Gerald D'Cunha

  “Live a life as a monument to your soul.” Ayn Rand   O ne of the highly motivational books, which I had read over and over again, was Dr. Robert Schuller’s ‘Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do.” Dr. Schuller had convincingly sold his ‘success philosophy’ to his readers as ‘Possibility Thinking’... Please note: Dr. Schuller was drilling into our heads, that only Positive Thinking wouldn’t take us anywhere... We needed to be practical, by applying ‘Possibility Thinking.” And, in his bestselling book - ‘Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do’, Dr. Schuller graphically narrated to us the story of building his dream project – ‘The Crystal Cathedral’ in Garden Grove, California... Yes, how a smalltime, countryside Pastor conceived and achieved a mammoth dream through his practical philosophy – ‘Possibility Thinking.” Crystal Cathedral (now Christ Cathedra), Garden Grove, California I t was the early eighties... Here, in the city of Mumbai, I was a newcomer...

  “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain. But, all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” Andy Rooney   T wo days ago, my wife and I were watching the latest NETFLIX series ‘Hello Bachhon’. It’s the story of widely popular (and successful) teacher Alakh Pandey... how he started teaching Physics through YouTube and, eventually, became a sensation, scaling it up – and up – and up... into brand ‘Physics Wallah’. Yes, like every success story of an underdog, we found it very inspiring... Alakh Pandey Sir had a hard time while doing his studies. He genuinely wanted to help students who couldn’t afford to pay high coaching fees for competitive exams. So, from the depth of that sincere intent, his pursuit to reach a wider audience kept growing, and kept even growing... There is this disturbing scene in the last episode... A young IIT aspirant, under tremendous pressure and frustration, ends up taking an unthinkable step... Well, while wat...

  “What makes people weak? Their need for validation and recognition,  their need to feel important.  Don’t get caught in this trap.” Paulo Coelho   T he proof of the pudding is in the in the eating. Meaning, your theory – the inspiring words, the positive philosophy, and, even, the most sincere love and trust – yes, in the end, it doesn’t matter much... The final outcome, the result – it does. No matter in how many ways I try to tell a parent, “Your kid will do well in life, please relax,” – the parent wants the kid to do well in the ‘exams’ in hand... This means, if the kid shines in the exams in hand, the kid will shine in life, as well... I want to see the result – now...  I want to taste the pudding – now... I want the proof. From my years of teaching experience, I can safely tell the anxious parents this: Every kid will have to find his own garden and his own time to bloom. Today, he may not catch up with his piers... and, that’s perfectly ...

  “Sometimes, truths are what we run from; sometimes, they are what we seek.” R. D. Ronald   “L ook at me when I teach; your eyes listen more than your ears.” Invariably, I say this to my young students, a dozen times, every day. From my teaching experience of nearly five decades (I started teaching when I was about 17… and, this month, I will be 67!), I have come to realize this: We fully ‘listen’ when our ears and eyes both pay attention. In fact, eyes do a better job… But, then, I have realized this, too… The ears may hear and eyes may see, but true listening takes place only when our hearts are open, only when we listen from our hearts… So, fifty years or hundred years – I wonder, how many of my students have really ‘learnt’, really paid attention to my teaching… And, that applies to me as well - to their teacher… F or fifty long years, have I taught those thousands of young kids with my full attention… with the clean intention to help them, guide them, emp...

  “ All the shine of a thousand spotlights, All the stars we steal from the night sky Will never be enough Never be enough Towers of gold are still too little These hands could hold the world, but it’ll Never be enough Never be enough.” ‘Never Enough’ from the movie ‘The Greatest Showman’   I am very fond of Elvis Presley’s songs and, particularly, his performances on stage… He was blessed with a velvety voice and mesmerizing looks… He was charismatic, just electrifying! Now, when people like you and I deeply admire glamorous superstars like Elvis, we unwittingly let the Law of Attraction operate in us… We quietly attract the qualities of the stars who we idolize… We long for fame and success… If not as much as Elvis achieved in his 42 years lifetime, a tiny percentage of it, at least ! But, then, loving Elvis’ songs and performances is one thing. And, loving to be like him, is different altogether. With his phenomenal success and fame, Elvis’s life was...

“The sky is not the limit; but, your thoughts are.” Debasish Mridha “S ky is the limit!” This statement is very inspiring, very, very empowering. It reminds us, that we have unimaginable amount of potential within us… We should, always, challenge our limitations; we should, always, aim high… Yes, aim at the sky! Like most around me, I, too, chased the ‘sky’ for several years. It took many disappointments and disillusionment to drill a deep hole in my head and put this in: “Hello, sky doesn’t exist… except in your illusions.” I became painfully aware of the reality, that I was not prepared to deal with a ‘Sky fall’. The voice kept warning me: “If you chase the sky, be ready for the sky fall, too!” Most of us are blindly addicted to the ‘sky’: We want to be big, bigger and the biggest. We want to go high, higher and the highest. There is no area in life – right from business to education, from entertainment, media, self-help to spirituality – which is free...

“To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart.”  - Eleanor Roosevelt W hat we reveal to the world about ourselves, dare I say, are not our true selves? And, did I say – “Dare I say?” Yes, I did. For, to reveal our true selves demands our true courage! “I need help”, “I have a problem”, “I do not know how to deal with this situation”… Yes, these admissions can come only from an earnest soul that yearns to save itself. I have experienced deep loneliness many a time. Many a time, I have woken up in the middle of the night with a cold sweat.   And, if I have survived those dark, lonely moments, it’s, certainly, not because I have been an ‘emotional macho’… But, it’s because, some ‘grace’ has come to my rescue… Let me tell you this: My problems may not be Himalayan in size. But, then, for each one of us, our respective problems are high, tough and scary enough to scale. Many of us f...