Category: Life & Living

Great things happen within us

“If an egg is broken by outside force, life ends, if broken by inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from inside.”

This quote was very insightful for me. Many of us would have broken eggs for our breakfast, many times. We may have enjoyed an omelette but never thought about our action of breaking an egg from outside and thereby preventing a life to begin.

Every change in an individual or society ,begins from a realisation, from within. Imagine a dacoit, who has killed thousands of ordinary people for years. One day, she realises that it is not fair to kill people ,to make a living, when she loses her mother by an irresponsible act of someone. This insight comes within her and she surrenders to the police and leads a normal life, trying to serve the community thereafter, in whatever ways she can.

The freedom movement in India ,may have germinated ,in the minds and hearts ,of some freedom fighters. They thought it was possible and went ahead to challenge the British and win freedom for the country. This proves, that sometimes, enlightenment could be from within an individual and sometimes it could also be ,from a group of people.

In both these incidents, the awakening came from within and not from outside ,just like an egg breaking from within gives life to a chick and not the other way around.

One of the things, which many thinkers recommend is that, we should spend some quiet time, every day. If we close our eyes and think for ourselves in a blank state , We may get thoughts and ideas from nowhere and there could be some “aha” moments in our lives. This we need to experience, to believe.

Even when a popular leader is suffering from a terminal disease, we have heard of miracles, when mass prayers have healed the leader. The power from within us is more powerful than all external powers put together.

When we speak to a tree to bear fruit, since it has not borne fruit for long and we state we will NOT look after her expressing our anguish, it flowers and bears fruits! This may look amusing but it is true that humans do speak to trees and they respond.

We have also heard of mass prayers in almost all religious groups, when tragedy strikes a community. It could be a plane crash or an earthquake, when groups of people pray together for a common cause, the suffering people, feel better and recover faster.

I have seen a Labrador dog sensing her master’s distress ,without a word being spoken between them. This is the inner voice, which we are speaking and could be very powerful.

We need to remember that the force within us is more powerful than all forces outside us. Generally, We tend to focus on outside influencers and thereby blame others ,for our failures. If we focus within us, we may be able to take full control of our lives and make things happen.

Let us learn to look within us.

S Ramesh Shankar

22nd June 2025

Life never waits for anyone..

“Life will never wait for you to be okay. Get up, carry your burden and keep going.”

We may go through highs and lows in life, but we need to learn to move on ,as life does not stop for us ,at any stage. Both at work and in our personal life, just learn to move on.

Some of us may have missed a train or a flight in our life. It really disappoints us ,but the reality is that ,no train or bus or flight ,waits for any passenger, who is late. If you miss the bus, you have to catch another bus and your program may need an alteration.

Life is no different. We think, life will wait for us ,to be okay . It never happens. One may have missed a first division in school by a mark. You feel dejected ,but we need to learn from this experience and move on, determined to do better in college and in our future life.

We do face a lot of hurdles in life. Sometimes it could be personal tragedies ,like losing a near or dear one. At other times it could be missing a promotion at work. We need to learn ,to move on in life. We need to realise, that everyone faces some hurdle or the other ,and we have to learn from this and move on.

We sometimes put a brake in our lives ,due to some mishap. This can only derail ,our progress in life. Every derailment can teach us some lesson in life. We need to learn a lesson from that incident and move on.

If an athlete sprains a leg and stops while running a 400 metre race, she may not be able to make up with the others and thus may lose the race. The other athletes may not wait for her to get up, get treatment and then continue the race. This is the reality of life too.

Life never waits for us. It is like a running clock. Time never stops and if we waste our time, we are responsible for it and nobody else. We may lose the race of life and cannot blame anyone else.

Life is like climbing a mountain. If we reach the base camp and feel tired and take a break, we may temporarily feel good but the other mountaineers will move on and we may not be able to reach the peak, along with others.

We may also need to realise ,that there are some things in life, which we cannot delegate or give it to others and move on. Our disappointments, our failures are mostly due to our own limited efforts and hence we need to take responsibility and cannot blame anyone. The earlier we get over it and move on, the better it is for us.

We may sometimes think ,that we could catch the next flight or train but may realise , with disappointment that what we missed was the last flight or train on that day. The train or flight does not stop for us and that day will not come back for us in life.

Let us learn to move on in life from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

22nd June 2025

Live before you die

I am a born optimist. I always believe , that tomorrow is going to be better than today. I believe that there is always a sunrise ,after a sunset. We need to live, before we die. All of us have to die some day, somewhere. But, why do we need to die every day ,as if today is our last day on earth. Why not live and enjoy life ,as if today is our last day.

I remember reading a book on cancer, by a professional . This gentleman was working in a senior position in India. He got selected for a good role in the Middle East with excellent package and benefits. So, he packed up his bags and left. When he landed in Dubai, he was declared unfit for the job ,due to cancer ,during a routine pre-employment medical examination.

The choice before him was to give up in life and die every day for the rest of his life. But he chose to live ,before he died. Yes, he was disappointed of how an unknown disease ,has negatively impacted his life and career. He came back to India and converted this crisis, into an opportunity.

He wrote a book on cancer . His journey of dealing with this disease from detection ,till he was treated and returned to India ,and made this a new phase of his life. His book is inspiring ,to say the least. Many of us with this experience ,would have given up and died every day for the rest of our lives. But, he decided to live every day of the rest of his life, although he knew, death was knocking his doors every day.

Another story ,is that of a teacher I met in my neighbourhood, about twenty five years back, in the city I was working. . This teacher also got impacted by a life threatening disease. She could not afford the treatment but went through this crisis and decided to to live life every day. She lived on hope and inspired hope in the minds of her students and well wishers. She is hale and hearty today and living a contended life ,with her family.

There are innumerable stories in the public domain of men and women, who fight back and face life ,with their backs to the walls. They make the impossible, possible, by their hard work and dogged determination. They do not give up ,against all odds.

I know of children, who lost both their parents ,at a very young age and grew up in orphanages. They dreamt of accomplishing something in their life and they achieved it in spite of ,all possible limitations in their lives. We hear of children of martyrs in the defence forces, who join the defence even after losing their mother or father, in the battlefield.

These stories need to inspire us. We need to learn to live ,before we die. In my book, only the cowards would die before living. There is nothing in this world, which cannot be accomplished ,by individuals with a dream and an ability to “never give up”.

Let us learn to live before we die.

S Ramesh Shankar

19th May 2025