Avis Viswanathan Quotes

When the cost of clinging on is higher than the cost of letting go, that’s when we will act, that’s when we often take decisive steps to change our Life.

The key to Happiness lies in learning to still the mind, learning to let go and learning to just keep walking, to just keep flowing with Life.

They say the most powerful prayer is simply saying “Thank You”. And the best way to say “Thank You” is to serve others, to help make our broken world a better place! Inspire everyone at home to pitch in. Remember, the family that serves together is happy – and stays together!!

The essence of intelligent living is to do what you can and must do while thriving with the unknown, with uncertainty. So, don’t wish the darkness away, don’t wait for the clouds to clear, embrace your current reality and do whatever you can best do in the circumstances. You will be amazed with how happy you can really be with what is.

COVID-19's forcing the whole world to transition - from 'becoming to being'! Isn’t it amazing? Don’t you see what’s happening? The whole world has surrendered; it has been forced, in fact, to capitulate – to jump off the becoming treadmill, to being home, just being!

Everything and everyone will be taken away from you. You will go away from everything and everyone. This is the process of Life. Trust the process.

No matter what you are going through, spend a few minutes each day to be grateful for who you still have, and for what you still have, in your Life.

A crisis is a great teacher. So, learn to love your crisis. Going through it with acceptance, and a seeking spirit, you will emerge stronger, wiser and happy!

Asking yourself how you want to be remembered is a great way to decide how you want to live the rest of your Life!

There are only three ways to celebrate and savor the magic and beauty of each moment. Be grateful, be grateful, be grateful…for what you have and for all those who love you!

When you learn to flow with Life, you discover the way to just be. When you simply are, you are happy!

Make time for yourself every day. To pause, reflect, review and, importantly, to celebrate yourself.

You cannot be who you are without having gone through what you went through.

Without doubt, maintaining a distance from some people is the only way to maintaining your equanimity – and, of course, to avoid catching COVID-19!

There’s only one way to deal with uncertainty. And that is to not fear it. So, don’t resist uncertainty, don’t run away from it, but instead embrace it wholeheartedly!

Letting go is courage.

Every once in a while, sit down and make a list of people who have touched your Life and made a difference to you. Quietly, thank them…deeply…from the bottom of your heart. Watch yourself breaking down and crying like a baby. This is the surest way to humble yourself. And to realize just how much you owe the Universe in return for who you are, what you are and where you are today!

I have often seen this about Life…that when a door closes on you, when people reject you, when what you desperately want does not come to you despite your best efforts and prayers…all this happens only because you are meant to be walking through a different door, you are meant to be meeting other people and only because it is ordained that you receive something else, which you have not even imagined…that which is truly meant for you. So, don’t grieve when you don’t get what you want; what you want is immaterial…What Life believes you need is what you eventually, always, get!

Permanence is an illusion. Nothing lasts. When this awareness arrives in your Life, you awaken to Happiness – to embracing what is, to finding meaning and Purpose in what is and to be content with what is.

Things never quite get so bad as we imagine them to be. Fear of the unknown makes us delay decisions. But if we turn around and face our fears they make way for acceptance and decision-making. Courage is not the absence of fear. It is what fear delivers unto us when we face our fears. Life is never easy at this point, but it becomes a lot simpler to navigate through the maze of our problems; the pain is intense, but we don’t suffer.

We have been conditioned to believe that prayer is all about asking a God for some thing. But what if you have nothing to ask for? What if you treat prayer as a way of being thankful to Life, for the gift of this human form, of this lifetime? What if, in prayer, you offer yourself up to divinity, as a humble, willing instrument, for Life to work through you? Try praying this way – you will find it healing, magical, beautiful and transformational!

Surrendering to Life does not mean inaction. It means trusting Life’s cyclical process and going with the flow. It means making your best efforts every single day and remaining non-frustrated even when you don’t get the results that you expect.

Trust the process of Life. What has to be gone through, has to be gone through; what has to be done, has to be done. Such is Life. The key to being happy in Life is to be calm and go through the process, one step at a time, one moment at a time.

