Expressing My Gratitude To God(part 1)

The author writes a short gratitude letter to God for being there with him ALWAYS.

Dear God,
I refer to you with many names through many religions. I remember you through my heart. And I want to express my gratitude through this letter.

I’m reading the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, etc. and I am in love with you. I want to thank you for everything that you’ve given me in this life.

And I don’t know if there is rebirth or not, I just know that this present moment is all I got. There’s no past, no future, only this moment.

Thank you for this moment, for being with me for the times I can and can’t remember. 

Thank you for giving me loving parents, good siblings, good friends, good education, good health, an intelligent brain.

I don’t know if good things will continue coming to me in the future but I know you’ll always be with me.

I want to thank you for my seeming weaknesses because they taught me to go to you for strength.

Thank you for my natural strengths because they taught me to believe in myself. 

God, you are great. This creation of yours is amazing. Earth is amazing.

All the good things, good people, nature, etc. are beautiful.

Thank you for creating the ugliness in the world because they teach me to remember you for hope.

I want to express my gratitude to you for being there with me ALWAYS.

And thank you reader for reading this line. It means a lot.

Yours loving,
Anirban

The Opening Sentence of My Autobiography

This author explains with a story why “This is the story of a lucky man…” is the most appropriate opening for his autobiography.

If I ever write an autobiography I would begin it with “This is the story of a lucky man…”.

Why?

Because it is the only opening sentence that could make sense.

I could begin with “The secret to success is hard work…” or “Don’t give up ever…”, but I think that “This is the story of a lucky man” is the most appropriate one.

Let me explain why.

When I was in class 11 in school, I couldn’t study. I simply couldn’t sit down and feel like studying.

I’d play video games from morning till midnight daily because I couldn’t study and this was my way to escape my boredom.

I was going to therapy but I kept changing therapists because I wasn’t satisfied with their counselling.

Four years later I started taking a degree course in Bachelor of Business Administration and I scored 70% in the aggregate results.

I was able to study sometimes and I believe it was due to the medication that my psychiatrist had given me.

And that’s how I also completed my Master of Business Administration in Data Science last year.

When I was in class 11 I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

I was lost and I didn’t realize it.

I was lucky to have found good psychiatrists and therapists.

Without them I’d still be helpless.

But it is not psychology, psychiatry or self-help that helped me.

It was luck.

I didn’t know that if I took medicine I’d be able to study.

But the events in my life forced me to take medicines.

I wasn’t voluntarily doing any of it. The universe helped me do it.

It’s as if the universe had chosen me to suffer and to heal my own suffering.

And I learnt a lot of lessons that way.

Actually none of us can take responsibility for our successes because none of us can explain the sheer amount of luck that’s involved in these processes.

So yeah I really think I would begin my autobiography with “This is the story of a lucky man…”.

Thank you for reading this line. It means a lot to me.

What are my thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?

I think being satisfied is more important than the age you are at.

I think the question of living a short or long life comes up because when we grow older we become weak and various diseases affect our health.

In short, it’s not pleasurable to live a long old life.

So if I write “Life should be lived now to the fullest rather than waiting for a day in the future when we would have ‘enough’ money for retirement”, I would do injustice to the fact that irrespective of whether you live now or later, the most important thing is to be content and be satisfied with what you already have.

So if you are young and trying to enjoy life now, but you still want more, more of everything, then you’re not living life.

And if you are old and have enough money for your retirement, but you hate every moment of your life and have a lot of regrets because you lost your youth and good health, then you’re also not living life.

The truth is you can enjoy your life at every moment of your life if you are content and happy with what you have.

Believing in a higher power may help to have such a tranquil mindset. 

So be grateful for what you have. Be content and satisfied with what you already have.

Thanks for reading this line. It means a lot!

Playing with friends is the most fun way to exercise

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

It can be anything from playing table tennis to playing outdoor games like football. But I think playing with friends and enjoying the process is the only right way to exercise.

I mean why do people hate going to the gym in a room full of strangers?

Because I think they take it too seriously and there are only a few friends there.

The reason we want to exercise is to have a fit body and we want a fit body because we want to feel good about ourselves. ( If you want to lose weight, that’s a valid goal but it can get toxic and demotivating soon)

Why not play without a goal and with friends to feel good and also have a fit body?

I think one might say “But football is competitive and it’s not easy to get into a football team”.

And I understand and totally agree.

But why not buy a bicycle and go around the town or city with your friends?

The less serious we take life, the more enjoyable it gets.

Again exercise is not the goal, it’s a means to some state of being which is feeling good about our bodies.

If you think of exercise as a goal(losing x kgs of body weight) then when you achieve the goal, you’ll no longer feel motivated to exercise.

But if you play with friends, then exercise will happen automatically and you’ll enjoy it.

Now one might say that they don’t have friends. Well that’s a topic for another blog post.

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

We were extremely lucky during the pandemic

How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

Being citizens of India, having access to vaccines, having no job losses, we were extremely lucky.

In the COVID-19 pandemic I saw that many of my relatives died. But my immediate family, my parents and siblings were healthy.

My father’s role was crucial here. He was very proactive.

Despite my anxiety he himself cooked healthy protein rich foods, we never had shortages of masks and we got vaccinated on time.

I feel sorry for the people who didn’t have the privilege of good health in the COVID-19 pandemic.

I wouldn’t say I’m glad you read this line because the COVID-19 pandemic was nothing to be proud of.

We were just extremely lucky by God’s infinte grace.

Thanks for reading!

My Realizations on Satisfaction part 1

The post discusses the struggle between desiring success and the need for satisfaction, particularly for individuals dealing with mental health issues. It highlights how trauma can hinder achievement, affecting self-esteem and confidence. The author encourages mental health fighters to forgive themselves for not meeting their success expectations, emphasizing understanding and compassion.

Everybody knows that they should be satisfied with what they have.

And yet they (including me) seek more success and more achievements.

And the funny thing is they can’t suppress their desire for success by telling themselves to be satisfied. No one can.

If you want success and you are not satisfied, don’t force yourself to be satisfied.

But sometimes, especially in the case of mental health fighters, one cannot fulfill all of their desires of success because of their traumatic mental illness related experiences and the time it takes to heal through medicines and counseling.

It’s like a handicap situation.

The hardships that people with mental illnesses go through leave them in a situation from where it’s difficult to achieve success with the same energy and force as before the mental illness.

Their self-esteem is damaged. Their self-confidence is damaged. Plus there are the symptoms of their specific mental illnesses.

And it takes a lot to have just a little success let alone more success.

So mental health fighters need to forgive themselves if they can’t do certain things or if they can’t perform at the level that’s required for achieving their expectations of success.

That’s what I wanted to write in this blog post.

Thank you for reading this blog post. And please comment if you struggled with mental illness and how you feel about success and satisfaction?