Nine things worth aspiring for in Life

-


A Photo from the author's garden


Today, as I woke up to the most beautiful new lovely song of birds sung in perfectly orchestrated movements of the different birds that live in or visit the garden, the following question came to mind, how to measure the quality of a personal life? What things are worth achieving in life for adult humans? More important than great wealth, power and fame are some more mundane things such as the  following (for if a large black ant is sniping the behind of a billionaire inside his pants he could scarcely enjoy his billion, could he :-) ? ):

  1. That you have a bowel movement daily before breakfast  :) and perchance Warren Buffet thought it was another billion that would do the trick and help expel the offending matter in a trice. LOL ! or conversely it is also sad if you are running to the toilet too frequently and have a near running faucet at the other end.
  2. That you have pure air to breathe, good clean water to drink and that your meals are regular, nutritious and wholesome and that you feel hungry for the same and enjoy their taste while being grateful to God, Universe or Mother Earth for providing it.
  3. That you sleep well most nights for a minimum of seven hours waking up no more than once briefly, perhaps for a pressing pee and also have opportunity for a brief afternoon nap besides.
  4. That you can see the blue sky and green trees or fields most of the day as you journey through life.
  5. That besides a roof over your head, you have some private open space such as balcony, verandah, patio or garden where you can enjoy sunshine for a part of the day ( even in the buff if you so desired), while your eyes rest on green growth or blue water, foundations of life, not concrete and cement.
  6. That you live in a place with close access to the most beautiful in nature such as forests, lakes, oceans, rivers, mountains etc. and can hear the song of birds every morning, not just with your ears but most importantly a mind disengaged to hear it along with the delicate nuances in the composition of the song.
  7. That you do not live or work with anyone with whom you have a quarrelsome or hostile relationship most of the time or who is frequently stressed and tense or exploitative, preferring to live alone or in company of those who are loving and sympathetic or relaxed, besides that your days do not call for an activity that is painful or stressful such as long commuting, hard labor, having to hate your work regularly etc.
  8. That you are content, grateful and happy with whatever can be acquired with reasonable effort without causing pain to others and are not hankering and pining for more
  9. That you value virtues of Love, Truth, Simplicity and Laughter rather than the reverse and attempt to enhance that in your life regularly.


 If you have met most of these simple aspirations, it can be said without hesitation that you have already achieved a good  quality of life, but perhaps one or more areas still requires a little more work to change it to excellent from good? If you are having difficulty getting there, try the Sun Inspired Yoga described earlier in this blog and you are likely to get there soon, God willing. If you can find these nine things in life, most other things that most humans try for most of the time, in the process losing even these basics, are worth discarding to a trash bin of futile and worthless aspirations, or if needed in keeping with your personality and karma shall be provided more or less automatically by circumstances without you having to make any special effort for it, just as the Lord did to one of His special angels on earth - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second while she was off on a safari in Kenya.
Belief, trust and love of the Almighty makes reaching the nine aspirations of life and more easy. Without belief, one may win for transient periods, things of the material world, but peace and happiness recede. praise the Lord.
 
Rate the quality of your life

Based on the nine criteria above, you can assess the quality of your life quickly. Remember perfection is impossible if you meet ninety percent of the criterion, ninety percent of the time that is OK

  1. Excellent: If you have reached all the nine aspirations listed above the quality of your life is excellent
  2. Good: If you are failing on just one
  3. Fair: If presently you fail in two areas
  4. May be Poor: If failing on three of the nine areas
  5. May be Very Poor: If failing in four or more areas but do not get disappointed because huge numbers of humans in the modern world fail on all nine counts and yet manage to laugh heartily from time to time, at the same time get cracking to fix it. Best wishes for that.
It would be interesting to note that an excellent quality of life is rarely found amongst the rich and powerful of the world but is more likely amongst others. For example in India, many senior Ministers of the government can never meet all nine criterion because the air of the capital city Delhi is the most polluted in the world. In addition some may also fail on more criteria. It is not surprising then that the quality of governance in India has been poor in the past decades, because if the quality of life of those who govern is not good they may not be able to contribute much towards improving the quality of life of those they govern. In case the quality of your life is poor or horrible please take corrective measures. Life is a precious gift and must be honored by improving its quality. The best wishes of this blogger are with you in this task. May the Universe that shines forth with the Sun and Mother Earth that abounds with joyous bounties for those who seek and deserve them assist and bless your life. 
 


Comments

ProfAshok said…
Rating his own life this author feels he has met eight of the nine criterion to the extent of 90% at least although was a journey and effort of several decades but then that is what life is. Perhaps if the Lord or Mother Earth wishes the ninth shall be met too in this life, if not it is still good to be content with whatever one has, one of the nine points, and their are other lives too through which the journey of a soul continues. Praise the Lord.
October 22, 2015 at 10:10 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From Birds to Telepathy

-
Image
  Sparrow by  Laitche T he house that I live in presently was built in stages  beginning in 1991 during  vacations and sabbaticals in my career. By 1995, the ground floor of the house was more or less complete except for some finishing that continued later. In the center of the roof of the living room was a hole meant for a center light. To hide the protruding wires a small round plastic sheet covered it with another circular hole in the center of it for the light. A similar one existed in the front porch of the house. I lived in the house through most of 1995 with frequent visits of three or four days to Delhi. At this time a pair of house sparrows occupied the porch roof cavity and made it their home. There were no complaints about that since it was not intended to fix a light there in a hurry. Sparrows are cute little birds anyway and I often leave seeds out for them in the garden. Sometime later the female of the pair moved into the living roo...
Read more

The Palash Tree - Magic of Medicinal Herbs and Flowers and Back Pain

-
Image
The Palash Tree Flower B efore modern medicines became prevalent, humans treated many ailments with flowers, leaves, roots and barks of plants and trees. Ayurveda,  an ancient Indian medicinal science, makes use of many herbs and plant materials without substantial extraction of active ingredients as modern medicine does. The idea is that additional compounds in a medicinal or edible plant is an organic whole and a part of life that supports other life.  The complimentary compounds appear to play a useful balancing role whereas individually extracted and isolated compounds can be harmful. A modern example in wide use as food is sugar, a pure chemical isolated from the juice of sugar cane. Indeed there is no food or herb that does not contain a compound or two that could be from mildly to extremely dangerous if isolated and consumed but is beneficial as a group with other compounds. That is the reason why alcohol distilled from a natural fermented fruit juice and ...
Read more

You are what you eat, and drink

-
Image
C onsume an ounce of whiskey and you will notice the change in mood and behavior immediately. However, it is not just whiskey everything we drink, even the quality of water, or anything we eat has some subtle or significant influence on our behavior. Consumed over a period, not just the weekend binge, the type of food we consume literally shapes our personality prompting ancient thinkers like Hippocrates to remark, “You are what you eat”. Some question this by saying that it is our experiences and habits that shape our personality but the two are linked because it is our habits that shape our tastes and food choices. In another post in this blog it was  mentioned that a human personality is shaped by memory and experiences and one might ask which of the two is more significant - food or experiences?. My understanding is that humans gravitate towards the foods and actions that agree with their inner inclinations and personality and so in the end both causes are two sides of th...
Read more