When you feel like giving up, start looking up – not sentimentally, but spiritually
When life seems overwhelming, we may feel like giving up. As a last-ditch effort, we may look up. Whether looking up will help depends on [...]
Everything in history is not in memory; everything in memory is not in history – intelligence means to know what belongs where, and to keep it there
History and memory are both records of the past. Yet they can differ significantly. Let’s see how. Everything in history is not in memory: Because [...]
The resilience of the human spirit reflects our longing for and our belonging to transcendence
Life is tough. The difficulties that befall us can be morale-sapping. One thing that inspires us to persevere is stories of people overcoming challenges. Their [...]
Use cleverness to counter corruptness, not cover corruptness
We all have a certain amount of cleverness and a certain amount of corruptness. Our cleverness enables us to go beyond the appearance of things [...]
Virtue that is more talked than walked is not necessarily infertile, it may just be infantile
Suppose someone speaks big things, but doesn’t live accordingly. We may dismiss their talk as big bluster: “What they speak is infertile – nothing comes [...]
Know when to give others space and when to give them pace
If someone intrudes into our personal physical space by coming too close to us, we feel uncomfortable. We similarly feel uncomfortable when someone intrudes into [...]
Solutions that try to satisfy everyone usually sway no one and solve nothing
Whenever we face problems, different people suggest different solutions. Because everyone is irreducibly individual, people often have irreducibly different opinions. While deciding which solution to [...]
To take sole credit for our abilities is to put too much burden on ourselves
Amid life’s inevitable struggles, we all seek some abilities that help us thrive or at least survive. When we discover some such abilities, we naturally [...]
When nothing feels filthy, everything may be tidy – or everything may be filthy
Suppose we enter a tidy room. If we cast one thing around carelessly, it stands out as an eyesore. But if the whole room is [...]
Even if we can’t stop feeling sensual urges, we can stop feeding sensual urges
Suppose we live in a forest cabin. We may not be able to prevent the arrival of unwanted animals. But we can avoid feeding them, [...]
When the part offers its whole to the Whole, the Whole makes the part whole
We often feel a sense of incompleteness, a feeling that something is missing in our lives. Usually, we try to overcome this feeling by getting [...]
Stop playing games with your mind – and with those who play games with your mind
Suppose a person starts playing with a poisonous snake, treating it like a pet or a toy. They would be courting danger. Suppose they had [...]
If we let our mind devalue our efforts to improve our life, it will end up devaluing our entire life
We sometimes try to do some things to improve our life. Though we start enthusiastically, soon our mind starts devaluing our efforts: “Even if you [...]
To speak effectively, learn to let go of what you think you are speaking and hear what others are hearing
While communicating with others, we are often surprised, even shocked by how they misunderstand us: “I spoke something so obvious; why are they outraged? What [...]
Boring people find people boring
We all probably know some people who bore us to death. Nothing they say or do interests us – and they keep saying and doing [...]
Seek the association that warns us about our urges, not warms us to our urges
Suppose we meet a stranger belonging to a group that is hostile to us. Naturally, we would be reserved while dealing with them. But if [...]
Our deepest desires should direct us from within, not disappear within
Suppose we have something precious that we are afraid of losing. We may keep it carefully, deep inside a secret safe. However, if we don’t [...]
See memory not as an exhaustive guide to the past, but as a constructive guide from the past to the future
We usually think of memory as a tool to remember the past. Actually however, the past is too vast to be remembered entirely or accurately. [...]
To understand one thing, we sometimes need to revise how we understand everything
Suppose we are struggling to solve a mathematical sum, but are getting nowhere. The problem is that we have blundered in the first step itself; [...]
Experience becomes our best teacher when we experience the Best Teacher
As the common saying goes, experience is the best teacher. But we see so many people who don’t learn from experience; they keep repeating the [...]
For changing yourself, focus on comprehending yourself, not on criticizing yourself
Suppose someone criticizes us constantly about something we are doing. Instead of understanding where we are coming from, if they simply judge and condemn us, [...]