Gerald D'Cunha

  Pic.: Sherry Haridas “You can count the seeds in an apple, but you can’t count the apples in a seed.  When you teach, you will never know how many lives you will influence… you are teaching for eternity.” -Jensen   Y esterday was Mahashivratri. At 8, at night, I was on my way home when I saw someone hurrying towards me. “Good evening sir; do you remember me?” “Oh yes, yes... I do,” I said extending my hand to the young-man, “So, what’s happening?” “Sir, you used to repeatedly remind me about studying well and focus on my career;” the young-one said genuinely, “but, I never listened to you... I, now, regret.” In times like this, I do not remind the young-ones about their past mistakes, all over again. So, I pressed the young-man’s hand and said, “Don’t worry, tell me what you have been doing since I saw you last?” The last time I had seen the young-man was some six years ago. He w...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza “Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top... Then you will see how low it was!” P lease mark this: I read this, yesterday, on Amitabh Bachchan’s FB Post - ‘Wednesday Words’... And, if the legend himself says so – endorses these words – then, I will buy them, blindly, for any price! Our dreams or nightmares are both mountains before us. If we stand at the foothills, we will look like a million-time smaller than even ants, and, the size of the Goliath before us would make us numb with fright! So, the Wednesday Words shared by Amitabh Bachchan remind us never to look at a mountain from its feet... It is just not possible to climb it, unless we do it in our minds first... Unless we believe we can...and, unless we believe we have already done! “If you have faith as small as the size of a mustard seed,” Jesus Christ’s famous words come to rem...

Pic.: Sherry Haridas T he first thing I saw, this morning, on my FB Home-page was a set of serene pictures my friend Sherry had uploaded. He is presently vacationing in Kerala and he had captured the quiet beauty of nature, early in the morning, and uploaded those pictures for his friends… I was so impressed, that I immediately commented: “Hi Sherry, I do not know... I am amazed by this new discovery of your passion (nature photography)! This is a classic example for ‘The Law of Abundance’.... There is so much there out, freely available, for all of us... All that we need to do is: make ourselves available... Just yesterday, I had blogged based on Bob Marley's famous line: "Some feel the rain; others just get wet!" You are one of those who 'feel' the rain... there out! God bless! Love.” The next thing I saw was this comment from Gauvtham Bajaj, a dear student and friend, who lives in Canada. A Post of mine, which I ha...

  Pic.: Sherry Haridas   “Some people feel the rain; others just get wet.” - Bob Marley W hy don’t we open up easily before others? Opening up before another person means exposing our vulnerabilities… and, that’s something very, very scary! But, then, unless we trust another person and open up, expose our vulnerability, we really can not feel the closeness… we really can not build a rock-steady relationship with another human. Our unpleasant experience comes on the way of our readiness to open up, become vulnerable… The fear of being perceived weak, fear of being attacked, coming out hurt, fear of being misunderstood, controlled, manipulated and even destroyed and so on… So, even if our hearts prompt us to open up, show our vulnerabilities to the other person, the mind overpowers us… doubt and fear bring about lack of trust, and, consequently, we remain in our shells… Closed… I magine, if I...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza I t is not always that I become aware of my breath. But, whenever I do, it can be truly a moving experience… Like at this very moment… I have become strikingly aware of each breath I take… It is as though I am learning something about me for the first time in my life…! W ho has put breath into me? How is it going on, with such a perfect rhythm, and unfailingly, without me having to do anything about it? Why is that I hardly think about it? Why am I taking it for granted? What does each inhale and exhale remind me? Why can’t I choose only inhale and refuse to exhale? Can I claim a single breath more than what God has allotted to me? What if He takes me off His ventilator? A s I told you, a solitary profound-moment is enough to make me realize what a priceless blessing Life is… and, how casually I take it… how thanklessly I, often, behave! Every time I set out to achieve som...

