I’ve began this new weekly publication – The Almanack of Good Life – to share all that I’m studying and reflecting upon about residing an excellent life. It’s a brand new try, however I hope to take this far. On this age of fixed data overload, I’ve discovered immense worth in taking time to pause and mirror upon significant insights about life. This article is my means of sharing that journey with you.
Every week, I’ll curate a collection of thought-provoking concepts, inspiring quotes, and sensible knowledge I’ve encountered in my readings and private reflections. My aim is to create an area for us to discover collectively what it means to dwell with objective, kindness, and fulfilment. I look ahead to your form help.
Rediscovering Hope within the Face of Loss
There’s a story, not usually instructed, in Mahabharata the place the eldest of the Pandavas, Yudhishthira, comes upon a lake and finds that his brothers lay lifeless on its banks.
Earlier than starting the search into his brothers’ homicide, the prince in exile finds himself burning with thirst and reaches into the lake to drink, not understanding that it was ingesting from the lake that introduced his brothers’ finish.
At that second a celestial seems, a Yaksha, no god or angel however as a substitute a presence of energy presiding over the lake. The Yaksha warns Yudhisthira to not drink lest he suffers the destiny of his brothers.
He has another: Yudhisthira can as a substitute reply Yaksha’s questions. There are mentioned to be eighteen questions that Yaksha requested Yudhisthira, however right here is the one which issues what I’m writing right now.
Yaksha asks, “What’s the biggest surprise?”
To this, Yudhisthira replies, “Every day loss of life strikes, and we dwell as if we had been immortal. That is the best surprise.”
I remembered the above anecdote whereas studying this stunning poem credited to the American creator Henry Van Dyke, titled “Gone From My Sight.”
The poem talks about loss of life in a singular means, through the use of the picture of a ship crusing away –
I’m standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my facet,
spreads her white sails to the shifting breeze and begins
for the blue ocean. She is an object of magnificence and power.
I stand and watch her till, at size, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud simply the place the ocean and sky come to mingle with one another.Then, somebody at my facet says, “There, she is gone.”
Gone the place?
Gone from my sight. That’s all. She is simply as massive in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my facet.
And, she is simply as in a position to bear her load of residing freight to her destined port.Her diminished measurement is in me — not in her.
And, simply for the time being when somebody says, “There, she is gone,”
there are different eyes watching her coming, and different voices
able to take up the glad shout, “Right here she comes!”And that’s dying…
Such a comforting means to consider loss of life, isn’t it?
As an alternative of picturing loss of life as an ending, the poem asks us to see it as a sort of journey. The individual we’ve misplaced just isn’t gone ceaselessly; they’ve simply sailed to a spot we can’t see but.
I first happened this poem sitting subsequent to my dying father in 2019, and it helped whereas I used to be grieving for him. It jogged my memory that although we can’t see or contact the individual we’ve misplaced anymore, they’re nonetheless on the market someplace. Their journey is constant, simply otherwise.
The poem additionally provides an attractive perspective that there could be extra to loss of life than what we will see from our restricted viewpoint. From our viewpoint on the shore, we see the ship getting smaller and disappearing. But when we had been on the ship, we’d see one thing completely totally different, like new horizons opening up in entrance of us.
For individuals left behind, those standing on the shore, watching the ship sail away, with the disappointment of claiming, “She is gone!” it provides hope, suggesting that someday, we’ll all make that very same journey, and possibly we will likely be reunited with these we’ve misplaced.
This poem is a kind of texts that has caused a paradigm shift in how I see loss of life and dying – no longer as one thing scary or last however as a pure a part of an even bigger journey.
In fact, it doesn’t take away the disappointment of shedding somebody, however provides a comfort that may make that loss just a little simpler to bear.
And, possibly, it’s asking us to profit from our time “on shore” earlier than we set sail ourselves.
The subsequent time you might be on the ocean, and also you see a ship crusing away, possibly you’ll consider this poem. And possibly, simply possibly, it can show you how to see life and loss of life in a brand new gentle.
By the way in which, one of the stunning kids’s books I’ve examine loss of life is Cry, Coronary heart, However By no means Break. Get a replica, after which learn it to your youngster. It’s uplifting.
What I’m Studying
Parenting Recommendation from Warren & Charlie
As dad and mom, we frequently ask, then ask once more, and ask once more our children to do one thing we need they do. And if we’re fortunate, our children cooperate after the fourth or fifth request or after a loud however in any other case innocent scolding. We complain that our children by no means take heed to us, and ask different dad and mom how they get their children to behave, eat wholesome meals, and fall asleep on time. If that’s not all, we seek the advice of the Web and a number of other books on mentioning well-cultured and disciplined kids. Then, whilst we apply all these strategies, our children simply don’t pay attention.
