NARA'S NOTEPAD
VOLUME 17
SEPTEMBER 2021
NUMBER 9
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
CHAOS AND ORDER
Chaos is a disorder. In fact, the order is an offshoot of chaos. As we see the history of human civilization, we understand well that how humans lived in chaos and then how they developed an ordered lifestyle. Today, all of us are happy to see a somewhat orderly society. But, at the same time, we do see what’s happening in our neighbouring countries like Afghanistan and Myanmar? Afghanistan was taken over by the Talibans who roam around with guns in their hands and turbans in their heads. They kill people mercilessly. The foreigners who were there in Kabul, the capital city and other big cities tried to flee the country with the help of the US forces. Men and women with young children, elders and the like wanted and want to leave the country as early as possible because of the cruel nature of the Talibans. What a chaotic condition they all face! Reading the news every day since 15 August 2021 itself tell us the chaos prevailing in Kabul airport and the surroundings. There are terrorists among the Talibans. Talibans are unable to contain them and establish a peaceful nation of Afghanistan.
Similarly, the military took over
the democratically elected government of Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kye was arrested and kept behind
bars saying that she is corrupt. People protested strongly against this
allegation and the military rule. Many of them were shot dead and tortured by
the military rulers. Some left the country to reach the neighbouring countries
as refugees. Chaos prevailed and even now prevails in Myanmar.
Of course, all these chaotic
conditions will come to an end over time. Chaos is something like muddy water.
If you leave it undisturbed for some time, the mud settles down leaving clear
water as an above layer. We can understand, therefore, order comes out of chaos
over time. But during the chaos, people suffer and even lose their precious
lives. No mercy, no pity, no kindness. Many nations have undergone chaotic
conditions over time.
World War I and II, the Hiroshima
atom bomb incident, Vietnam War, 9/11terrorism in the US, the everyday conflict
between Israel and Palestine – are some of the events we know as the biggest
chaos in our world. All these atrocities slowly ended and order was brought in
slowly. However, the human lives lost were
innumerable. The United Nations Organization (UNO) acts as a catalyst in the reaction of chaos to order.
Chaos occurs in the Universe and in
all countries. Nature itself creates chaos. Chaos within the family is seen
every day. Even individuals are prey to chaos. Planets in the cosmos are in
chaos. Countries like the ones mentioned earlier are in chaos. Within countries, there are disputes among racial and
religious groups. In spite of the rules and laws to control chaos and make an orderly society, often chaos takes over. In big cities, every day
many unimaginable incidents occur either in the day or at night. Stealing,
theft, robbery, shooting,
killing, rapes, suicide and what not? Chaos and chaos everywhere.
Think of Nature! Calamities like
hurricanes, storms, cyclones, heavy rains and winds, prolonged droughts,
floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, high atmospheric temperatures are
creating chaos on the planet of earth. All these calamities destroy the
beautifully constructed cities killing thousands of people every year. Is it
not the chaos caused by Nature?
Of late the invisible virus called
Covid 19 created global chaos. The virus with its mutants infected billions of
people belonging to all nations of the world and killed millions. We lost our
family members, friends, doctors, health workers, politicians and lawyers. Such
huge chaos created psychological fear, stress, anxiety and depression in the
minds of everyone who are living. The pandemic changed the way of people’s
lives. It made the people get vaccinated and wear face masks when they go out.
Coming to the chaos within a family
is very serious. The relationship between husband and wife, and other relatives
very often end up in chaos. Some get an order whereas many end up in a court to
get an order. Peace of mind is one of the most important things we get in an
orderly family. Children grow up as good citizens and try to live in a
non-chaotic society.
Last but not least is the chaos in
the minds of individuals. Thoughts at times get confused and end up in chaos. Overthinking
often leads to chaos. Negative thinking is another cause for chaos. However
positive thinking brings in order and makes people happy.
