IT IS WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT BEHIND THAT COUNTS
| Date :23-Jun-2019 |
By T G L IYER:
In World War-II Sergeant Paratrooper HAROLD RUSSEL lost his hands in an accident during training. Naturally, he was overwhelmed by a sense of failure and defeat! He was terrified at the idea of going through life with steel-hooks instead of real hands. He dreaded leaving the hospital someday and going out among the people again. He did not care much whether he lived or died. Such feelings come to everyone when disaster strikes suddenly and unexpectedly. One day CHARLEY MCGONEGAL who had lost his hands in World War-I visited RUSSEL in the Hospital. He made the injured RUSSEL see that the first and greatest obstacle he had to overcome was himself. He had to conquer his bitterness and fear in the preliminary days. He had to become reconciled to his loss and adjust himself to the loss. A quotation from EMERSON had always helped him “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else! It is true in life that something lost is regained and life rolls on”. In my own career, I was fairly good-looking but when I grew old, I lost my hair, teeth, hearing and movement. Many wise men told me that it was a natural thing to happen. I had to reconcile myself to the situation. Meanwhile, I fell one day and fractured by hip bone. The doctor, an eminent surgeon, told me that I have to live with the situation and it depended on my own patience and reconciliation.
But an asset. I had was that I could write unlike persons who quiver and lose clarity with that asset, I went on writing, published articles which gave me great satisfaction I believed that when things happen there is also a compensation. At 92 I still write my articles instead of dictating to another or a machine. I heard an inner whisper which said that “You are not crippled, you are merely handicapped!” Most people hypnotise themselves with getting things they don’t want instead of getting things they want. Use the subconscious mind freely on benefits which come unlimited. The subconscious mind responds to stimuli and pressure. The mind can absorb and release negative thoughts also. So we have to be careful what is fed into the mind so that goodness is retained and bad things are thrown out. One advice I had early in life was not to carry my problems while going to sleep. Many people have the habit of worrying for nothing and get disturbed while going to bed.
We all cannot know our eventual destination. But if you listen to your heart and follow your passion, opportunity will not only find you but will relentlessly pursue you. A wise man once told me “You should not allow opportunities to look at you. On the other hand, you should look for opportunities and open the door for opportunities to come in. Very often, you don’t notice or perceive an opportunity. When you don’t perceive an opportunity, you don’t conceive a plan and when you don’t conceive a plan, you don’t naturally implement it.” Being better is a big opportunity. Don’t wait to be better until you are forced to do by the market. Be better by working harder and willingly doing a thing instead of being forced to do it. Opportunities never come fully formed at the conception stage. The vision of the end result may not be clear. What should be clear is the determination to excel and raise the bar. Opportunity favours the prepared and preparation does not mean detailed planning. Preparation merely means learning and the road to go ahead.
Missing an opportunity is great tragedy because, it may not come again. The great problem of manufacturing is to get the largest possible result with least possible expenditure and the least wear and tear of the machinery. The great problem with men in every business is how to get the maximum income with minimum outlay. We find many people in every field of life whose careers are disappointing, simply because they do not keep themselves in a physical and mental condition to do their best, the highest thing possible to them. Once the best is done, don’t wait for results! Why is it that some people have more and other have less opportunities in life?
But this is an illusion. The truth is that everyone everywhere have equal opportunities but don’t notice them. People who seem to have more opportunities are the ones who notice them, conceive plans and implement them to receive benefits. If the opportunity is tempting, you should be attempting to grab them, use them and derive benefits. Perhaps, you can’t predict what is between you and your destination. Go as far as you can see and when you get there you can see farther. People who can’t get the good things in life are the ones who are blind and can’t see.