You are bound to lose any game if you play only for fame – and money. This includes the game of Life. Whatever you do, do it for love, out of love. Play following your bliss, enjoying the process, celebrating your spiritual talent, and you will always feel content and happy. Your Happiness is your true reward. It is priceless! Employ your Happiness to get better and better at the game you play, to be among the best in your field. Success and money – and often fame too – will then flow to you!

You wake up from your stupor, from taking your Life for granted, only when you understand its transient nature. When you realize that it is a limited-period offer, that it is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity…that’s when you really start living!

It is Life’s nature to, at some point, hang you at the edge of a precipice. You will find the darkness suffocating and the pain unbearable. What do you do, when you don’t know what to do? Well, in such times, think deeply about two aspects that you don’t normally consider: 1. Your Life is a gift that has been given to you without your even asking for it. 2. There are many who don’t have what you always take for granted. So, don’t complain. Be grateful. And watch how gratitude soaks your Life in abundance!

Anger is both a destructor and a catalyst for progress. When directed at someone, it consumes you; but when directed at an issue, it is constructive energy. It then transforms as fuel that drives change – at a personal level and in your circle of influence.

When facing a Life-changing crisis, don’t expect your situation to turn around instantaneously. It won’t. So, prepare for the long haul. Nourish yourself. Meditate. Pray. Eat your meals on time and please eat healthy stuff. Exercise. Go for long walks. Goof off once in a while. Your being morose, or your worrying stiff, is not going to solve your problems. The situation will resolve only when the time arrives. Until that happens, you have to last, you have to survive. So, take care of yourself. Every moment. Every day.

Each time you start complaining about your Life, pause to consider that, precisely at this given moment, someone out there is more challenged, more deprived and more unloved than you are. You will then miraculously witness your urge to complain quietly melting away!

Reflection, Resilience and Resourcefulness are three dormant strengths that are inherent in all of us. There's a beautiful interplay between these three qualities. Each one complements the other.They are key to not just surviving a crisis, they help you thrive in one.

It is only one Life that you have; just this one lifetime! So, please don’t postpone Happiness, don’t postpone living. Of course, you can’t avoid the lows, the crises, the tragedies. But you can learn to be happy despite the circumstances. You do that by accepting whatever comes your way and by letting go of debilitating emotions. Remember: only when you let go of something can you receive another…clinging on never helps…so, to receive grace and abundance…let go, let go, let go…of all that makes you unhappy and…simply flow with Life!

Only when you let go of all that you are clinging on to, will you receive whatever you need. It is in your unclinging, and opening the palms of your empty hands in surrender, that you invoke grace and abundance into your Life. That’s how Life works – no logic, all magic!

The COVID-19 pandemic is Life's way of slowing us all down. So, let us take a reflective pause and focus on taking care of ourselves and each other! As it is with most inscrutable situations in Life, there is no other way to deal with this crisis, going with the flow is THE way...!

We must employ our intelligence wisely. Do you want to feed your fears or do you want to feed your Bliss? Some opportunities that will give us great joy may not always be financially rewarding. And some opportunities may be giving us only money and no joy. Invest in your Bliss. It will never fail you.

There are no constraints in Life when you learn to flow with it. Flowing is an important quality to be embraced. It is an art. You can and must learn it. When you are flowing with Life, you are not resisting it; therefore, there is no conflict. Whatever is, you are accepting it and are going with the flow of Life. This does not mean you must not work towards changing what you don’t like about your Life. It means that while you are working on changing your current reality, you are willing to be led by the process of Life. This is a beautiful state to be in – contentment, inner peace and Happiness are guaranteed!

Don't imagine you are in a worse place than you actually are. Things could have been far worse. So, seize the day, count your blessings and move on. You can survive a crisis only by dealing it with one day at a time. Don't add up all your problems in your mind and think you are finished. Compartmentalize your problems; put them in different buckets and project-manage them separately. This is how you live through uncertain times – making decisions when there are few or no options to choose from. You never see it this way when you are going through a crisis. But, unfailingly, every crisis leaves you stronger, wiser – and happy!

Denial is often seen as an aggressive state; it need not be…often you deny subtly, pushing away (under the carpet) what you don’t want to see. And when you finally accept what you have been denying, you realize you have squandered so much precious time. Must you, really, do it that way? On the other hand, accepting what is, always, unfailingly, leads you to Happiness.

