All of us have ups and downs in life. We go through crests and troughs and have to own up both of these cycles in our lives. We are delighted when something good happens to us. But, when something unfortunate happens, we are down and out. It is human and there is nothing to feel bad about it.

It may be worthwhile to reflect at this point. Who is responsible for it ? While at the spur of the moment, we may conveniently blame others in our life, in reality the onus of responsibility for our behaviour and actions lies wholly and solely on us, as individuals.

Our past does not determine our future. But our actions determined our past and the same will craft our future. We also need to realise that our behaviour impacts people around us and we are responsible for the same. We are human and may make mistakes. It is important to realise our mistakes and seek forgiveness wholeheartedly and from the bottom of our hearts.

We need to realise that we cannot and will not succeed in this world all alone. We need family, friends and colleagues to succeed in work and in life. So whenever we make mistakes, we need to have the courage to stand up and own them and seek unconditional apology from the people whom we may have adversely impacted.

The sun rises the next day after every sunset everywhere in the world. Similarly, if we go through downs today, there would be ups in the future. This is the cycle of life and nature. We need to live on this hope always.

While we need to live on hope, we also need to take responsibility for all our actions and behaviour in life and at work. If we are willing to change and accept responsibility for our actions, tomorrow will always be better than today.

None of us want to live a life of misery. We would never like to hurt others or make life difficult for our near and dear ones in life. But if by any chance we do either, we need to stand up and own responsibility for our behaviour and actions.

“To err is human, to forgive divine” goes the saying. We need to learn to forget and forgive each other in such situations and move on in life. Forgiveness is Godliness. It may be difficult to forget and forgive others. But, if we have the courage to do it, we will discover the humanness in us.

I am a born optimist in life. I have always believed that the future is going to be better than the past. But we need to create the future of our choice by our own actions and behaviours in life.

The future will not dawn on us from the sky. We shape our future by our own actions. Let not the dark days of the past worry us too much as we need to live on hope and believe that the sunshine of tomorrow will wipe away all the tears from our past lives.

Let the journey begin today.

S Ramesh Shankar

5th Dec 2023