Posts tagged inspiration
We love to have a master
0I have long believed that we humans are genetically inclined to worship those who are more talented or those we think are above us. We worship a god who is beautiful and better than us in all ways. Adoration gives us pleasure. It comforts us to be able to serve.
From the ancient times we are not the masters but the servants. The first recorded king and queen in human history Paco! Narmer and his Queen Nthotep ruled Egypt, way back, around 3150 BC. When a human master was not enough, we invented a god, a MASTER above all gods. The need of a master comes from our animal instincts. We tamed animals, we are their masters, but what we are? Scientifically speaking we are over-developed apes, we are animals and thus we need a master.
Now when we are more evolved, We don’t believe in a master our ancestors invented. Now we choose our masters. We chose our gods. As children we sleep beneath the images of movie stars, pop-icons and sports-stars and dream about the mystery and grandeur of their lives. For some Sachin Tendulkar is god. For some it’s Steve Jobs / Linus Torvalds (LOL!). We serve them. We drink what they tell us to drink, we live to please them, even when our masters are not watching. As adults these posters comes off the wall only to be replaced by a steady stream of tabloid culture. We prefer jobs in multinational to serve a master. Even when we start our own enterprise, the first thing we do is put up a big poster with “Client is God” written all over it. What’s more? we are not satisfied with our masters. We love to ‘have’ a master, but we hate our current master. We want to see them fall with the hope that next one will be more benevolent. Before marriage a boy treats a girl like his master. He becomes a servant so good that even dogs envy him. But after marriage.. “Wife is evil” we say.
In todays fast-food life and 2-minute noodles, we can’t have one singles master bossing us around for years. We love to see them fall from their grace. It is much more fun when it is self-inflicted. Nothing beats the good old crucifixion of Jesus Christ. We love to read about scandals in those rags.
I have a theory for our this behavior. The answer lies again in our genes, in our DNA that we want to survive. We have a survival instinct. We want to survive at any cost. Deep down, we see the existence of superior people – people who are more beautiful and talented than us – as a threat. When these talented people fuck-up in an enormous way, we can’t help but think that it somehow improves our chances of survival. We feel better than our masters (remember the joy you had when your boss screwed up?). Every animal has this survival instinct, no amount of evolution can suppress it. Quoting the famous words of Chuck Lorre – “Evolution My Ass!”
I think we should do anything we want, be our own masters. We should have a free will. We haven’t tried that for a while. Maybe this time it’ll work. :-p
10 Things that make me feel good
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1.) Successful Compilation : When a program on which I’ve spent more than one hour compiles successfully it gives me immense pleasure. I hate debugging my code. Sometimes I prefer starting from scratch than debugging the code. It’s maybe cause of my messy coding habits like not using code comments and cramming code into one line (to reduce LOC and yes! I use KLOC as an effort matrix).
2.) Sleeping :
Not LOL-Cat - It's sleepy cat!
Who doesn’t feel good after a long nap of 8-10 hours? At times i can even sleep for 20 hours straight. Sleeping is an activity which you can do anyplace.We do it in class, we do it in buses, heck, we sometime do it in the loo too… Zzzzz…
3.) New Releases : Be it softwares/ games or movies – new always feels good. Do you remember how you were up all night when last Harry Potter book was going to release or when you got your hands on that Google+ invite, how much good it felt to finally try something new? New Feels Good, FullStop!
4.) TV shows : How I met your mother, The Big bang Theory, Raising Hope, , Breaking Bad, Mentalist, Glee or Friends. These TV shows create a world of their own. Ever had discussion with a friend that how you are more like Sheldon (Yo! Aditya, you reading this?) or when will Ted finally meet THE GIRL? You know we all debated over it. Watching these shows gives me a temporary escape from my hectic life. Watching them makes me feel good!
5.) Alternative Rock : Yellowcard, Linkin Park, Hoobastank, All American Rejects or Greenday… These are the gods of modern Alt Rock scene. Music soothes my soul, it inspires me. The lyrics have a lesson in each line. Music makes me feel good.
6.) Talking to friends :I am sort of an introvert when it comes to initiating conversations but i love gossiping with my friends. Whoever said men don’t gossip was a fool. Men do gossip except the topics change rapidly. One minute we are talking about last match between ManU and Chelsea the next we are discussing Demi Moore’s new photos (BTW you gotta check out the photos she posted yesterday on twitter.. it’s booyah!). Talking to friends makes me feel good.
7.) Looking at old pictures :
Leafing through my school yearbook & old family albums & laughing at my hairstyle, posture, dressing & face. Some of it is embarrassing alright; but then, that is how I started & then reached to being who or what I’m today. My personal growth & the journey of finding my own bearings, in this big, big world, fills me with joy & a sense of accomplishment..