Whether you believe in this idea or not, Time changes everyone, it changes everything. Everyone and every thing is a product of the Time they go through. What goes up, comes down, only to go up again; and what goes around, comes around. When you awaken to this truth, you learn to keep the Faith, to trust the process of Life, and to be patient through your journey here.

Life happens at its own pace and in its own time. It has a mind of its own. Your rushing through it only increases your stress levels and makes you anxious. You can do nothing to Life. At all times, in all contexts, you are never in control – Life is! And all you can and must do is to learn to live fully with what is. This does not mean inaction – trusting the process of Life is a lot of action; of keeping the faith and being patient. So, sit quietly doing whatever you can in a given context. And whatever must happen alone will happen; whatever is due to you alone will flow to you…on its own. When you are calm, you are non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering and only when you are in this state will you see how perfect your Life really is!

If it is meant for you, it will come to you. It will find you and reach you. So, don’t despair when, despite your best intention and effort, something does not happen the way you envisioned it and planned it. Take it easy. Of course, you have every right to have an intention, put forth a plan and execute it, but you have no right to insist that just because you did all that you must get what you want. The outcomes are never in your hand. The idea that you deserve something is what you have grown within you. So, drop that idea. Just do your bit, and do it well, in any situation. And leave the results, the outcomes, to Life. If you must get it, you will. When you do, be grateful for Life’s compassion. When you don’t, be accepting of Life’s verdict.

The process of Life is to make us, break us, and to remake us. From birth to death, this process endures ceaselessly. Our lived experiences then are integral to how we are shaped – to how we are remade each time that we are broken. We emerge stronger, calmer, content and happy from each upheaval that we go through. That’s how we awaken to the sublime realization that the journey is indeed the only reward.

True enlightenment arrives the moment you understand the difference between your wants and your needs. When you awaken to this understanding, you will realize that Life has always been providing for you, caring for you, giving you all that you need. This is how you stop wanting anything, anymore and start living with what you have, with what is. This is how you learn to be happy despite your circumstances.

Life = a series of complex, inscrutable, events, relationships, that in turns, bring joy and grief. The only way to deal with Life when it becomes challenging is to flow with it, with graceful acceptance. Accept that there are and there will be imperfections. Deal with them, with faith, with patience, to the best of your abilities…and keep flowing…gracefully accepting what is and working calmly on what can be…

No, loving a crisis isn’t easy. But loving a crisis is the only way to deal with one. Because every crisis comes into your Life to teach you unputdownable lessons. Such is Life. You have to go through the darkness to see the light. To appreciate the magic and beauty of Life, you have to experience pain. And you must have felt suffocated by sadness to understand the value of Happiness…of living fully with what is!

What we think is breaking us, is actually making us…yes, it is breaking the stranglehold of debilitating emotions that are pinning us down and holding us hostage…and through learning to deal with these emotions, we emerge resilient, content and anchored. Which is why it is important to learn to live fully with what is – to learn to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering, to be happy despite your circumstances.

When you don’t get what you want, it doesn’t mean there’s a conspiracy by Life to deny you what you think you deserve. This simply means that it is not time yet for you to have what you want or even that, perhaps, it isn’t meant for you at all. This perspective cannot be logically explained. Just that, such is Life. Don’t resist or question this suchness. Simply embrace it. And you will always be happy, content and peaceful with what is, with what you have!

Is there a right time to follow your Bliss? Not really. You postpone your Happiness, following your Bliss, only because you think you have a lot of time later in Life to do what you love doing. But the truth is that there is not enough time. Life comes with an expiry date; it is a one-time, limited-period offer. So, if you are not living your Life fully, happily, you are losing precious time. Simply, there is no better time than NOW to do what you love doing!

When someone chooses not to understand you, despite your best efforts, you may want to examine whether they are not getting what you are saying or if they simply don’t want to understand you. If it is the latter, Life is so much simpler for both of you – there is no need to invest any more time and energy in striving for that understanding. The brutal truth that you often fail to confront is the fact that someone who is keen not to understand you, perhaps never will, no matter how hard you try!

