Sometimes we say that we cannot do this and that. Is that true? Inspired by the last week’s TM theme of meeting “No Limit”, I started to think about human ability and came up with four findings that may suggest limiteless potential of human being.
No proof:
It’s difficult to prove that you cannot do something. It’s a lot easier to prove that you can. Modifying your education and environment while putting in more effort, we’ve witnessed numerous proven cases in which to accomplish something is often matter of time. But how can you prove that you cannot do it? Although you try thousands of times, there will be always one more suggestion like “Have you tried this?”, which makes your attempts futile once more.
Equal potential:
Society puts a lot of emphasis on education and environment. It’s quite unlikely that there is anybody who underestimates the power of education and environment in molding a person’s life. The very emphasis on these external factors demonstrates that there is not much difference in our innate potential, although certainly there are differences in our interest and priorities. If somebody in your specific area of interest had accomplished something, you may assume you can do the same or more.
No destiny predetermined
While at college I chanced to talk with a student from Arab United Emirate who was telling Arab people believe in destiny, so if they do not keep promise, they ascribe it to the God’s will. But how can you be so sure that’s your destiny? Is God’s will about your actions written somewhere in the sky? No way. Once I was interested in fortune telling, but later I noticed nobody was capable of predicting one’s future accurately. Actually nobody can tell you or has right to say what you can do or what you can’t. Our future depends solely on our free will; our decision and action. It’s us who are responsible in creating our own destiny. How exciting it is.
Constant change in us:
We are changing constantly. Our body cells except brain cells are replaced every 6 months. We are not the same person of yesterday; our physical and intellectual capacity is different, though it may be unnoticeable. When I came across my diary of 5 years ago, I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it was written by me. This is reason why it is absurd to judge our potential entirely based on the past track.
In conclusion, we do not know how far we can reach until we stretch out. This is why we should believe in others’ potential, encourage them and expect the best from them as well as we trust, encourage and expect the best from ourselves. Also this is why we should reserve our opinion on someone since that person changes constantly. So, Be cautious when you say “I can’t” or “you can’t”. It may not be the case.
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Time to make decision and keep it
I was introduced to a Value Auction game in a career counseling course while at college. You are given a sheet of paper where you have to list 10 most important things in your life. The more detailed the better. Then everybody has to share what they wrote with the rest of the group. Out of this presentation the professor identifies 10 common values. Now it’s time for auction. A 1 million fake dollars are equally distributed to all and the game starts.
Among our common values there were successful career, happy family, beautiful house, good health, peace of mind, charity, travel around the world, a good library and self-discipline etc.. Some bought more than 3 while some spent only fraction of their money, opportunities. After the game we discussed about our choices and how we felt about. Some were quite happy with their only purchase while some showed plain dissatisfaction because they failed to get what they wanted most or didn’t use their resources fully enough.
Since I loved this game very much I repeated it in various occasions. Once I was with a group of students from a Catholic university. To my surprise they had difficulties in thinking of 10 important things, because for them material possession was not of much concern. They listed the love of God, constant communication with God as their priorities. On the other hand, I did it with a group of success driven friends, later almost all of whom did MBA in the US. The situation was quite different. They had no problem in listing, because they were clear in their pursuits, although some were crazy. One of them ended up buying a beautiful wife with 90% of his investment!
While repeating the game I noticed one important fact. Some values are not independent by themselves. They include many values within. For example successful career can perfectly cover a beautiful house, a good library, travel around the world and even a beautiful wife. That said, successful career cannot guarantee a happy family.
My priorities were successful career, happy family and being of service to society. I started thinking that there must be the ultimate value that combines these three. I believe the power of single mindedness and concentration. If I pursue several goals it will not bring enough power to achieve, but if I focus only on one goal it will surely produce tangible result.
My conclusion is that I should find my unique mission given by God before I was sent away to this world. My mission should be something built on my strength and talents but with strong element of service to the humanity. I know my strength is in leadership and connecting people while I like to serve for the people helping them develop their potential and grow together. With this enthusiasm toward leadership I also realized that I have passion in helping people get jobs or create job opportunities which can stimulate their spiritual growth. Working in the development sector for several years I am convinced that people can get out of poverty only when they are owners of their fate. There is no better way to be the owner of your life than running your own business. In this unique mission, happy family will surely follow because family is the byproduct of success when you do a meaningful job.
