Introduction
If life is a puzzle,
Destiny Designing is a solution. If life
is simple, Destiny Designing makes it even simpler. Each Destiny Designing analyses a certain
aspects of life and delves into the depths of it. The most striking feature of it is its simplicity. It explains the “WHY” behind things. Destiny Designing is an answer to all your
unanswered questions of life. Clarity is
power. Read Destiny Designing to gain
clarity and the power that comes with it.
A
bunch of plastic flowers lived inside a flower vase, obviously sheltered and
protected from the winds, the rains and even the sun’s rays. One day a bouquet of rose flowers was placed
next to them. The presence and the
fragrance of those gorgeous roses made one of the plastic flowers feel ashamed
of its existence. So it prayed to God, “I
do not want to live as a faceless flower; please turn into a rose.”
God replied, “Why do you want to get into unnecessary
trouble? The life of a rose is very
arduous. Someone will always pluck
it. The sun will burn the petals. It has a very limited lifespan. You are living a well-protected life, Do not
forsake it.”
The plastic flower insisted, “I have long lived a
sheltered life. Now, I want to feel
real. I want to feel the life of
LIFE. I want to fight death. Please transform me into a rose.” God finally yielded and it became a rose. Almost immediately, its saga of trials and
tribulations began. A young boy plucked
a few of its petals. The midday sun
followed and it burned the remaining petals.
As the day progressed it was feeling dehydrated and was beginning to dry
down. The other plastic flowers gathered
around the rose and said, “We knew this would happen. Don’t you see how secure you were in your old
life? Granted, even as plastic flowers
we had our problem but they were old and familiar problems. We were used to them. Do you see what a mess you have made of your
life?”
To this the rose replied, “You are all fools. It is far better to live as rose, even if it
is for just twenty-four hours than to live in lifelong security as mere plastic
flowers. It was great to breathe, to
feel the warmth of the sun and to be in communion with life. I might wither away in twenty-four hours, but
before I die I would have emitted fragrance.
I have achieved my soul’s fulfiment.
I lived fully and I am going to die fully. As far as you are concerned, you live a life
of living death. To have been a flower
and not to have known fragrance at all… is not to have lived at all. I am real.”
Life itself isn’t secure.
Then, where is the question of security within life? Then why choose to be a plastic flower? Why not be the real rose? In searching for security, we resist change,
and in resisting change, we stagnate. We
build our own comfort zones and become prisoners in our own comfort zones. That which does not change, does not grow. And, that which does not grow, dies. And growth is your willingness to give up who
you are, in order to become, what you can be.
A seed is very well protected as long as it remains a
seed. There is a security in remaining a
seed whereas a plant is always vulnerable.
To sprout into a plant makes the seed susceptible; but then, what else
is the purpose of the seed? It contains
a thousand forests within itself and it is only when the seed transforms into a
plant that those possibilities are opened.
If the seed resists change and remains a kernel, it is no better than a
pebble on the beach.
The most important quality of great people is in their
willingness to change. It is in the willingness
to give up the life of a caterpillar that it becomes a butterfly. That which does not change does not
grow. That which does not grow,
dies. Grow, we must. So, change, we must. Growth and the willingness to change are
inseparable.
If changes are the way to growth and growth is the way to
greatness, then why is change always resisted?
Let us take an example. See, when
you were a just-born you were comfortable because you were completely dependent
on your environment. To learn to crawl
was an uncomfortable transition because you would have bruised your knees so
many times. But this transition to learn
to crawl was a needed one for you to grow.
Once you learnt to crawl, you were completely comfortable once
again. Now learning to walk was another
uncomfortable transition because you would have fallen down and hurt yourself
so many times. But, again this
transition to learn to walk was a needed one for you to grow. Once you learnt to walk, you were completely
comfortable once again. So it was from
blabbering to talking to communicating. Therefore,
it was from scribbling to writing to drawing.
So it was from school to college to work.
Comfort zone – uncomfortable transition – again a new
comfort zone – another uncomfortable transition – another new comfort zone –
and one more uncomfortable transition – This is the cycle of growth. Grow, we must. So, change, we must. So, we cannot avoid uncomfortable
transitions. Change is the willingness
to give up an existing comfort zone and the willingness to take up an
uncomfortable transition. Giving up an
existing comfort zone is never easy.
Uncomfortable transitions are never easy. But grow, we must. So change, we must. So we cannot avoid uncomfortable transitions.
The cycle of change is such that before change you are
comfortable, after change you will again be comfortable; but the transition is
never comfortable. However, the comfort
you experience after change is always of a higher degree than the comfort you
experienced before change. So, legends
permanently keep their life in transition, for that’s the only way to grow
up. The alternative is mere stagnation.
To sweep issues in a relationship under the carpet is
comfortable; to talk and resolve the issue is never comfortable, but once the
issue is sorted out, that’s where the higher comfort is. To sleep those extra
hours is comfortable; to get up and exercise is never comfortable; to get up
and exercise is never comfortable, but once the body is fit after adhering to
the exercise routines, that’s where the higher comfort is. To smoke is comfortable; to give up that
craving for nicotine is never comfortable, but once you have transcended the
desire for nicotine, that’s where the higher comfort is.
So people who made it to the top in life had the vision
to see the higher realities of life at the end of those uncomfortable
transitions. The willingness of a woman
to go through the transition of labour gives birth to a new life. Similarly, your willingness to through the
transition of change will give a new life.
On the bottom of a quiet pond lived a little colony of
water bugs. They did notice that every
once in a while one from their colony clinging to the stem of a pond lily and
gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more. They wondered, “Why would anybody give up
this comfortable life, great friends, and move up in search of a new life?” One more found himself climbing up the lily
stalk, and before he knew what was happening, he had broken through the surface
of the water and fallen onto the broad, green lily pond above. When he awoke, a startling change had come to
his old body. His movement revealed four
silver wings and a long tail. He moved
his wings and found himself up above the water.
He had become a dragonfly!!
Swooping and dipping in great curves, flying through the air,
experiencing the freedom of space, he truly felt on ‘Top of the World’.
Now, if this water bug had not given up the comfort of
remaining a water bug, it would have never become a dragonfly. This is where all great people stood out from
the rest. They were willing to change
and grow. They never sought comfort
zones. They never thought what is ‘Easy’
for me. They always thought what is ‘Good’
for me. So, do not settle. Keep changing. Do not settle. Keep growing.
Do not look at the transition.
Look at the possibilities beyond the transition.
People do not dare to give up their certainty for
uncertainty. They are afraid to push
ahead. It is not that they cannot. Just that they don’t. They wait and wait, hoping that some
mysterious power may liberate them.
These people finally die still waiting.
It is astonishing as to how the world makes way for a resolute
soul and how obstacles get out of the pathof a determined man, who believes in
the power of change and growth.
Transcendence is like taking the lantern in the hand knowing that you
will always have light, just enough for your ext step, no matter how dark, for
the light will move along with you. Take
oe step, then take another step and then another.. till your reach the
top.
Design your Destiny
If you keep doing the same stuff, you will keep getting
the same results. If you have to achieve
what you have not achieved before, then you must be willing to do what you have
never done before. That simply means,
you must change.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “Become the change you wish to see.” You first have to “Become the change you wish
to be,” much before you “Beome the change you wish to see.” Give up who you are, and become what you can be.
Sometimes, you need to give up, in order to go up.
Source: Excerpts from
the articles published in FT.