No matter what you are going through, the process of Life is beautiful. It may be challenging, painful and, at times, agonizingly slow. Or it may flow freely, generously, bringing you all that you want. But, unfailingly, Life never ceases to amaze or surprise. It is this inscrutable quality of Life that makes the process beautiful. When you accept the process of Life for what it is, for the way it is, unquestioningly, you see its beauty. That’s how you learn to be happy despite the circumstances.

No matter how talented and successful you are, you have to go through what you have to go through. So learn to accept pain and be happy despite the circumstances. Be happy with what you have. Also, learn to appreciate the impermanence of everything: Of Life itself surely. Also, of name, fame, wealth, success and glory. And of failure too. Focus instead on what you love doing and do it very, very well. Simply, if you create great, unputdownable work, both you and your work will be remembered. Forever.

Simplify your Life! Give away anything that you have not used in six months, except key documents like your passports and IDs. Every single day, forgive those who mess around with you…for they will most likely not matter in your Life in a few weeks from now. If there is one thing you will never forgive yourself for doing, just don't ever do it! You will soon start being happy with what is, with who you are, with what you have – because you are now practicing detachment, giving, forgiveness and self-control!

Mindfulness is the art of being present in whatever you are doing, whatever you are thinking. It involves holding up each thought, examining its value and utility and discarding it if it is debilitating or wasteful. Hold up each thought just the way you would see a dew drop hanging on to a blade of grass – if the thought is empowering or inspiring, let it be; if it is making you feel suffocated or frustrated, shake it off, let it go. Mindfulness is like any other art – over time, with practice, it can be learnt.

Slowly, very slowly, that is how you learn to cope with trauma, grief and pain. It always seems to be a never-ending process. The coping doesn’t quite cease; it always appears to be in the present continuous. Then, over time, when you begin to accept the pain and see the pointlessness of grieving endlessly, you slowly learn to move on. Your Life will never be the way it once was. But you will slowly learn to co-live with the pain while setting down the grief. You will slowly, eventually, learn to be happy despite what happened and despite the circumstances.

The whole idea of love is not about falling in love and falling out of love, it is about rising in love. It is about loving, staying loving, in the present continuous tense. There is no physicality to the act of loving…there is compassion, there is understanding, there is listening, there is holding the other person up when they are falling apart. You hold their heart…this is rising in love… You see, people change, circumstances change, appearances change, physicality changes, but when the loving doesn’t change, when the love flows, you go on rising in love…

Life is not only about going after name, money, success, fame and fortune and getting all of them. It is also about how you live with humility, dignity, and discipline when all of what you attained and acquired are taken away from you. Resilience and equanimity cannot be developed and deployed in simulated environments. They are always discovered within you, when you stand in the middle of the battle of Life, in the chaos, in the eye of the storm. It is by facing Life and learning to be happy, to be useful, despite your circumstances, that you become stronger.

Sometimes the best way to deal with a broken family is to leave its members to be at peace within their own broken worlds. When each one is at peace with who they are, with the problems they are dealing with and are not sure of the way forward, then letting things be, just be, is a sane option. At least each one is individually at peace. And that’s no small miracle! People being born into a family does not necessarily ensure that they stay together. It takes trust and transparency to build and nurture families. When these values cease to exist, merely coming together under a roof is a lie. It achieves no purpose!

Nothing belongs to us. Everything and everyone will be gone someday – including you and me! Clinging on to people, material possessions, stances and opinions is a total waste of energy and precious time. If we review our lives closely, deeply, we will find that all our insecurities, our strife, our suffering, comes from whatever we are clinging on to. The moment you let go of whatever is possessing you, consuming you – a habit or a position or an object or a person or a relationship – you are liberated. You are free. It is only when you are free that you can experience Life – and its magic and beauty – fully…and live happily!

Intelligence is really the ability to decide which battles to fight in Life…and when you employ your intelligence this way, you will awaken to the choice that perhaps, in most cases, it is best not to fight (any battle) at all. Almost always, the best way to live (and to win, if you like) is to not fight anyone – or anything. This understanding will interestingly help you choose wisely and in the event that you do choose to fight for a cause that you truly believe in, it will teach you to be detached from the outcome. When you are engaged only with the process, you discover the opportunity to be happy without getting keyed up about the result.

