Tag: dailyprompt

All Is Vanity – Sab E Maya

Daily writing prompt
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
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I want a tattoo that says “All Is Vanity” and I would put it on my right arm.

Christina Grimmie

I would do this because I’m inspired by my favorite singer, Christina Grimmie.

She had a tattoo exactly like this and I want to remember her every day through this tattoo.

She loved Jesus and she cared for her fans(or “frands” as she called us).

We had a ritual. Instead of saying “Team Grimmie Rocks” she would say “Team Grimmie Rawwks \|/”.

But in June 2016, she was murdered and we lost an angel.

She was a good person, she achieved quite a bit of success with over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and success in “The Voice” TV music show.

But God took her back.

In these moments we start to question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”

But the truth is we must trust God’s plan. God’s plan is greater than our plans. This was said in Christina’s Memorial Service as on YouTube.

But we still have her music and we must share it. So I’m sharing it with you.

Please subscribe to her YouTube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@christinagrimmie

I believe listening to Christina’s music will help most people find inner strength to fight life’s challenges and find hope.

My Understanding

Other than that, from my humble perspective the meaning of the tattoo is beautiful.

I’m not a deeply religious person, but I care about God and love God.

I believe that serving mankind is serving God. God lives in each one of us.

So if we serve others, we are serving God indirectly or rather more directly than praying in a temple or a church.

But from the context of this tattoo “All Is Vanity”, I know a term “Maya”.

In India we say “Sab e maya”. “All is illusory”.

Maya means illusion in the most basic sense.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand that God is the ultimate reality.

Whether you call it God, or Brahman, or Paramatman, it doesn’t matter.

There is this realization. I don’t know what this realization is.

But it is the realization that changes everything.

This realization is the realization of the Truth, God, the Ultimate Reality,etc.

And all the temporary achievements we have and all the attachments and desires are all maya, an illusion.

Conclusion

I’m glad that you are reading this line. Thanks a lot!

Caring

What is one word that describes you?

The word “caring” describes me the best.

I care about my family and friends and even strangers.

In school, there have been occasions when I have helped that new classmate sit in my seat in spite of me having a good time with my friends because he said he had some eye disease and he couldn’t see the white board from the back bench.

Once I had decided to not submit my assignment to the teacher because the previous day I had forgotten to inform my friend about it. He was upset and so I decided to postpone the assignment submission and submit it later with him.

In regular college where I went for only 6 months, I was always polite to everyone.

I made a few friends and they love me and I love them.

I learnt the values of caring from my mother. And I think it’s a crucial skill.

But sometimes I wonder if I care too much. So much that people take advantage of me.

A college classmate once said to me “You are so good. But nobody cares.”

Well, I don’t care if nobody cares.

And most people do care. People remember.

So yes I appreciate anirbansaren.com/ coming up with daily blogging prompts for their users.

I’m really happy that you are reading this. Thanks a lot!

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I’m so proud of you

Daily writing prompt
What was the best compliment you’ve received?
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The best compliment I’ve ever received is from my elder sister who says,”I’m so proud of you. You are working so hard to fight your bipolar disorder.”

I think she is the one who understands me.

Well the quoted sentence is similar but not exactly like how she says in Bengali.

I’m happy that you read this line. Thanks a lot!

What’s confidence? – An Original Poem

Daily writing prompt
Who is the most confident person you know?
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What’s confidence?

What’s confidence?
To be humble, yet fiercely brave
To be reasonable, understanding of your enemy’s pain
To not be violent, but argue peacefully.

What’s confidence?
It’s not about speaking in a charismatic way
It’s not about lying so subtly
It’s not about manipulating to get your own way.

What’s confidence?
To be honest about your needs
To draw healthy boundaries
To respect yourself.

What’s confidence?
It’s not something to show others
It’s how you feel about yourself
It’s about your values.

-Anirban Saren

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I had to say who the most confident person I know is, it would be-

Not one person, but all kinds of people who share value of humanity.

And guess what everyone can be a confident and good human beings.

But if I had to say one person’s name- my mother.

She is the most confident person I know.

Thank you my dear followers/readers/writers.

Honestly I get social anxiety in the comments sections of some of your posts. Y’all know so much more than me and I feel like if I comment, I’ll look like a fool. But I will try to comment more.

