An Article that I wrote for a school magazine...

At the feet of my Elders

‘Stand up, be strong and be bold. Because you and only You are the Creator of your own Destiny!’ – Swamy Vivekanand.

My youth was almost half a decade ago wherein, unlike today, information exposure was limited to either, the daily newspapers, radio or books in a library. However, within the limitations of this prosaic era was an unlimited opportunity to learn life and the very meaning of existence. This opportunity offered itself, most infinitely, at the very feet of our elders. It was an absolutely non-comparable offering of knowledge that was borne out of the learnings of the several mistakes they had made during their lifetime. A knowledge whose contents would require millions of pages to capture in written form. And a knowledge that adequately groomed the very principles of our inner thinking as young students seeking a foundation for a better future as adults.

Every morning we have three choices to make when we wake up: to choose between Love or Fear, to choose between Faith or Hope and to choose between Work or Procrastination.

Firstly, as a young student, I would choose Love over Fear. Because Love is universal and boundless while Fear is limited, caught up tight in unbreakable capsules of needless negative emotions. Love has no inhibitions. Love does not keep you in a paradigm that makes you either judgmental or critical. Love gives you the power of acceptance. It makes you forgiving and understanding of the fact that no matter who we are, we are the children of God and that each one of us, albeit our limitations, have our own halos of shining talent and naturalness. Love attracts love. And all those who know how to love, from deep within their hearts, will always remain blessed.

Secondly, I would choose Faith over Hope. Hope makes you walk through the fire whereas Faith makes you jump over it. Hope stems from fears – fears of the unknown and therefore, will what we desire ever happen or not?!. But Faith stems from belief embedded deep inside you. A belief that you have the Power and the Greatness within your very Soul to achieve anything you can dream of. So when you choose Faith, you choose a clearly defined existence. An existence in a world in which you bring to reality every dream you can dream.

And finally, as a young student, I would choose Work over Procrastination. Procrastination is merely postponing what you have to do simply borne out of lethargy. But strength to Work is the biggest gift of God that any of us can receive. I would work hard on my studies, my sports and games, my cultural assignments and all the talents that I was born with. Because, for me, Work was Worship. Work made me a stronger human being because it turned my weaknesses into strength. It made me better than the rest and hence, more successful in life.

Every morning, when you wake up, if you could always make the right choices by listening to your heart, you will realize that no matter how cold and harsh the winters may become in your life, there will always be an invincible summer within you!

Anand K Nair

Speaker. Entrepreneur. Educationist.

AGNI Leadership Centre