However, amidst all this, there’s one thing we frequently fail to see with our children. Even when they don’t seem to be listening to us, they’re busy observing us.
I’ve usually observed this with my children. They might usually not take heed to what I’ve to inform them. However they’d at all times be observing my actions. And that retains me on my toes, just because my children are ‘watching’ me.
I discovered this thought reiterated on this great guide I’m studying for the third time – Peter Bevelin’s All I Wish to Know is The place I’m Going to Die So I’ll By no means Go There. Right here is an excerpt from that guide the place Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, in dialog with a seeker of knowledge, share with him the very best technique of coaching kids…
Should you haven’t picked up this guide, I recommend you do. It’s top-of-the-line investments in in search of knowledge you’d ever make.
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Possessing Vs Pursuing
I consider our lives aren’t outlined by what we possess, however by what we pursue. Historical past has ample proof that it isn’t what individuals (like Alexander and Hitler) have tried to own, however what individuals (like Einstein and Gandhi) pursued that introduced which means to their lives and to these round them.
“I take pleasure in life,” Seneca mentioned, “as a result of I’m prepared to depart it.”
In his guide On the Shortness of Life, he wrote –
So far as I’m involved, I do know that I’ve misplaced not wealth however distractions. The physique’s wants are few: it needs to be free from chilly, to banish starvation and thirst with nourishment; if we lengthy for something extra we’re exerting ourselves to serve our vices, not our wants.
Think about if we will unburden ourselves of 90% of our worldly items, it shouldn’t be tough to depart the remaining 10% behind. No?
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What I’m Pondering
True wealth just isn’t about cash. It’s concerning the richness of our experiences, the depth of {our relationships}, and the peace we discover inside ourselves.
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We frequently chase happiness, however what if it isn’t one thing to be caught? What whether it is already inside us, ready to be uncovered by residing authentically and embracing each pleasure and sorrow?
***
Time appears to hurry up as we age. However what if we might sluggish it down by being totally current in every second? There could be a complete lifetime in a single day if we study to really dwell it.
Ebook Advice
The primary guide I ever learn cowl to cowl, again someday in 2001, was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It’s a easy story on the floor, however is full of insights about life, objective, and private progress.
The guide follows a younger shepherd named Santiago who goals of discovering treasure in Egypt. His journey takes him throughout deserts and continents, however what he finds alongside the way in which is way extra useful than any bodily treasure.
What makes this guide particular is the way it weaves life classes into an enticing story. It’s not preachy or difficult, however appears like you might be discovering these truths alongside Santiago.
It talks about following your goals, listening to your coronary heart, and recognizing the omens life sends your means.
One of many massive concepts within the guide is what Coelho calls your “Private Legend,” which is like your life’s objective. The guide means that the universe conspires that will help you obtain this future in case you are courageous sufficient to pursue it. This concept that we aren’t alone in our struggles, that the world needs us to succeed, is such a comforting thought!
One other factor I like about this guide is the way it encourages us to be current and respect the journey. Santiago learns that the treasure he seeks just isn’t at all times what he thinks it’s, and that typically the true riches are within the experiences we’ve and the individuals we meet alongside the way in which.
What’s nice about The Alchemist is which you can learn this guide at totally different levels of your life and get one thing new out of it every time. It’s the sort of guide that grows with you. I picked it up once more just lately after Bogumil Baranowski talked about it in my podcast with him.
In case you have not learn it but, and even you probably have and it has been some time, give The Alchemist a attempt. It would simply change the way in which you have a look at your individual life’s journey.
Quotes I’m Reflecting On
Allow us to put together our minds as if we’d come to the very finish of life. Allow us to postpone nothing. Allow us to stability life’s books every day … The one who places the ending touches on their life every day isn’t in need of time.
– Seneca
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The query just isn’t ‘are you able to cause?’ or ‘are you able to speak?’ however ‘are you able to endure?’
– Jeremy Bentham
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Be so simple as you may be; you’ll be astonished to see how uncomplicated and joyful your life can change into.
– Paramahansa Yogananda
That’s all from me for right now.
Let me know your ideas on this problem of The Almanack of Good Life publication, and methods I can enhance it. Additionally, you probably have concepts or sources you suppose I can share in future letters, please electronic mail them to me at vishal[at]safalniveshak[dot]com.
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Thanks to your time and a spotlight.
~ Vishal