Writing, music, and my mom

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

I write poems and listen to sad songs(when I’m sad) to cope with negative feelings.

Honesty my repository of activities to do when feeling negative feelings is pretty small.

When I say negative feelings, I mean anger, hopelessness, sadness, apathy, fear, shame, etc.

Emotions

Here’s what I do when I feel these emotions –

Anger–

First I remember the words of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa who said ” যে সয় সে রয়, যে না সয় তার নাশ হয়।” It means in English,”He who tolerates, is able to withstand, He who does not tolerate, gets destroyed.”

Then I stay away from the person I am angry with.

Then I start listening to sad songs and writing.

Hopelessness–

When I feel hopeless, my mother is my savior. She talks to me all the time.

My mother (মা), maa, is my best friend.

Writing doesn’t help in this department. Nor does sad songs.

Sadness–

I listen to sad songs. I guess I write only poems when I feel sad.

Apathy–

Apathy means not feeling like doing anything or “indifference”.

In these case, I ask myself,”What am I interested in learning/doing now?”

Usually it’s some computer skills unrelated to my academic studies.

But it gets me out of my negative feelings.

Fear–

I call my mom because I have no friends.

No sad songs or writing helps though.

Shame–

Shame, self-hatred, etc. are horrible feelings which I feel when visiting some of my relatives’ places.

It’s truly horrible.

They make me feel like I better hide under a rock and disappear for the next 20 years.

They compare me to my cousins and uncles.

They say things that has utter insensitivity to my mental health issues. They don’t understand and they don’t want to understand mental illnesses. Period.

I don’t visit them much. That’s how I cope with shame.

Conclusion

So that’s a lot of combinations of- writing,music and my mom.

I hope I never outgrow these three gifts of my life. May I always love writing, music and my mom (মা).

Well this script is Bengali, our local Indian language in Kolkata, India.

Thanks for reading!

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Just let go of all regrets and desires and be grateful

Write a letter to your 100-year-old self.

Hi 100-year-old-Anirban,

I am 25 now and you’re 75 years older than me!!! Can you imagine that?

You will probably read this letter 75years later. But it’s unbelievable! Really!!

I mean I am lucky to be 25 and alive. I bet you are one 7th heaven because you made it to the 100th year marks.

You get to be even more grateful than me because you have more experiences.

But do you remember what this blog is about? If not, then let me remind you dear Sir.

This blog is about hope and making mistakes to stop regret.

And so the title says “Just let go of all regrets and desires and be grateful”.

I have seen many old people who were unhappy before going to heaven.

I want to remind you to let go of that unhappiness, let go of your regrets, your unfulfilled desires.

And I want you to be satisfied and happy and think about God and be loving towards everyone in this universe.

I bet you married your crush, you became a millionaire by 50 and you raised great children.

But you are unhappy because you forget things, you feel lonely, people leave, friends don’t call you, and on and on. And all this diabetes and other ailments are of course frustrating for you.

But I still hope that you are alive to read this letter from your 25 year old self.

Because I am still grateful to God for what I already have.

I have a great family, an intelligent mind, writing skills, will get an MBA degree soon, and most importantly I am satisfied and happy. And grateful.

And you probably had started a startup, done your PhD, married her(you know who I am talking about 😉), and travelled all around the world… You should definitely be more grateful than me.

But what I mean to say,”We arrive in life with nothing, we leave with nothing “, “Nothing is ours”, and “You are already naked” as said by Steve Jobs of Apple.  So be grateful for whatever you have.

I don’t know what you’ve been through because I’m only 25 and you’re 100. But I know you can do it. You can find satisfaction inside yourself. And be happy.

Regards,

Anirban

So I still can’t believe that I’m writing to my 100-year-old self!!! Wow!!!

And to all my readers, be grateful!!! Please be grateful!!!😊

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Learning maths basics in my free time

What is the last thing you learned?

Well, I was studying for my MBA Data Science degree and I guess I am lucky in a way because I just have to explain mathematics concepts and not actually do much complex problem solving.

But I was just curious about revising some of the basics about linear equations and statistics.

And I guess I am unlucky in the sense that I wish I could understand mathematics more deeply like if I was studying a masters in science degree.

I guess I will study more mathematics in my free time.

Do I have the Khan academy app on my phone? No I have it on my PC’s browser.

Anyways I guess I was feeling a little depressed for a few days, but now I am back to studying for my MBA.

