NARA'S NOTEPAD: June 2022

Thursday, June 30, 2022

NARA'S NOTEPAD

VOLUME 19

JULY 2022

NUMBER 7

NARA'S NOTEPAD

IS SUPPORTED BY

READERS LIKE YOU

DON’T TAKE ANYONE’S ADVICE

WITHOUT EVALUATING IT CAREFULLY

THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

Everyone in our world likes to enjoy the beauty of Nature. Although we live in small and big houses either in a rural area or an urban city, we do have some knowledge about the Nature around us. When we go for a walk or travel from one place to another we come across many marvels of nature. Only some people will see those marvels and enjoy and talk about them or note them down in their diaries. All the others just see and skip over. They don’t think deep into those marvels. That depends on the mindset of individuals. I too travelled a lot in Europe, the USA, Japan, Australia and other South-East Asian countries and enjoyed many natural beauties. When I think about them and see those old photographs today, I feel that there is enough for everyone in our world to see and enjoy.

One of the most important things I enjoyed was the white and grey clouds spreading in the blue sky. The slow movement of those clouds from north to south or east to west and vice versa was watched and enjoyed. I used to spend a lot of time watching those wonderful sceneries. Those clouds become grey and greyer and turn to dark grey or black sometimes before a thunderstorm. Also sometimes if we are fortunate, we can see a colourful rainbow across the sky far away from our reach. It appears for a few minutes and then disappears. What a wonder! The drizzling occurs after a huge thunder and lightning that shakes the place where we are. At times the lightning comes down on tall trees or buildings and even kills the people who are sheltered beneath. Nowadays tall buildings are provided with some kind of device to divert the lightning and protect the buildings and their inmates. The flash of light emitted by the lightning is dangerous to our eyes. All these happen high above in the sky! Such beautiful things happen everywhere in the world.

Another important beauty of nature I noticed is the huge waves of the sea. The sea is always agitated by the waves – small and large. Every wave coming from the sea dies down with a lot of white foams on the white beach sand. I have seen them on many sea shores. The sound of these waves makes a huge impact on the minds of people. The wet sand on the beach is the best place for kids and adults to play. The long walks people take along the seashore on the wet sand cannot be forgotten. One more enjoyment we get at the horizon of the sea is the sunset. The colour of the blue sky changes to red and pink before the sunset. One can see the sun with our eyes as a round reddish object. Slowly it sets down at the horizon and finally, we see the radiating light coming out of the horizon. One has to have patience and interest in enjoying natural wonders. Think of it! You will come to know the marvels of nature.

We have forests and National Parks filled with huge trees and flowering plants. It is dangerous to go into forests because of the wild animals that go around in search of their prey or water. However, governments have created National Parks for people to go in and watch these huge trees and some animals. I have heard about the Amazon forests in South America and also seen them in pictures. Animals of all sorts are there. Of course, nowadays we can visit all the dangerous forests by sitting at home. Also, the undersea world is another beauty we all are aware of. Divers go with cameras and take videos of the undersea marvels like corals, all kinds of beautiful fishes and many other aquatic animals that look like wonders. Still, at the same time, they are the real beauties of nature. In the western world, the seasons are well defined as spring, summer, autumn and winter. Each season has its own beauty. Flowers in spring and summer, green leaves change their colours to various beautiful colours in autumn and in the winter snow covers the leafless plants and also the ground. One can see the real beauty in all these four seasons every year. I was fortunate to see these beauties when I was in the western world long ago.

Look at the little birds that visit our home gardens. Their twittering sounds, the beautiful shapes and colours attract anyone. Even the butterflies flying around the flowers, the honeybees visiting various kinds of flowers and the colourful peacocks are in fact a feast to our eyes. The various colours of the home-grown flowers like roses, hibiscus, bougainvillaeas, Alamanda, adenium, railway creeper and many others are indeed beauties of nature.

It is our world where we find beautiful things. Look for them and enjoy. Live with nature and live long. - NARA

SMALL STEPS

We are, in essence, not what we will do on some fine day, but what we do today. While doing small things well today may not seem like a great deal, especially when we stack them up against our final big goal, a 1% improvement each day, done for 365 days, leads to a 37-times improvement. As these small steps are taken each day, they eventually build up to an unstoppable, unshakable force. But it starts by first committing to these small steps, and doing them well. It is not that grand big goal that you’re going to work on at some point in the future that matters. It is what you do now, today. These small steps determine what you eventually become. So to you, I ask: What small steps can you take today? And how can you do these small steps in a great way?