What will make me happy? This is a simple question. And you sure know the answer to it. But you don’t wish to ask this question to yourself, because you fear confronting the truth. Because the answer entails making tough choices, firm decisions. So, you keep postponing asking yourself the question, postponing your Happiness. But when you do ask yourself this question – what will make me happy – and go to work on your answer, then your fears evaporate, courage takes over; resilience kicks in, doors open and Life, your kind of happy, Blissful Life, embraces you and takes you into its fold! This is how Life works. This is how you choose your Happiness.

Understand a simple truth about Life: you have to go through what you have to go through! No amount of praying or wishing can change what you have to, and will, experience in Life. So, stop resisting anything that you dislike and are faced with. The role of a crisis is to make you stronger, wiser and, interestingly, happy. Look back at all that you have been through and you will find that you are better from your experiences. So, why be bitter about whatever’s happening to you now? Embrace your current reality, accept it as your new normal, and keep doing what you can possibly do each given day. Over time, you will find yourself soaked in equanimity, no matter how hard the going is!

Adulting is serious stuff. Yes, it is cool to be independent and getting to do your own thing. But with freedom comes responsibility. Where you are not just responsible for taking care of yourself or earning enough to pay your bills, but you are also responsible for facing Life and dealing with its upheavals and surprises. There are no right or wrong ways to face Life. Everyone has to do what they believe they have to do at a particular moment and keep going. Eventually, you will figure out why what happened to you was part of your own myth unfolding. So, if you are a young adult and are up against a wall, keep the faith and keep walking. Doors will always open, the path will always appear...

In your moments of solitude, when self-doubt, worry, anxiety and fear creep in, dive deep into what you love doing. This could be music, painting, gardening, reading, cooking…whatever…do whatever that makes you forget this world, that makes you forget your pain…surely, there is something that makes you forget who you are. Simply, go do it. When you do this, you will realize how you magically heal, how all your stresses and insecurities vanish. This is why Bliss is so powerful. This is why following your Bliss is so profitable. It helps you live in this world, inevitably trapped in the pulls and pressures of everyday existence, and yet be above all of it, thriving, living happily despite the circumstances.

The starting point of every crisis is always ridden with confusion and cluelessness. If we knew how to solve a problem, we would solve it, right? It is Life’s nature to present us with a problem that we are confounded by, that which we can’t immediately fathom, understand or solve. We begin by first denying the problem exists. Then we try resisting, try pushing back. But the problem does not let go of its stranglehold. Intuitively our response to a crisis is swift, aggressive, decisive action. But often times, when you can’t solve a crisis that way, you must pause, reflect and take calculated decisions, calmly. That’s the whole reason why a crisis arrives in the first place – to teach us faith and patience.

Everyone has a reason for saying or doing what they do. So, don’t judge people without knowing their story. You don’t have to agree with them at all, but don’t judge them, don’t label them. Let them just be. If they interfere in your Life, draw a line and tell them to step back. But, again, don’t black list them just because they differ with you. When we judge people we agonize more than them – because we are cooking in our views of them. They continue to be who they are – because they believe what they are saying or doing is right, that it is justified. So, why invite suffering in your Life by giving them so much importance? You stay focused on your inner peace. Don’t let anyone disturb it – not even your views of others!

When your Life’s Purpose comes calling, nothing else will matter! It will embrace you and you will be drawn into it. This is because your Purpose is the reason for your creation. You see, money is a human invention; you were not created to just make money. You were created to be happy, to serve, to make the world a better place. Which is why, your Purpose is also referred to as your “calling”. Truly, your Purpose is calling you! Step out of your earning-a-living bubble and allow your Purpose to lead you onward. Witness then, magically, how doors open, how the relevant people walk into your Life and how you end up doing all that you love doing and are meant to do. When you live a Life of Purpose, you live happily despite the circumstances.

Most of what we think will make us happy never really gives us lasting Happiness. Material things, rewards, fame, recognition, money and having a circle of ‘yes’ folks (those who are hanging around you only because they believe they can benefit from you)…these can all make you happy, but only momentarily. They only give you fleeting moments of Happiness. Too much of these, in fact, can leave you feeling drained or suffocated or incomplete. That’s when you start searching for true Happiness. And true Happiness lies only in celebrating what is, in the now. You find it by dropping all your craving, the wants, the desires. It lies in living each moment fully, in gratitude for what you have, with people who complete you, who make you come alive!

