What should you do in life?

Last night at I saw a movie called vertical limit- Its about mountaineering and expidetions. A brother and sister who survived an accident, but their dad did not. How the two of them went apart after the tragedy, one becomes a national geographic photographer and one still is a climber and how life puts them in a similar situation and forces them to get over the past and start a beautiful present. A beautiful movie, makes me wonder what must one do in life.

I have been trekking at 18000 feet, hence I know what how impossible 26000 is. The ability to survive in 70% less oxygen and climb icy rocks seems like a super human effort. But the fact is that we are capable fo it and thats the power of the mind. The power of the human mind is something that we all just ignore, even when we have seen glimpses of it in our life time and again.

In my last trip to the Himalayas, I met a Nepali who had just moved to ladakh 5 months back. He said in his first trip, he was out of breath all the time, till his 6th...he became an expert. He ran 2 hrs ahead of all of us all the time. Another couple i met really made me wonder what i wanted in life. A brazilian couple come to India to conquer the rocky nubra valley over 5 days with 1 liter of petrol to cook, 5 liters of water to drink and backpacks, in which they were carrying all the equipment they needed in 5 days - tents, blankets, clothes...etc. It took them 6 days, the food was over on day 5..the day 6 was the toughest part, in which they lost their way...the end was just in sight...but there was no way of crossing the river to reach it...so they had to go back and climb two more mountains and then come to where we were.
The absolute tired look and the the feeling of satisfaction, I saw in their face, is something I have seen only a couple of times in my life.

I truly belive that when one is doing something, he should be the best at it or instead of relativity, he should be able to put his best in it. When one puts his absolute best in the work/ activity he does, it automatically becomes inspiring to all.

We go thorugh our lives coming to office at 9.30am and leaving at 7.00pm every day. Have we ever really felt satisfied. I have when some impossible target has been met, but the joy was not something I could share with bosses, as then it was about competition and comparisons, which only promote the rat race, which in the end of a race, whether i win or lose, i am just a rat. I could share the joy with a couple of my team mates as it was never the competitiveness that drove them.

Does competition motivate or does it prevent you from doing your best. At the first level, i think you can motivate through competition, but if you go a level deeper, i think it prevents anyone from giving their best performance. I also think by going a level deeper, you truly get out world class employees and work.

When I look back at any success in my life...one of which was climbing 18000 ft in icy terrain...the feeling of reaching the pass at top...was just about me and the mountains. When I got a 99/100 in mathematics in class X, it was just about me and my dad. Never have i compared my performance with another human, but yes I have constantly strived to prove to myself that I can be better at what i am doing.The feeling at the end of a task always tells me how have I performed.

In life i think its very important to constantly find opportunities of what you think is beyond your potential. The life I lead now, does this exist?. Which brings me back to the question....what should one do in life. Lead a life by the rules...and keep working 9-7 or .....

A Criminal's mind?

I am forced to wonder what makes people kidnap, rape, kill...

After all the contemplation of Reasonable doubt...yet the fact is that I hear a 3 yr old gets kidnapped for money, gang rape occurs as a norm and ex lovers put acid in their ex's mouth and kill her for revenge.

The human mind and all of its various shades has left me completed dazed.

It says in the Gita that the doer is not who does it, he is just a actor in the play of life who plays his part. If something good is supposed to happen to you acc to your karma, even a bandit will come and do good to you and if something bad is in store, your best friend will do it. So get over the concept of this person has done this and that and look at it as a event.

Is it that simple? Or is this just a way of consoling yourself or is it a way of giving yourself the power to accept all life's happennings I wonder.

That leads you back to the question what is the truth...?

Reasonable doubt

Being a big fan of "The Practice", I have often wondered about how we can use the concept of reasonable doubt in life!!!!

I think the best practitioner of this is my COO. He always doubts the faults in people and trusts the strengths. What a way of doing work!!! there you have a organisation of not the best, but yes the most motivated group of people who think they are the best..and the company keeps growing.

If all of us would give the verdict of not guilty if there was reasonable doubt in the crime that a person does, wouldent the world be a much better place to live in.

I have often observed that it is so easy to believe that a person doesnt like you...and if he says he does...you keep questioning it...do you really?
If only we doubt the negative and just believe the positive...this would be a different world.

A girl friend last week told me about a guy...who hit on both two women with exactly the same lines...the guy is good friend of mine..and in a second we both agreed that he was a fraud. But the fact is, he could have liked me earlier and now likes her, which is why he used the same lines which worked with women he hit on earlier. Isnt that ok for a guy to do. Yeah he isnt very deep...but it doesnt make him shallow...just non creative.

I remember I used to be like that in school...trust till proven non trust worthy...yes there were tears, there was a lot of short lived pain, but there was more love and fun then I experienced in a long time now.

Is life scattered or does it have a pattern?

Its funny how you find yourself standing on the edge of the cliff, time and again in life. I do think I can be accused of running from safety. Is that the best way to live, would'nt it just be better following protocol and adhering to what people say you must do. It would certainly be easier.

Being surrounded by people who want to be exactly like a boss, a movie star, or just like the other guy everyone else is looking upto.
Do we really know enuf of anyone to look upto them? Be it Gandhi, Kennedy or even when it comes to hating hitler.

Like they say, alls well when nothing goes wrong...but when things do go wrong...thats when your world crashes dowm. When your car is stolen, the insurance companies and the police are tough to handle, when targets dont happen..the boss and company is tough to handle, when you make a choice from your heart, the world is tough to handle.
Adhering and obedience is such a part of our up bringing that when it comes to being original..it becomes and adverse situation in life, like the ones mentioned earlier.

If you notice, there are patterns that keep repeating in your life..at work, in relationships, friendships,...in two radically different situations..there is a pattern. A professor once told me, if there is a pattern that keeps repeating in your life, there is a lesson you have not learnt, the moment you learn it, the pattern disappears. It stayed with me and i kept looking for the lessons...but i can safely say now that patterns are the law of nature...it will happen.

Lessons..i guess lifes best moments have happened completely unexpectedly, so you need not beat yourself up on learning life's lessons they come to you like the smell of Chanel No. 5 when you are able to locate it in a store in India and try it on!