HOW TO STAY POSITIVE?

1. Be yourself. Live authentically. Don’t try to be someone you’re not to impress people. You will always be happiest when you are your true self.

2. Contribute to the world in any way that you can. Maybe for you that’s picking up garbage on your way home from work, or giving money to a homeless person on the street, but you will become a more positive person if you are giving back.

3. Be grateful. Acknowledge how fortunate you are and be thankful that you have simple things like heating, food, and shelter. If you are grateful you will always be able to think more positively.

4. Be optimistic. Can you plan a rain check? Wouldn’t coffee be nice instead?

5. Surround yourself with positive people. Odds are, if you spend your time with negative people you’ll become more negative. When we are around positive people we become more positive ourselves.

6. Don’t be discouraged. You will never fail until you stop trying!

7. Be a realist. Everyone has their bad days, everyone. Lest, I remind you that Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, and Steven Spielberg, were all rejected before they ever succeeded.

8. Don’t hold on to anger, fear, or hurt. Keep moving forward and forgive others and yourself.

9. Help someone else. It’s so easy to make someone’s entire day. Compliment someone’s new clothes or hair cut, hold doors open for people, smile at strangers and share inspirational quotes with friends. You will feel so much happier and positive if you make someone else feel that way.

10. Kick fear to the curb. Stop letting “what if’s” control your life. Be brave and trying something new, or do something that might scare you. Doing something is always better than doing nothing; you might just surprise yourself.

MEANING OF SURRENDER

Surrender is not a weakness in this context, but an acknowledgement of the reality of your life, and of your participation in the flow of your existence.

Surrender is not giving up, it owns up to reality.

Surrender, in this context at least, is genuine freedom. Liberation from the addiction to the drug called “How Things Should Be.”

Surrender is one of the cornerstones of an authentic life because if you’re busy fighting against surrender, you’re also fighting against the reality that is your life, and it won’t end well. Refusing to let whatever happens to be okay is the same as refusing to surrender to life itself; the good, the bad, the ugly. And it leads to a life of frustration, sadness, despair, and a pervasive sense of helplessness.

You don’t need to “give up” surrendering. You don’t need to dive into a pit of despair. You just need to take a look around you and remember that you are not here to direct the flow of events, so much as you’re here to ride the waves and currents in which you’re already immersed.

TO QUOTE

If you cannot do great things now, start by doing small things in a great way. - Celestine Chua

Success is a few simple disciplines practised every day while failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. – Jim Roher

Peace is not absence of conflict; it’s the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means. – Ronald Reagan

Without emotion, there is no beauty. – Diana Vreeland

JUST TO LAUGH

A food critic visits a local restaurant to review its food for the town magazine. The owner welcomes him and shows him to the table. The food is presented to him and after a while, the critic calls the owner to say that there is something missing in his bowl of soup. The owner asks whether it is too spicy or sweet or salty. When the food critic says no, the owner decides to taste the soup himself but he can't find the spoon. "Yeah," says the critic, "that's what is missing."

I was in a barbershop when a man and his young son walked in to get a haircut. The man asked the barber to give his son a haircut while he shopped for groceries nearby. The barber finished giving the haircut but there was no sign of the father. An hour passed, and two hours passed. We finally asked the son where his father was. The boy shocked us by saying, "That man was not my father. He just told me that if I wanted to get a free haircut at the barbershop, I should come with him."

LINES I LIKED

Ø Irrational ideas may exaggerate our problems.

Ø Is it a selfish act when you give because you know the act of giving will give you happiness?

Ø Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny?

Ø Is there a low that you can’t make profits?

Ø Isn’t each one of us just a speck of the universe?

Ø It doesn’t matter who you are, you have succeeded at something at some time in your past.

Irrational ideas and false conclusions generate unwanted emotions!

Meet you next month –2022

Professor A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO:

E-mail: arumugakannu@gmail.com

Ph : 0422 4393017 Mobile : 75399 15614

www.nara2007.blogspot.com

(NARA’S NOTEPAD)

Thursday, June 2, 2022

NARA'S NOTEPAD

VOLUME 19

JUNE 2022

NUMBER 6

NARA'S NOTEPAD

SUPPORTED BY READERS LIKE YOU

IT’S A HUMAN TENDENCY TO GET BORED

WITH SOMETHING AFTER

SOMETIME

TALKING OF SPORTS WE LOVE

Basically, I am not a sportsman. Although I have played some games like football and badminton in my school days, I never showed an interest in sports. We know very well that sports are taught in the school by the drill master. We used to have an hour period every day for sports. The drillmaster comes in shorts and shoes. Since sports were in the school schedule, we were compelled to attend this class. I never played in my college days. I could see some of my colleagues go for tennis with their racket wearing white shorts and canvas shoes in the evening. Schools and colleges have playgrounds and some have indoor games facilities. Physical directors are in charge of them. But not all students make use of them.