This, I have consistently experienced in Life – that no matter how grave the circumstances are, it is not over, to use a cricketing term, until the last ball is bowled! So, even if it seems like a dead-end, a no-go situation, celebrate being alive. It may be dark all around you, there may be no light visible at the far end, everyone, and everything, may appear to be going against you…but do not give up yet. The only evidence that things will turnaround is that you are still alive. And that is a huge, huge, blessing! For, if you still have the gift of this lifetime, then anything is possible! So, bow your head down in complete surrender, in eternal gratitude and give in to Life, just flow with it! This is how you last through a numbing crisis!

Equanimity is the state when you are unmoved. When all states seem the same: Joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, success and failure, gain and loss; neither a high, nor a low – none of these states can then affect your equilibrium. There will surely be a momentary blip when any event occurs that causes an emotional response. Metaphorically, it is like what happens when you throw a stone into a placid lake. There will be ripples, a few waves may be generated, but the lake’s water will soon go back to being calm and peaceful. This unmoved state, equanimity, can be attained only through training your mind. You can and must train your mind, just as you train your body. When your mind is in your control, you are unmoved. Only when you are unmoved do you really experience true Happiness.

Facing your fears is key to flowing with Life…Flowing is an important word here: are you flowing with Life or are you fighting it? When you flow with Life, through accepting and living with what is, then miraculously, magically, Life reveals a big secret to you – that fearlessness is not the absence of fear…in fact, it is what fear delivers to you when you turn around and face a situation that is tormenting you, scaring you. What you run away from, will chase you, haunt you…but when you face your fears, the game changes dramatically! You are in control now, not your fears! And when you are in control, while you may not be able to solve every problem immediately, you can deal with the situation calmly, efficiently. This is how you learn to be happy, no matter what you are going through!

Every Life experience is teaching you a lesson. It is likely you may not see the experience as an opportunity to learn – not when you are going through it. But your experiences are always shaping you, teaching you; they are helping you understand who you really are and what your true potential is. So, don’t hate what you are going through if you are currently dealing with something that you didn’t bargain for or didn’t want in your Life. Just step back, climb onto the fly-on-the-wall position, and observe your Life. You will then notice unmistakable teachable, learnable, points of view embedded in your experience. To take them or leave them – well, that’s your personal choice! One thing’s for sure though, you will be a lot more at peace – and happy – when you learn from your experiences!

How do you last a torrid time in Life? 1. Accept the reality that you are in the throes of a crisis. Stop wishing that it didn’t exist. Acceptance always delivers inner peace. 2. Know that the storm will always be strong. By even thinking of its ferocity, you are only going to feel debilitated. At the epicenter of a storm, it is always calm. Find that center, your center. That’s where you will find strength. 3. Your center is where you lose sense of time, place and thought. Art – anything inherent that makes you come alive – often leads you there. 4. Trust the process of Life. Do what you can do without losing your inner peace – daily, diligently. 5. No matter how intense it is, no storm lasts forever. All storms pass. So, be patient, surrender completely, let go…and offer yourself to be led by Life…

Your tendency to seek approval from others, to compare yourself with others and to judge yourself basis external parameters stems from a deep-rooted social conditioning. Society wants you to fit into certain frameworks, it wants you to check certain boxes so that you can be categorized, classified and made to conform to how it wants you to be. Don’t let this conditioned view of who you are get to you. Let society keep slotting you. But you just be who you are. Yearning for approval from others, for you to feel good about yourself, is futile. As long as you are causing no harm to the people or environment around you, go on, be yourself. The truth is while you can’t avoid society’s norms entirely, you can choose not to let them affect your self-worth. Who you are is seriously none of anyone’s business; and, for the same reason, what others think of you, is none of your business too!

Dealing with the death of loved one is always difficult. No matter how much we know of death, of the process of Life, no amount of preparation to accept death is sufficient. When death comes calling in our circle, we are always caught struggling to cope. Immersing yourself in celebrating the Life of the one you lose is one better way of coping. In celebration, there is an uplifting energy. It helps you to look back at each moment you can recall with the person you lost and relive them. Or support causes they supported. Through these acts you heal yourself, you train your mind to let go and move on. It is a slow process, but it works. Important, don't try to fight your sadness. It is futile. Sadness is a natural response. Feeling sad is integral to the process of dealing with a loss. Instead understand your sadness, go its root, understand its futility...and then pluck it and discard it...