I had my 3rd semester exams a few days ago. It went well.

Thought I would just answer this daily prompt. Thanks for reading!

People

The author expresses a profound fear of people stemming from social anxiety, which severely restricts their daily activities. They believe that falling in love with a pursuit could help them confront this fear, though past experiences with rejection have made it challenging. Despite their anxiety, they remain hopeful for improvement.

Daily writing prompt
What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?
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What am I scared of the most?

I am scared of people.

But I am scared of them a lot. Because I have social anxiety.

I am scared of people.

I don’t go out much because I am scared of people.

I don’t do it intentionally. It is too severe in me.

What would it take to get me to face my social anxiety?

I think love.

If I fall in love with an endeavor that compels me to face social anxiety, I will face it.

It doesn’t have to be a person with whom I fall in love. It could be a vision, a task, a hobby, a business idea, a plan, etc.

I have fallen in love before, with business ideas, with tasks, hobbies, plans. But I guess the fear keeps coming back.

I am scared of rejection. Because I am afraid to be myself in front of people.

Conclusion

I hope things get better.

Thank you for reading this short blog post. Let me know what you think and please like, share and follow my blog.

First Be A Good Person

A good leader must first embody qualities of a good person, defined primarily by honesty and integrity. While not perfect, such individuals stay true to their word and admit their mistakes. Morality is crucial, often valuing personal character as much as success or wealth. The reflection on leadership is influenced by personal experiences.

Daily writing prompt
What makes a good leader?
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I belief a good leader must be a good person even before they start leading people.

What is a good person?

Now this one is what I can answer.

I can answer this NOT because I think I am a good person.

I am not a bad person. I am moderately good. But only other people’s statements regarding my character will be true.

Who are they?

So what is a good person?

I have read the Bhagavad Gita’s Chapter 2 but I will not borrow definitions from it because that’s not verified by me with direct experience.

In my opinion, a good person is a person who is honest(to himself/herself always and to others most of the time).

I know a person who is older than me. They are a leader in their profession. And they are good as a person in the common sense. But they are also honest to the extent that they will go out of their way to keep their word.

It’s 21st century and I am talking about the “word”.

Who cares about honesty these days? Right?

Well, the answer isn’t “nobody”. Although nobody is honest all the time. And nobody is flawless. There are people who are honest and pure hearted.


Honest to themselves.

They would admit they are wrong even if it means their opponents would win.

Morality is as important as money or success.

The person I was talking about can be any good leader in the world.

But I had my mother’s life floating before my eyes when I was writing the above lines.

Same goes for my elder sister.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please comment your opinion on what a good leader is.

To experience the beauty of existence

The author reflects on their mission to experience the beauty of existence rather than conforming to societal expectations. They emphasize the importance of mental over physical beauty, valuing philosophy, art, and personal growth. Their goal is to integrate these passions into their life, relationships, and future business, creating a meaningful legacy.

Daily writing prompt
What is your mission?
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My mission isn’t exactly written anywhere yet. Not even in a journal somewhere.

But it’s clear in my mind.

I want to experience the beauty of existence.

Let me explain.

I never liked the rat race. Study, college, job, MBA, better job, business, marriage, children, old-age. What else?

It’s just a giant conspiracy against us to not do what we are meant to do.

To experience the beauty of existence right here, right now.

Beauty of existence

My definition of beauty starts with the mind.

Physical beauty is ok but it’s not permanent.

Mental beauty is more permanent than physical beauty.

Philosophy, maths, accounting, video editing, programming, art, stories, novels, etc.

For me these and other similar things are beauty.

Not the physical aspects, but the mental complexities and journey of growth that these skills bring inside a person.

Be in the world, but not of it

I want to start a business, do MBA, marry, have children, be old and die.

But my mission, that is my purpose in life, is to experience the beauty of existence by making philosophy and math and novels and programming and so on a part of my life.

I want to make my business around experience the beauty of existence.

I want my MBA journey to show those activities.

I want to marry a person who will help me experience philosophy, math, novels, etc.

I want to teach my children these things.

And when I am old and on my death bed I want to smile while reading a good philosophical novel.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and comment your opinions.

By the way I am late. I realize that. I generally post on Mondays but because I had been struggling with my mental health lately, I am late.

I am glad you stuck around and read this line. Thanks a lot!