Sports have strict rules. One has to follow strictly. Discipline is must. Sportsmen and women are generally coached by trained coaches. Physical training is given to those who are interested in this field. Practising sports is one the important activities of the sports persons. Physical and mental strength are necessary to go for sports. Sport for me is an entertainment although those are hard for the sports persons. I enjoy sports by sitting in my recliner munching some eatables. Sports channels of my TV show all kinds of sports (live) from anywhere in the world. Nowadays the French Open Tennis is going on at Roland Garros stadium, Paris from 22 May 2022 to 5 June 2022.

I enjoy mostly sports like Tennis, Badminton, Cricket, Football matches live in TV. They take place all over the world at important cities. Millions of people buy tickets and sit in the stadium to watch matches. But I like many others stay at home and watch such games. The TV channels add advertisements too on and off. Tennis matches take place every year at Australia, the US, France, England. Apart from these Tennis matches are played as ATP 1000 etc. at various other countries. I am watching such matches for the past fifty years or so.

I have seen the tennis stars like Andre Agassi, Steffy Graf, Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and many others. They were and are outstanding players who won the matches many times and won cups and huge amounts of money. Generally, these stars are accompanied by their family members, friends, and coaches. Along with those people the fans. Every sportsman and woman has fans from all over the world. They are the ones who encourage the stars by shouting, clapping and singing. It gives immense joy to those who watch the matches.

Badminton gained worldwide popularity of late. China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, India, Denmark, and Spain are some of the important countries that participate in world tournaments every year. This game is played at various countries. Cricket is another sport that takes place mainly in India, Australia, England, South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and West Indies. A good old game played initially by England, India, Australia and Pakistan. Later on it spread to many other countries. Test matches last for five days. We used to hear the commentary from our radio sets or transistor. Now we have live telecasts. Also we have fifty over and twenty over matches. Some of the matches are very interesting to watch.

Similarly, football is a very interesting fast-moving game we see in Europe and South America. There are players who are paid heavily to score goals. India and Pakistan were the countries that used to play hockey. But nowadays many more countries like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, England, Netherland and Germany play this game. All the above games are played both by men and women.

In addition to these sports that entertain me there are hundreds of games in the Olympics that come once in four years. The last one was in Japan and the next one will be in Paris in 2024. Let us wait and see. - NARA

SUNLIGHT

Sunlight stimulates the production of vitamin D by the skin, modulates our immune system, and influences levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps balance emotions.

POSITIVE SELF CARE

You are only human. Sometimes people make mistakes and that's okay. It's alright to sometimes not know the answer to the things life throws at you. Just remember to take a step back from time to time. Figure things out in your own time.

Remember to eat something. To have some water. To get some fresh air today. To get some rest. To take any medication that you need to. Remember to take care of yourself.

You are not a bad person for removing some of the bad people in your life. Sometimes things just aren't meant to work out with some people and that's okay. Your health and wellbeing come first and foremost.

Breaks are just as important as work. So remember to treat yourself to something you enjoy today. Whether that be time with your favourite book, tucking into a favourite meal or even spending some time with the people you love. You deserve it.

Having bad days is natural. If that day is today, then remember that it only gives more of an opportunity for tomorrow to be brighter. Try and be positive about it and push through. You and I know you can do this!

Productivity does not define your worth. You still matter, even on the days you feel worthless. Some days all you can do is exist, and that's more than enough. Hang in there.

If nobody has told you that you matter today, then this is dropping onto your screen to say that you matter, you are important and I'm glad you're here reading this.

LITTLE THINGS YOU CAN DO

“Sometimes it takes just 5 minutes to practice being kind. Tell your mother “I love you” just because she deserves to hear those words. Pick up the phone and call your grandmother and ask her how she is feeling nowadays. Make a cup of coffee for your father despite the way he disapproves of the career path you’re taking. Give your dog a belly rub and surprise him with some extra biscuits or simply smile at anyone who looks like they’re having a bad day. Spreading love, warmth, and positivity towards others doesn’t seem to take too much from you, so why not make it a lifestyle to make some small ephermal moments that remind someone that everything will be okay.”

— Juansen Dizon