Not reacting with anger, but responding with compassion and equanimity, is a personal choice. Particularly so, in an explosive situation, when someone is provoking you, by trampling all over your self-esteem. How can you employ compassion when someone is spewing venom? Well, if you observe their behavior closely, someone causing you pain and anguish is actually suffering a lot within themselves. Their thoughts and actions are only reflecting their distressed state of mind. They surely know not what they are doing. So, respond – don’t react – with compassion. Ahimsa is not just non-violent action. It includes non-violent thought as well. Respond with ahimsa – that’s the best way to disarm your ‘opponent’! When you leave the other party guessing, as to why you are not striking back, you have won the battle without even fighting it. Isn’t that a great way to be protect your inner peace and profit from it?

When you are a witness to a moment in nature you are celebrating. For instance, when you are watching a sunrise or sunset, you are not processing. You simply are. You are captivated by the spectacle. You are not passing any judgment. You just are. Similarly, occasionally, you must rise to be a witness to your own Life. Not to observe, engage, judge or review. But to just be like a fly on your Life's wall. Be a witness. When you are a witness, you learn more about yourself. And when you employ that learning you transform.

When you can solve a problem, there is no point in worrying about it. And when you can’t solve a problem, there’s again no point in worrying about it. Instead of pointlessly worrying about it, apply yourself to solving the problem on hand. The bottom line: Be non-worrying. That’s the secret to being happy despite the circumstances.

No matter what you are going through, no matter what you think is going to happen, stay anchored and engaged with the process of Life. Accept the inscrutable, imponderable, brutal reality of your Life. And take one day at a time. That’s how you stay in the game (of Life). And as long as you are in the game, well, anything is possible!

There is no way you can fast-forward your Life. When going through painful situations, as long as you are complaining about your circumstances, you will find each day long, dreary and miserable to endure. But when you immerse yourself in what you love doing, you will find that each moment is a celebration. You will then be able to flow with Life, joyously, enthusiastically.

There is a unique spiritual talent in each of us. Only when we immerse ourselves in engaging with this talent, in expressing it, in sharing what we create with it, are we truly happy.

When you feel sad, don’t push away that feeling. Feel it fully. It is a natural human emotion that you feel when you don’t get what you want or get what you don’t want. Let the sadness hold you in its grip. Experience your sadness wholesomely. Cry, if you feel like crying. Over time, you will realize that your sadness is not helping you. That’s when you must let it go. And open yourself up to newer experiences and emotions. Only when you understand the futility of being sad for long spells of time, will you let your sadness go. And only when you let it go, only when you uncling from your sadness, will you be truly happy!

When going through an enduring and painful situation, stop wishing that it did not exist. It is this wanting, this desire, that causes your suffering. Instead, deal with each day, doing whatever you can do in the given circumstances. Do your best. And leave the rest, the outcomes, to Life. This is how you flow with Life, at its pace, peacefully, calmly.

Worship time. The wheel of time is constantly moving. And as the wheel turns, everything, and everyone, changes.

You cannot negotiate with pain. You simply have to accept it. When you accept Life for what it is, and accept pain for the way it is, you discover inner peace, contentment and Happiness.

Often times in Life, your efforts may not bring you the results that you want. That’s when you feel frustrated and defeated. But think about it deeply: Life never gave you any guarantees. It never promised you that your efforts will be rewarded instantaneously. So, in reality, it is not Life that is frustrating you. It is your expectation that your effort must immediately yield you a certain result that is frustrating you. Drop that expectation and learn to be non-frustrated. Only then will you be happy. Now, employ your Happiness in working harder. Work smarter. Make your effort unputdownable. And leave the outcome to Life. Enjoy the process of making the effort meaningful instead of craving for the reward that you believe you deserve.

Trust the process of Life. There is a lot of action when you are trusting the process. It is a present continuous state of non-resistance. It involves doing whatever you can do in a given context and allowing yourself to be led by Life. You will then witness the magic and beauty of Life leading you to where you must arrive.

