Last Sunday, my wife asked me, “Sweetheart, why don’t you talk to your buddy Ranjit. His wife, Monika, called me and said he is too much stressed out these. He is in too much debt due to a new house he bought. His salary is almost stagnant for five years. Even when not busy in office work, he hardly has any time for his family, and instead, he keeps himself busy in either watching cricket, news, or Netflix series.
Have you encountered any such person in your life?
Being concerned for my childhood buddy Ranjit, I called him all the pain in my voice, “How are you, my brother Ranjit.” He replies in a very confident voice,” I am perfectly fine.” I was surprised since I thought being a good friend, he will open up with me about the challenges he is going through.
I tried further and told him, “I am glad you’re doing so well, even during this crisis times of COVID, how is your future looking in these times.” He said “Bro, we can’t predict tomorrow, how can I tell you plan for five years. I like to live life as it comes. Since I don’t have any desires and plan for my life, I am a satisfied man. Desire, plans & dissatisfaction is the reason for all misery and unhappiness. Why would a satisfied & happy person work hard like you?”
I was perplexed but still replied, “You are right, I have seen husbands complaining to their wife, “you don’t tell me things transparently.” The wife says to her husband, “you are not as disciplined as my dad.” Mother complaining to her son, “your sister has such nice handwriting, and look at yours”. A US returned NRI Project Director, cribbing “we never operated like this America.” All these people are dissatisfied and hence unhappy.
Ranjit was so happy to hear that and said, “Friend, you are only one who understands me.”
I added, “but there is a twist in the tale while being dissatisfied with others makes me unhappy; being dissatisfied with myself helps me grow. When I benchmark others with my expectations, it leaves me dissatisfied with them and affects my happiness. When I benchmark myself with my expectations, the dissatisfaction created propels my growth and development.”
I continued, “Imagine if Thomas Edison had not been happily dissatisfied with himself, we might not have seen the light bulb, telephone, movie camera, batteries.
If Aryabhata had not been happily dissatisfied with himself, we might never be able to apply maths to reach the moon.
If Narendra had not been happily dissatisfied with himself, we might never have to the fantastic teachings from Swami Vivekananda.”
I continued, “Ranjit, without dissatisfaction, there is no growth. And without growth, there is no happiness; without happiness, there is no life. So, I learned to be happily dissatisfied with myself. Do you think your satisfaction is helping you to grow?” He didn’t say anything for a few seconds and said, “I will talk to you later; something urgent has come up.”
I am glad to tell you that Ranjit did call me the next day and asked my help to work on his personal growth. I connected him with some voluntary organizations working in personal growth space.
And now he is also a happily dissatisfied man, working on his personal growth!!
Are you Satisfied? ๐
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๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ – https://lnkd.in/gtgE-fq