Right, I should pursue this direction. Helping others find jobs. I do not have experience in this area nor education. But I have some tools and ideas, most of all a zeal to accomplish. Everything can be learned by conscious efforts. The reason why we emphasize so much on education and environment is a clear proof that we have not much difference in our potential to achieve our mission. If we know how to tap, I am convinced our God given unique potential will blossom. So what I should do is to study and gain experience in job creation field.
I made decision that I will dedicate my next 40 years in creating meaningful jobs and helping people grow and fulfill their unique missions. The next step is to keep my promise and do tangible action everyday to achieve this mission. I will have to set aside a specific time for this goal. There will be a lot of attacks from Yetzel Hara, but I know that I will never give up. The decision I made is GOD GIVEN. I should never surrender. I will fail and fail and fail but I will rise up and rise up and rise up until I win.
I will start slow but steady. I apply all rules of Torah in building my strength. As I proved in my weight loss experience I will have to build my strength little by little. Small baby steps will be taken little by little, day by day until it becomes weeks and months and years. I will work consistently with persistence. I will keep moving until I build momentum. Massive attacks of Yetzel Hara, but I will recognize it. I will not overlook. I will see it through with eyes wide open until it disappears. I will not resort to my emotion. I will strictly depend on my decision. I will have to keep it. I will have to keep promise with myself. That is the most important thing. I will keep focused on what I will achieve. Spiritual power and dependence on God will only guide me to a right direction.
“I will tell you. We should be able to make decisions and stick to them. And keep them. It’s not enough to make decisions, the main thing is to keep them. Decisions are very important. If you can keep them, more power to you. If you cannot, all I would say is “Try again.” We can never relax. We can never stop trying. We must try again and again and again. The very fact that you are here, you are talking to me, you are a journalist, you have a job, means that you have kept some decisions. If you would have let go, you would have been in some asylum, or God knows where you would have been. This is true about you and about people whoever they are. If we don’t keep decisions, if we cannot keep them, we are lost.” -Issac B.Singer
"FAIL, FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER" - Samuel Beckett
Among our common values there were successful career, happy family, beautiful house, good health, peace of mind, charity, travel around the world, a good library and self-discipline etc.. Some bought more than 3 while some spent only fraction of their money, opportunities. After the game we discussed about our choices and how we felt about. Some were quite happy with their only purchase while some showed plain dissatisfaction because they failed to get what they wanted most or didn’t use their resources fully enough.
Since I loved this game very much I repeated it in various occasions. Once I was with a group of students from a Catholic university. To my surprise they had difficulties in thinking of 10 important things, because for them material possession was not of much concern. They listed the love of God, constant communication with God as their priorities. On the other hand, I did it with a group of success driven friends, later almost all of whom did MBA in the US. The situation was quite different. They had no problem in listing, because they were clear in their pursuits, although some were crazy. One of them ended up buying a beautiful wife with 90% of his investment!
While repeating the game I noticed one important fact. Some values are not independent by themselves. They include many values within. For example successful career can perfectly cover a beautiful house, a good library, travel around the world and even a beautiful wife. That said, successful career cannot guarantee a happy family.
My priorities were successful career, happy family and being of service to society. I started thinking that there must be the ultimate value that combines these three. I believe the power of single mindedness and concentration. If I pursue several goals it will not bring enough power to achieve, but if I focus only on one goal it will surely produce tangible result.
My conclusion is that I should find my unique mission given by God before I was sent away to this world. My mission should be something built on my strength and talents but with strong element of service to the humanity. I know my strength is in leadership and connecting people while I like to serve for the people helping them develop their potential and grow together. With this enthusiasm toward leadership I also realized that I have passion in helping people get jobs or create job opportunities which can stimulate their spiritual growth. Working in the development sector for several years I am convinced that people can get out of poverty only when they are owners of their fate. There is no better way to be the owner of your life than running your own business. In this unique mission, happy family will surely follow because family is the byproduct of success when you do a meaningful job.
Right, I should pursue this direction. Helping others find jobs. I do not have experience in this area nor education. But I have some tools and ideas, most of all a zeal to accomplish. Everything can be learned by conscious efforts. The reason why we emphasize so much on education and environment is a clear proof that we have not much difference in our potential to achieve our mission. If we know how to tap, I am convinced our God given unique potential will blossom. So what I should do is to study and gain experience in job creation field.