Craving to be celebrated by others will often leave you unhappy. Instead, celebrate yourself by immersing yourself in what you love doing. This holds the key to your Happiness.

Life is a constant tightrope walk. And every experience that you go through teaches you how walk this tightrope, how to live – and lead – in a let go. Leadership is essentially the ability to face any situation in Life and do what needs to be done, efficiently and effectively. And living in a let go means to trust the process of Life. So, leading in a let go is what Life is all about. Master this art and you will learn to live your Life better – meaningfully, calmly, happily!

True: The popular idea of God cannot rescue you from the perils of everyday living. For instance, besides being careful with so many other things, you still have to tie your camel, lock your car and, of course, watch over your mobile phone. But faith, in a higher energy, in the process of Life, is an amazing tool. It helps you cope better with complex situations. It may not help you solve your problems immediately. But it can surely help you last longer, so that you can work harder at finding solutions to your problems. Faith also helps immensely in dealing with imponderable, inscrutable, Life situations when no human logic really works. Let’s say you have locked your car and stepped on to the road; and just then an earthquake strikes. Don’t you think it is still possible that you may want to look up at the sky: And pray that you are not swallowed by the earth!? Or, simply, surrender to the process of Life!?

Everything in Life happens in its own time and at its own pace. When you understand this truth about Life, you will realize that keeping the faith and being patient are key to being happy with what is, in the now.

Most comparisons ruin Happiness.

There are three factors that influence the human experience through this journey called Life. Time. Divinity. Grace. While your time on the planet is always subject to surprises and upheavals, divinity and grace are freely, constantly, available. And the best way to deal with the inscrutable and unpredictable nature of time is to embrace the constants, divinity and grace. That’s how you learn to flow with Life – without resisting what is, with equanimity.

Happiness is the ability to be non-worrying, non-frustrated and non-suffering despite the circumstances. This is an art. And you learn this art by learning to train your mind.

Life’s not easy by any means. But it is simple. It surely is not complex. We complicate Life by bringing in our wants, our definitions, and our labels, of how people and events must be. Life’s very simple if we just accept it for the way it is. The journey then will not be any less painful. But there will be no suffering. When you are non-suffering, your Life, despite the circumstances, is a daily celebration of magic, beauty and miracles!

Be easy on yourself. It is the first time always – whether you are an adult, spouse, parent, professional, #BlissCatcher or entrepreneur. And each situation, for each person, is unique. Besides, Life does not come with an operations manual! It is only by playing the game of Life, and learning from each experience, that you get better and better at living Life fully!

Everyone has to go through what they have to go through. So, prayer, surrender, being in the moment, doing your best in every moment… that is the only way to live intelligently...there is no other way!

Your only prayer must be seeking to realize the Purpose of your creation. When the why of your creation becomes clear, two other aspects become crystal clear too: 1. how to live your Life and 2. what to do in/with this lifetime!

When you focus on earning a living, you are not living. To live fully, you need to do what makes you come alive. Pause and reflect on this. It makes a lot of sense.

Life is a continuous process of self-discovery…

Happiness is a decision you make. It is an intensely personal choice. It often stems from a feeling of being unsettled…something’s not right…explore deeper and you will find that you are unhappy…dig deeper and you will go to the source of that unhappiness…then you invest yourself in that decision to weed out, even pluck out, that source of unhappiness…that’s how you decide to be happy…it is a process of making a Life-altering decision…!

Often, when you are feeling beaten and broken, you conclude that Life is cruel. You think that only you have an unsolvable, insurmountable, problem. You also begin to believe that most people around you don’t want to understand you. To find inner peace in such times of upheaval and turmoil, step back, and look at your own Life from a distance. Think of yourself like a fly on the wall – and be a witness of your own Life. You will then realize that there is no grand conspiracy to vanquish you. You will see that: • There are many blessings in your Life that you can count. • Your problems are not so severe after all. • People are behaving the way they are because they are caught in their own web of emotions, circumstances, beliefs, opinions and problems. These people are beaten and broken too; they are searching for meaning themselves. It is your craving, that you shouldn’t have any problems, and that you must be understood, which is causing you pain – and suffering. Drop that craving. And you will, at once, be peaceful – and happy.