8.) Learning something new : Someone told me once “Losers count the days, winners make the days count”. Each day I try to learn something new. A new word, a new trick to get that buggy software running, a new way to write some code. Sometimes I learn small things, sometimes life teaches me big things. It makes me realize that it’s the journey that matters, not the end. Learning helps me stay ahead, learning keeps me from falling and when I do fall, learning helps me stand up. Learning makes me feel good. 
9.) Helping someone or getting help from someone : 
When i help someone and he/she shows appreciation, it makes me feel good. Knowing that I matter for someone other than myself makes me feel good. At the same time when someone helps me, it feels good, that they think I’m worth helping.
10.) Discussions with my father : My father is my best friend. I never needed to hide anything from him. We talk everything, from movies to business. Sometimes I just sit there in front of him and he can deduce what i am thinking. We talk about 1 hour on phone daily (which is 95% of my phone time). I am an atheist, but if there is a God, for me, he is in my father. Being with my dad makes me feel good.
What makes you feel good?
Searching for Inspiration
0Regret for wasted time is more wasted time. – Mason Cooley
Have you ever found yourself lost in a crowd? Cursing yourself, about the lack of inspiration you are feeling lately? I did too.
I spent past 3 days sulking, blaming the universe for being against me and practically doing nothing but sit around on my butt. It’s one of those times when you are extra moody and annoyed with every little good or bad thing. The lack of inspiration makes you think there is something seriously wrong with either you or the world and you feel the world is at fault more. “I am good, I’m a perfect son, a brilliant student, a caring friend and an overall nice guy, why I have to deal with shit, when the world is enjoying out there”. You spend more time thinking about how your problems affect you, when you should be solving them. And then you suddenly wake up from this slumber, figuring out to get back on your feet like I am trying.
The power is inside you!
I got a call from my dad last night. We talked like usual and at the end of the call, he said – be happy. He always says that, but this time he gave a little more emphasis on it. Like he realized that I was going through a rough patch. 2 words – “be happy”, they don’t sound much but if you read that carefully, those two words contain whole world’s wisdom.
The words don’t mean that you should always be smiling to the world and be gloomy inside. It means that you need to put effort in being happy. If something annoys you, instead of ignoring it, you should deal with it.
In my search for wisdom I came across this inspirational video of Carnegie Mellon University professor, Dr. Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008), titled “The Last Lecture” or “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.”
Dr. Randy Pausch talked about how to live life and how you can achieve your dreams by just trying. Don’t complain, Just work harder. We all have finite time on our hands, we can spend it either complaining or playing the game hard. If you succeed in first try, that’s good, if not, it’s better. Failure is just another brick wall, waiting to be demolished by your sheer strength of passion. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: Every artist was first an amateur.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be changed from one form to another, so either we can channel our energy to form dreams or we can waste it on complaining and form a state of despair.
Analyzing myself, I found there are three reasons behind lack of inspiration which are lack of – 1. Confidence, 2. Focus and 3. Direction.
To boost your confidence be ready to try new ideas. The more you apply your brain, the more you will be confident in your abilities to solve problems. Have no fear of failure. As Michael Jordan said :
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
So take a shot. You are missing 100% of the shots you are not taking. Focus on what you have rather than what you want. Focus on the result and put all your energy on a single task.
I know sometimes we need a quick dose of inspiration just to jump that one last hurdle. So here is 8 things you can do to get an extra boost of inspiration.
1.) Search YouTube for inspirational videos – there are countless of them there. Search the terms – ‘inspirational speech’, ‘increase willpower’ or ‘how to win’ and see yourself.
2.) There are some really inspirational podcasts out there. Listen to them. I suggest : “The Moth Podcast” or “Inspiring Words of Encouragement by Zig Zigler“.
3.) Read books. Not just motivational books, but any fiction or non-fiction book. Books introduce you to new ideas.Learning new ideas puts your brain in motion, so it requires less time to speed up to your tasks.
4.) Make a list of all the positive things about your current project. Focus on why you should do it. Read this list each day and update it if you feel like it.
5.) Work for 5 minutes : Tell yourself to work for five minutes. That’s just enough to get you started. It works almost every time. The perfect example is this blog post, I just wanted to write 10 lines, now half hour later, I’m about to finish it.
6.) Talk to your family : Talk to your loved ones. Tell them about how you are feeling. They may know a solution to your problem.
7.) Get out of the bubble :- If you’re in a bubble, you desperately need to get out. You’re missing out on a thrilling adventure. What is a bubble? Essentially, it’s staying in your comfort zone. And no, your eating Maggi, day and night doesn’t cut it or make it any better.
8.) Inspire Others : If you spend time inspiring others, that means you are inspiring yourself too and that’s what I’m trying to do here. It’s a feeling which you can not describe in words. If you have said inspiring words to anyone, you know what I’m talking about.
In the end I want to close this article with my dad’s simple words :
Your biggest source of inspiration is YOU!