Thus we see and feel chaos everywhere and in
everyone’s life. If there is no chaos there’s no order. Hence, we have to learn
how to rectify or reform chaos in order for a better life. Our duty is to make
disorder into order. Let us try and succeed. -NARA
IDEAS AND FACTS
An idea is not the same thing as a fact. A fact is something that is dead, in and of itself. It has no consciousness, no will to power, no motivation, and no action. There are billions of dead facts. The internet is a graveyard of dead facts. But an idea that grips a person is alive. It wants to express itself, to live in the world. It is for this reason that the depth psychologists—Freud and Jung paramount among them—insisted that the human psyche was a battleground for ideas. An idea has an aim. It wants something. It posits a value structure. An idea believes that what it is aiming for is better than what it has now. It reduces the world to those things that aid or impede its realization, and it reduces everything else to irrelevance. An idea defines figure against ground. An idea is a personality, not a fact. When it manifests itself within a person, it has a strong proclivity to make of that person its avatar: to impel that person to act it out. Sometimes, that impulsion (possession is another word) can be so strong that the person will die, rather than allowing the idea to perish. This is, generally speaking, a bad decision, given that it is often the case that only the idea need die, and that the person with the idea can stop being its avatar, change his or her ways, and continue. To use the dramatic conceptualization of our ancestors: It is the most fundamental convictions that must die—must be sacrificed—when the relationship with God has been disrupted (when the presence of undue and often intolerable suffering, for example, indicates that something has to change). This is to say nothing other than that the future can be made better if the proper sacrifices take place in the present. No other animal has ever figured this out, and it took us untold hundreds of thousands of years to do it.
BAD LISTENERS
• Are preoccupied with what they are going to say instead of listening to the speaker.
• Quit listening if the speaker says something they disagree with.
• Hear only the statements that confirm their own opinions.
• Bend what is said to support what they already think.
• Use a comment the speaker has said to change the subject to their preferred topic.
• Start to tell their thoughts before the speaker has finished talking.
• Brag about their successes and victories.
• Talk too much (hence the saying, “There are some to whom there is nothing quite as lovely as the sound of their own voice”).
• Deliberately distract the audience’s attention away from the speaker (or say something that discredits him).Improve 70 Aspects Of Your Life 163
• Hijack control of the conversation so they can talk on topics of their choice.
• Speak with more emotion than is appropriate for the subject matter or situation.
TO QUOTE
It is easier to fight for principle than to live up to it. – A. Alder
If you are afraid of loneliness do not marry. – Anton Chekov
God heals and the doctor takes the fees. – Benjamin Franklin
Lack of money is the root of all evils. – George Bernard Shaw
TOTALITARIANISM
We rebel against our own totalitarianism, as much as that of others. I cannot merely order myself to action, and neither can you. “I will stop procrastinating,” I say, but I don’t. “I will eat properly,” I say, but I don’t. “I will end my drunken misbehaviour,” I say, but I don’t. I cannot merely make myself over in the image constructed by my intellect (particularly if that intellect is possessed by an ideology). I have a nature, and so do you, and so do we all. We must discover that nature, and contend with it, before making peace with ourselves. What is it, that we most truly are? What is it that we could most truly become, knowing who we most truly are? We must get to the very bottom of things before such questions can be truly answered.
JUST TO LAUGH
Murphy's Law
If anything can go wrong, it will.
If anything can't go wrong, it will go
wrong.
If anything can't go wrong on its own,
someone will make it go wrong.
The Unspeakable Law
As soon as you mention something...
... if it's good, it goes away
... if it's bad, it happens.
Nonreciprocal Laws of Expectations
Negative expectations yield negative
results. Positive expectations yield negative results.
Howe's Law
Every man has a scheme that will not work.
LINES I LIKED
- Ø Learn from knowledgeable, most respected and most results-driven fun-loving teachers.
- Ø
Learn from yesterday,
live for today, hope for tomorrow.
- Ø
Learn from your
mistakes, and never repeat them.
- Ø
Learn how to complete
all that you undertake.
- Ø
Learn how to make the
right moves and you will be on your way to enjoying an amazing quality of life.
Ø
give your advice unless it’s asked for...
Meet you next month –2021
Professor A. Narayanan, Ph. D., FISPP
SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO:
E-mail:
arumugakannu@gmail.com
Ph : 0422 4393017 Mobile : 75399
15614
(NARA’S NOTEPAD)
Monday, August 2, 2021
NO TOBACCO DAY
On Saturday night I was with two of my friends in a small stuffy French pub where men and women smoked, drunk and danced all night. We also participated in those activities and enjoyed the night. It was at 3 am, my friends dropped me at my apartment. Somehow I could open the door and entered the room. After smoking a cigarette, I slept.
The puffing in the pub by so many people stuffed the smoke into every one dress, body including the exposed hair of the head. I never realized the harmful nature of tobacco smoke, but I thought it was fun and enjoyable.
It was when I left for France, 40 years ago; I started smoking foreign cigarettes to start with. Later when I came back to India, the habit continued till 1996. When I used to travel in train, I used to smoke without any respect for the co-passengers - men, women or children.
I was deriving a kind of pleasure in taking out a cigarette from the pack and light it either with a lighter which I brought from France or later with a match stick made in Sivakasi. I left smoking three times on the eves of New Year. It hardly lasted for a month or two. During this period I used to have good apatite and put on weight. I read somewhere one of the consequences of quitting smoking is an increase in body weight.
