A time to reflect...

The ability to feel and understand the importance of striving for the better, of improving or trying to improve your own self, your lifestyle, your every action, is an important and essential ability. Because if a person who is contented with his life, who thinks that he has achieved all there is to achieve, that the state of affairs could not be much better than the present, anyone who starts thinking like this, or develops such a mind-set, effectively puts the last nail in his coffin. Because you are alive only when your mind is full of ideas, innovation, drive, initiative. All these things, little though they may seem are part and parcel of leading a successful and fulfilling life. And it is all the more important because it is in line with the teachings of Islam, the religion for life, the whole way of life. We say it very easily, but actions define our intentions and we only have to look around you to realize how many are truthful while saying it. Imagine yourself sitting in a dinghy old crowded road side restaurant, eating the dilutest dish of pulses you have ever seen, in plates washed in a bucket full of grey water. And imagine for a moment you are enjoying it. Yes you read it correctly, you are enjoying that dish. Imagine also that it is not your only choice, that you are a well off person who can afford a 3 course dinner in a 5 star hotel, in an up scale area of the city, with eminent personalities sitting beside you. Yet you chose this dinghy old roadside restaurant, all because you think that why put in the effort to go to that hotel, which is, for all its perks, an hour’s drive away, while this road side restaurant is a 5 minutes walk from where you live. This is the feeling I am talking about. One starts to be contented with anything life has to offer. As long as there is no struggle involved, everything is fine, good, oh couldn't be better. And living in this delusion is a recipe for disaster. When one makes it the epicentre of his life, all his actions get affected by this state of mind. He doesn't put in effort for anything requiring more than just the smallest of efforts. He gets up in the morning, misses his prayers of course because that is an effort, goes to mess where food is served at his chair, goes to class, comes back to room. Not a thing more. He has a test, he starts the pc. Sees the screen for half an hour, informs his mind that he has prepared, gives the test, fails in it, does nothing because he is contented with whatever marks he got. His university, one of the best universities in the country, where the environ is reeking of competition, of the race to success, is heaven for him. All because he is contented with what he has, what (if any) skills he has, what he has achieved, nothing more. No sir absolutely not. He is in a fool’s paradise. And he enjoys it. Its ok if all his degree mates are sweating away in projects, societies, whatever. Let them do it. He is contented. He has all the things I could possibly wish for. And here his growth stops. Here his life ends. He is an avid fan of Paulo Coelho, the great life changing writer. Oh yeah life changing experiences and such stuff, that’s his speciality  But he reads it, closes the book and bang! It’s gone. None of the stuff registers with him. There is a line written somewhere about some people who cease to live after some point in their life. Because they stop exploring new options, doing new and crazy things, the thirst for adventure, it all stops. And that is where their life ends. He is experiencing the same thing. He has come to a full stop. Yeah there are a plethora of things to do, ace in studies, do a fantastic project, be a great orator, enhance your personal skills, land an awesome job, or better still, start an awesome venture, travel around the world. Oh yes he is not short of ideas, no one is. He is devoid of any wish, any dream he may have had in the past. No more, it’s all gone. All because he has lost the will, the will to do anything.