself. I never took any steps but kept procrastinating. But now I have realized, there is no better time than now – this moment to start anything. This year, I will dream big and take steps to achieve that dream. Last year, I was just a reader, this time I will read as well as write, and most importantly I am now writing the new story of my forthcoming life, which is much more blessed, tranquil, successful, happy and abundant.

The entire Infinite Possibilities Project has had a captivating effect on me. Every day, I looked forward to the upcoming activity, and though Mike said, it was a 10 minute activity; it actually kept my mind in an active state for the entire month. I am asked to pick one favourite activity; it would be, writing a letter from my future self to my present self. That made me realize how we fuss over trivial things, which will not matter at all at a later stage in life, forget 5 years, but even five months from now. It also gives an inspiration and a sense of motivation. Claiming and discussing how all the dreams are fulfilled, motivated me to act and to take steps to fulfil my dreams.

Of course each activity is fun and inspirational, I will use many of these activities, especially taking tiny steps towards my goal, and writing about my successes to myself. Also I would write some letters, or questions that I have to my future self, and I hope to receive answers from my future self. – As Richard Bach did in Bridge across forever, he met his future self to get answers.

I am unaware of being challenged to face fears, but yes, it has made me take bold steps and put my foot down to make myself to reach out and work for myself. While working on this project, it does make on think about making action plans and taking actions.

The biggest realization that I have had is that no dream is too big, and no trivial issue is too important to put away your happiness. Happiness is actually dependent on other people or circumstances, so more than happiness if we are able to find peace and contentment – we should find peace inside our self – happiness comes along.

My new regimen for daily spiritual practice would be to find new challenges, like these throughout the year and to spend at least one hour for myself every day.

Kiran V Pandit