I made decision that I will dedicate my next 40 years in creating meaningful jobs and helping people grow and fulfill their unique missions. The next step is to keep my promise and do tangible action everyday to achieve this mission. I will have to set aside a specific time for this goal. There will be a lot of attacks from Yetzel Hara, but I know that I will never give up. The decision I made is GOD GIVEN. I should never surrender. I will fail and fail and fail but I will rise up and rise up and rise up until I win.
I will start slow but steady. I apply all rules of Torah in building my strength. As I proved in my weight loss experience I will have to build my strength little by little. Small baby steps will be taken little by little, day by day until it becomes weeks and months and years. I will work consistently with persistence. I will keep moving until I build momentum. Massive attacks of Yetzel Hara, but I will recognize it. I will not overlook. I will see it through with eyes wide open until it disappears. I will not resort to my emotion. I will strictly depend on my decision. I will have to keep it. I will have to keep promise with myself. That is the most important thing. I will keep focused on what I will achieve. Spiritual power and dependence on God will only guide me to a right direction.
“I will tell you. We should be able to make decisions and stick to them. And keep them. It’s not enough to make decisions, the main thing is to keep them. Decisions are very important. If you can keep them, more power to you. If you cannot, all I would say is “Try again.” We can never relax. We can never stop trying. We must try again and again and again. The very fact that you are here, you are talking to me, you are a journalist, you have a job, means that you have kept some decisions. If you would have let go, you would have been in some asylum, or God knows where you would have been. This is true about you and about people whoever they are. If we don’t keep decisions, if we cannot keep them, we are lost.” -Issac B.Singer
"FAIL, FAIL AGAIN. FAIL BETTER" - Samuel Beckett
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Common sense not quite common
-The poor need opportunity, not just charity, a hand up, not a hand-out, partners not patrons, free markets not free money, trade, not just aid (Rick Warren)
Often I have impression that we do not seem to want the developing world to be rich. All wisdom we are busy to practice in the developed world somehow are not encouraged to be applied in the developing world. Here are some examples.
1.Excessive use of word “Poverty”
We know that the use of negative word should be avoided because the more we think on negativity; the more we get trapped in it. If we aim to be rich we are instructed to focus on the richness not on the poverty. This simple universal rule is not applied in the development field. Poverty is one of the most popular terms repeatedly used in all meetings, newspapers and posters. Poverty reduction, poverty elimination, poverty alleviation all these words, if carefully observed, imply that poverty may be reduced but will persist nonetheless. With this not so determined prospective I do not find how we can help people get out of poverty. Our focus should be on economic development instead. The usage of the word poverty should be minimized or completely eliminated if possible.
2. Injection of passivity
Self confidence is one of the crucial factors for anyone to get out of poverty. Behind the donor and recipient relationship, there is a hidden message “We are rich and superior and you are poor and inferior.” It is inevitable not to imagine the inferior and superior relationship when it comes to development aid. As a result the people in the developing world constantly are forced to see themselves inferior, passive and dependent. As it goes on, the basic human dignity is gradually impaired and their self image turns increasingly negative. How can we expect people with low self-esteem to change their lives?
3. Giving away fish
If you want to help people, teach them to fish. We all know this simple wisdom that giving things for free is not a long term solution. Surprisingly, however, giving for free is still widely practiced in the development field, not only in the refugee camps in Africa but in most developing world; Free schools, free hospitals, free medicines, free food, free electricity. As a recipient your obligation to contribute is a little bit of physical labor or almost nonexistent. Here mutual partnership is not strongly pronounced. As a result free facilities undergo often problem of maintenance or deteriation. Why does this happen? That’s because it is easy way of distributing money. But a quick fix can never bring a lasting effect. Besides, we've witnessed free food and clothes disturb local markets and drive the fragile economy of the developing countries almost to the verge of collapse.
As the world gets closer I am increasingly convinced that the only solution is a job creation. The real breakthrough will occur as the more people in the developing world are employed, trained, disciplined and earn their income with their sweat and dignity.
Often I have impression that we do not seem to want the developing world to be rich. All wisdom we are busy to practice in the developed world somehow are not encouraged to be applied in the developing world. Here are some examples.