In spite of the advice of my wife, sons and daughter, I could not quit smoking. In 1996, one fine morning, I decided myself with great determination and willpower ‘not to smoke’ from that day. Fortunately, it continues to date. When I travel later in trains, I could smell the cigarette or beedi smoke coming from a long distance. When I used to smoke in those days, I never could smell the smoke coming out of my cigarette. Now I have become so sensitive to the bad smell of cigarette smoke. I realized how harmful I was to those who travelled with me in those days. Also, I felt sorry that how much displeasure I would have caused to those men, women and children who never asked me to stop smoking. What a shameful life I lived making others uncomfortable. They would have cursed me in their mind.
Two years ago when I was travelling on the train, a middle-aged man was smoking in the compartment as I used to do earlier. I saw a young lady, came to him and requested him to stop smoking. The man who was smoking felt very bad and extinguished the bit of burning cigarette and threw it out. I was happy that such an incident did not happen to me in those days! Everyone has the freedom to express themselves to safeguard public health. That was what that young lady did boldly.
Tobacco consumption in whatever form is harmful for health. It appears that China is the largest producer and consumer of tobacco. There are 350 million smokers in China according to an article published in a newspaper. It is a common ritual in Chinese weddings it adds. Banning tobacco cultivation itself is one way of putting off puffing. Increasing the cost of cigarettes and their associates by imposing taxes is another measure many Governments took.
The Finance Minister in every year budget speech made it a point to add tax for cigarettes and tobacco products in the past. The Government gave the statutory warning in cigarette packets itself saying cigarette smoking is injurious to health to create awareness. One of the health ministers of the Government of India brought a rule that smoking scenes should not be shown in cinema. These are measures to create awareness among the public not to smoke.
The tobacco business is the biggest money earner in many countries. Millions of people are employed in both production and processing of tobacco. Considering the economic importance of income and the creation of employment for countrymen and women, it becomes a sensitive issue for governments to bring strict rules to abolish the use of tobacco. However, health consciousness among the public has brought down smoking to a considerable extent. It is a good sign; even without imposing hard rules, people themselves change for the best. We hope the World No Tobacco Day on 31 May every year will remind people to wind up the bad habit of smoking and other ways of consuming tobacco. – NARA
(Written some years ago on the No Tobacco Day)
YOU CAN ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS -IF YOU STAY PERSISTENT.
Try a different approach.
Be willing to learn something new.
Don't accept that you know
everything even if you think you're going through a familiar process - you may
discover something new.
Be open to any and all possibilities.
Instruct your
subconscious mind to help you find all options to help you succeed.
Get started
today
GETTING YOUR ACT TOGETHER
Be happy.
Like yourself.
Shed your baggage.
Be first to break the ice and introduce yourself.
Try not to seem self-conscious.
Be engrossed (caught up) in an activity you find interesting.
Get involved in an activity others are already doing, or something you like to do or are good at.
Don’t frighten people off by trying too hard or moving too fast to make a friend out of an acquaintance.
Minimize your solo activities like watching TV and surfing the Web.
Do activities where you interact with others; don’t just be in the same place all the time.
Appear approachable. Smile and make eye contact. When introduced to others, ask about their work or favourite activity to help you remember them.
If the other person can’t remember your name, he might avoid you. Occasionally mention your name again (as if you wouldn’t expect the other person to remember it).
Ask a few questions that are light, fun and impersonal to show you are friendly and feel comfortable around the person.
Act as if you are going to be liked.
Be patient and enjoy the other person’s comments.
Encourage the other person to open up, and they will be unaware of whether you are nervous.
Act naturally. Expect a few goofs along the way as you improve this skill.
Never complain, exaggerate, brag or speak poorly of another person.
Practice on everyone you meet.
SIX LITTLE STORIES WITH MEANINGS
Once all villagers decided to pray for rain. On the day of prayer, all the people gathered, but only one boy came with an umbrella. That is faith.
2. When you throw babies in the air, they laugh because they know you will catch them. That is true.
3. Every night we go to bed without any assurance of being alive the next morning, but still, we set the alarms to wake up. That is hope.
4. We plan big things for tomorrow in spite of zero knowledge of the future. That is confidence.
5. We see the world suffering, but still, we get married and have children. That is love.
6. On an old man’s shirt was written a sentence ‘I am not 80 years old; I am sweet 16 with 64 years of experience. That is attitude.
Have a happy day and live your life like these six stories. Remember – Good friends are the rare jewels of life, difficult to find and impossible to replace.
TO QUOTE
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working. – Pablo Picasso
Experience
is a master teacher, even when it’s not our own. – Gina Greenlee
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