LANDING AMONG THE STARS

 



“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with

what you can do.”

John Wooden, basketball player and coach

 

I just returned from my younger brother Vivek’s house. His daughter Riya’s Class-12 Board-exams have started. She has taken Science. Like all her counterparts, Riya, too, knows the importance of ‘percentage’… That, if she doesn’t score ‘high’, she will not be able to get into what she wants to. She knows, that she has to work hard – burn the candle from both ends…

But, I know my brother Vivek and his wife, Hemangi… They are neither helicopter parents, nor marks-maniacs. “Science was your choice… So, make the most of that choice.” … This is what the prevailing philosophy at home is. Thus, Riya is reasonably good… reasonably motivated… reasonably tensed. Not ‘High on anything’… Not at all.

Today, when I went into her little gupha – her study room that is – I saw her walls packed with photos, paper-cuttings, timetables, reminders, quotes, pictures of her heroes and sheroes… and this:

 

 


 

I smiled and, instantly, clicked a picture… My blog was born!

“She has put it up there after months of cajoling her to bring more focus, “Hemangi told me, “Hope she comes close to that.”

I think, ‘Coming close to that, or somewhere around that’ – yes, it is not important. The reminder, that ‘I am capable of achieving 99.9%,’ which means, ‘I have that potential,’ – yes, this reminder is important.

Thus, if Riya says she has the potential, let her consciously keep reminding herself about it. God willing, if she doesn’t come close to that, she will have to equally be conscious in reminding herself, that she has not been working to her ‘full potential’… or, that she has something else in store for her, in life…

“Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss,  you’ll land among the Stars.” Whenever I revisit this quote, I ask these questions:

“Are not Stars brighter and more authentic than the Moon in the gigantic galaxy? And, are there not countless Stars as against that solitary Moon, up there?”

Therefore, knowing what you want is very, very, very important for success in any field on this Planet. As the wise say, “When you know what you want, the Universe will conspire in your favour.”

So, Riya, take a chill pill as you do your bhagam bhag…

You see, you have rightly left out that crucial  0.1%!



REFLECTION:

We need well-defined goals as constant reminders to reach there. When those goals come from within, motivation to work towards them, too, comes from within. Results, we all know, are not in our control. But, the work and the efforts are.

Our self-motivation is, always, linked to the goals that we set for ourselves… through our Faith.

Fear should be out.


 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: 1 & 3 Pixabay  2. Ritesh D'Cunha

Video: Deshbhakt

 

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