Compare & Improve ~ This Week

SALT ~ This week ~ Compare

Recently in a casual discussion with a friend I came across a very interesting thing. On a usual cup of coffee with my friends we were discussing various issues when suddenly the topic of weight came up. Women being what they are, we all started rattling about our own struggles with weight loss. One of my friends seemed to be very disinterested in this discussion. When we asked for her opinion, she just shrugged her shoulders and said,” If you compare yourself with the size zero avatars you are definitely FAT. But if you compare yourself with someone fatter than yourself, you are not. It’s about what you are comparing yourself with!”

I was dumbstruck listening to this. It was such an excellent way of looking at things and put across so nicely. This thought refused to leave me long after I had reached home. Her words kept on echoing in my ears. It was an eye opening experience for me. Why did I never think about this before? This seemed to be such a perfect solution to so many problems that we are surrounded with. I think all of us have fallen into the rut of making simple things complex. You remember the story we were told in school. How do we make a line shorter without touching it?? By drawing a bigger line below it. Similarly how do you count your blessings? By comparing yourself with the less fortunate.

Luckily I got a chance to try this school of thought with another friend of mine. She was going through a very rough phase professionally and she kept on crying about how she had reached a dead end where things just didn’t seem to improve. I decided to highlight the better aspects of her life which she had chosen to ignore. I began with the wonderful parents she had, added a loving fiance to the list, along with some caring siblings and ended it with the fabulous friends she could count on always. She suddenly stopped crying and was gaping at me with eyes wide open. For a moment I got scared wondering in case I had pressed the wrong button. And the next moment she started hugging me and thanking me profusely. She felt that she had been a fool this long to not see the good side and only see the rough phase that life had presented her with. She finally concluded that with such people around her these rough phases are not difficult to cross. I was smiling from within and thinking, “WOW!! This works.”

Since then I haven’t left a single chance to implement this lesson and trust me the results are spectacular. It seems I am living in a different world altogether which is full of endless possibilities. Life’s simple ways of teaching us such beautiful lessons leave me amazed.

Lesson Learnt : The gift of life is life itself. Don't waste it complaining about the other things which are unimportant .Don't let this distract you from the main motive of living and enjoying every moment of life.If looked closely each one of us has our list of boons in disguise in our lives.

P.S: After this experience, whenever anyone tells me I am FAT; I smile back and say, “Definitely, I am PHAT (Pretty Hot and Tempting)…Thanks for the compliment!”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

PEPPER ~ This week ~ Improve

Since the day I have been born to till date the one most common feedback I hear is “You need to improve” From my school results to my professional appraisals the only thing which seems to be the highlight is that there is immense scope of improvement. However much you do, something or the other just seems to lack in it.

I had been toiling hard for the whole year at my previous job. At the time of appraisal my heart was beating fast anticipating some appreciation for my hard work. The telephonic conversation started like you have done some brilliant work in this year...Blah blah…..But it could still have been better. Whoa…. I was getting “you know the pink could have been more pink and the red more redder” types of feedback!!! 

Even while growing up I was kind of accustomed to feedback like, “You are very short tempered – you need to improve.”  I have free advisors readily available to pour their advices on me which range on anything from my weight to my behaviour to my dressing to my talking. On a lighter note I sometimes feel that even the way I breathe might need improvement!

Over the years the only thing that has changed is the topic or area of improvement while the need for improvement just doesn’t diminish. It constantly keeps on resurfacing time and again in some form or other. Life seems to be a constant strive for improvement for me. And yes I am improving.

I-M-PROVING myself to the world!!! :)

Lesson Learnt : The strive for improvement is of two types. One where you genuinely need to improve and the other where you are already excellent but you need to prove it to others as well.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-