1.Excessive use of word “Poverty”
We know that the use of negative word should be avoided because the more we think on negativity; the more we get trapped in it. If we aim to be rich we are instructed to focus on the richness not on the poverty. This simple universal rule is not applied in the development field. Poverty is one of the most popular terms repeatedly used in all meetings, newspapers and posters. Poverty reduction, poverty elimination, poverty alleviation all these words, if carefully observed, imply that poverty may be reduced but will persist nonetheless. With this not so determined prospective I do not find how we can help people get out of poverty. Our focus should be on economic development instead. The usage of the word poverty should be minimized or completely eliminated if possible.
2. Injection of passivity
Self confidence is one of the crucial factors for anyone to get out of poverty. Behind the donor and recipient relationship, there is a hidden message “We are rich and superior and you are poor and inferior.” It is inevitable not to imagine the inferior and superior relationship when it comes to development aid. As a result the people in the developing world constantly are forced to see themselves inferior, passive and dependent. As it goes on, the basic human dignity is gradually impaired and their self image turns increasingly negative. How can we expect people with low self-esteem to change their lives?
3. Giving away fish
If you want to help people, teach them to fish. We all know this simple wisdom that giving things for free is not a long term solution. Surprisingly, however, giving for free is still widely practiced in the development field, not only in the refugee camps in Africa but in most developing world; Free schools, free hospitals, free medicines, free food, free electricity. As a recipient your obligation to contribute is a little bit of physical labor or almost nonexistent. Here mutual partnership is not strongly pronounced. As a result free facilities undergo often problem of maintenance or deteriation. Why does this happen? That’s because it is easy way of distributing money. But a quick fix can never bring a lasting effect. Besides, we've witnessed free food and clothes disturb local markets and drive the fragile economy of the developing countries almost to the verge of collapse.
As the world gets closer I am increasingly convinced that the only solution is a job creation. The real breakthrough will occur as the more people in the developing world are employed, trained, disciplined and earn their income with their sweat and dignity.
High & Excitement
I have been always fascinated by the concept of “Follow Your Bliss”. It is true that we should strive to figure out what we are born for and try to live up to it as soon as we find it.
I thought I found my life mission in the Dominican Republic where I successfully launched tree planting campaign and tree nursery project. Although the project lacked in careful planning and consideration for sustainability, I put my body and soul in it and it turned out quite exciting. Work and life became seamless and I was creative more than never.
The problem is that ever since the high and excitement became important factors in my job search. It was not easy to find another experience of that kind though. I got easily impatient if the job is dull and boring. I forgot that I put in considerable effort before I reached the high and excitement. I forgot the high and excitement were byproducts of meaningful work, not the prerequisite.
After 11 years I realize the job which made me excited and stay high for over 8 months in fact may have been setback in pursuing my mission. Lasting pleasure comes from a deliberate planning and disciplinary implementation and it takes time and effort until you feel high and exciting in any area of discipline. I want to caution those who are looking for bliss, to be prepared to put in sustained efforts before they experience a true bliss.
I thought I found my life mission in the Dominican Republic where I successfully launched tree planting campaign and tree nursery project. Although the project lacked in careful planning and consideration for sustainability, I put my body and soul in it and it turned out quite exciting. Work and life became seamless and I was creative more than never.
The problem is that ever since the high and excitement became important factors in my job search. It was not easy to find another experience of that kind though. I got easily impatient if the job is dull and boring. I forgot that I put in considerable effort before I reached the high and excitement. I forgot the high and excitement were byproducts of meaningful work, not the prerequisite.
After 11 years I realize the job which made me excited and stay high for over 8 months in fact may have been setback in pursuing my mission. Lasting pleasure comes from a deliberate planning and disciplinary implementation and it takes time and effort until you feel high and exciting in any area of discipline. I want to caution those who are looking for bliss, to be prepared to put in sustained efforts before they experience a true bliss.
Why I write
Working over 13 years in the development aid, I noticed true change can occur only when the change in mind and attitude happens. Any development project failing to address this aspect can be hardly sustainable. Change in mind and attitude, however, does not happen overnight. It is a long term process which involves a variety of efforts, one of which is learning wisdom. Often it is noticed that the lack of basic wisdom affects people significantly in their lives. Torah is packed with wisdom perfectly applicable to anybody and any occasion.
In this blog I will blend the wisdom from Torah with my thought over development, so that the development projects can be effectively designed and particularly people in the developing world better informed and become owners in their fates.
In this blog I will blend the wisdom from Torah with my thought over development, so that the development projects can be effectively designed and particularly people in the developing world better informed and become owners in their fates.
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