WHEN YOU DREAM, LEAVE NO OPTION, SEEK NO OPINION






















Pic.: Candice Correa




“Opinions are the cheapest commodities in the world.”  

I was a struggling twenty-something-young-man in Mumbai, when I first read it in Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’. All that I wanted to do, then, was to teach like my idol, Prof. Raman.


Did I get this dream, this desire, from someone around me – my parents, my friends, my relatives, my neighbors, my teachers or any www.coms?


Did I go around seeking their opinions: “How is the teaching field? Is there scope? Will I make enough money, name, fame? Is there security, Job satisfaction? Will students respect me, colleagues accept me? Will my skills be good enough – my English, my public-speaking, my subject knowledge? What about the social status… Will I find a bride? so on and so forth.”


By the way, did I have options – if not teaching, it is selling, accounting, managing or baby-sitting?
All that, as a young-stranger in this big city, I dreamt of was to become a fine teacher like my role-model. I needed nothing more, nothing less… I needed no one’s opinion, no one’s permission… What didn't work for others was not important… It would work for me, if I pursued it with all my heart, focus and determination… ‘Think and Grow Rich’ had made it clear to me. It was drilled into my heart, that whatever my mind conceived and my heart believed, I could achieve!


Life never came with guarantees and warranties to anyone, anytime in the past. And, it will never come so, to anyone, anytime in the future, too. If we approach Life with trust and self-belief, if we believe in the Law of Abundance, then, it is easy for us to approach Life with least anxiety.


“Don’t ask if there will be a place for you in this world,” I remind the young-ones, “when you are ‘clear’ about where you want to be, the Universe carves a place for you!” I add, “When you dream, leave no option, seek no opinion… For, opinions are the cheapest commodities in the world!”


Arrogance?


Not if I say it with enough self-care…


GERALD D’CUNHA




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...