    Pic.: Sherry Haridas “Most people live and die with their music still unplayed…   They never dare to try.” -          Mary Kay Ash S ome twenty-two years ago, one day, Kasinath, a dear student and friend of mine, had gifted the book - ‘May Kay on People Management’. I was, then, in my early thirties. I had not heard about this woman before, and, on receiving that book, I remember falling in love with her, instantly! Well, literally! Mary Kay’s phenomenal success - as a charismatic beauty-business entrepreneur (Mary Kay Cosmetics) and as a compelling motivator, and her evangelistic passion for women empowerment – all this had flagged off when any other man or a woman would think of some quite days of retirement. Yes, she found her real calling in life and took the big plunge - with practically nothing in hand except her undying zeal, passion and vision - only after he...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsh T rue, we feel safe in our respective comfort zones… just as ships anchored in harbors feel! And, just as ships are not built to be forever anchored in harbors – in stead, to sail the volatile seas – in life, we, too, are expected to move out of our respective comfort zones – our safe harbors - and discover new destinations… Fear holds us back. In his endearing fable - ‘Who Moved my Cheese’, Dr. Spencer Johnson beautifully captures this human tendency to hold on to our comfort zones, even when we have no reason to be there anymore… that is, even when we find ourselves in a cheeseless station… Yes, when times change and when our cheese is all gone, instead of beating our fear of the unknown, we tend to react angrily – “Who moved my cheese?” Yes, we tend to get stuck there expecting someone to come and put back cheese in our stations! ...

Pic.: Amrita Jeurkar   I n my Post, yesterday, I spoke about Mark Zuckerberg… his revolutionary creation called Facebook, and how, barely in a span of ten years, Facebook has become such a colossal organization, making 29-year-old Mark worth close to 28-billion US-dollars! I did not want to tell my readers, that, if Mark could do it, we all can… What I wanted to tell was: There is that field of abundance, and it is never, ever going to run empty… It is the invisible field – the thin air – and, it is the source of all epic achievements…and, yes, above all, I wanted to tell this: that field is open for each and every one of us… We need to just make our claim, very, very, very earnestly… We need to ask, seek and knock! But, then, someone asked me, this morning: “Sir, is it important for me, in life, to be ‘great’ like Mark Zuckerberg?” Now, the man who had asked me this question worked in a bank. I have known him for last ten ...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza I f Face book is, now, just ten-year old, its founder, Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, is just 29! Well, he became a billionaire at the age of 23… and, now, his personal wealth is estimated to be close to 28-billion Us-dollars! Not bad for one who was not born into any wealthy family or surrounded by any powerful men and women to pull strings for him! He and some of his friends were merely a bunch of Harvard campus-kids… And, what started as some fun-activity to connect the campus kids has, today, become what it is… the Behemoth called ‘Face book’! The guy like me - and the guy in the remotest village of not only my country but also of any country - knows the power and potential of the idea that had come to Mark from    thin air! I am simply inspired, simply overawed by such a phenomenon. Always! “Thoughts are things!” This was how I had first learnt about such a phenomenon from Napoleon Hill’s class...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza A good friend of mine is a trustee in one of the well-known educational institutions. I received a phone-call from him a while ago. “Sir, I need your help,” he said in a genuine tone, “I want you to come with me, today, to one of our institutes to talk to a group of about twenty young-students who have been persistently misbehaving with other students, peons and even teachers.” Apparently, some of these young kids had beaten-up the school peons, last evening, so badly that there was a demand from the staff and the management to take these young kids to the police and, if required, to expel them from the school. It is the fag-end of the academic year. My friend, being the youngest trustee of this institute, was, somehow, not willing to take the extreme step. He hoped, that, if one more chance was given to these youngsters, coupled with good counseling, it would serve the true purpose of education… A holistic and refor...

              Pic.: Amrita Jeurkar   “More important than talent, strength, or knowledge is the ability to laugh at yourself and enjoy the pursuit of your dreams.”   - Amy Grant S ometimes, I really think, how blessed one’s life can be, if he knows how to laugh at himself - his mistakes, his problems, his limitations and ignorance! Going about our daily lives wearing a light heart is, in deed, a great virtue… an endowment far beyond the measure and treasure called money! The laughing man is the wealthiest man on this planet! What is the use of all our academic, psychological and spiritual ‘gyaan’ , if we aren’t able to laugh at life’s harsh realities? What are we accumulating that wisdom for, if we have to only go about wearing grim masks all the time, everywhere in life? This world has lasted this long, and, it will last for thousands of years to come… So, sir, let’s chill a littl...