Between making money
and following your bliss, choose the latter. Because even if you struggle with
that choice you will struggle joyfully!
To drop the pursuit of earning-a-living and
following your bliss instead is always a dilemma for you, for me, for all of
humanity! It is only through trial and error, through endless experimentation,
that you will find both joy and money coming from the same pursuit or
profession. Very few people actually get it right or know it well and therefore
benefit from both the joy and the money. Now, if you belong to the majority
that doesn’t know yet or knows it but does not know how
to choose, then first know that you are perfectly normal. If you are making
good money in whatever you are doing and are happy (not comfortable, please
note the critical difference here!) then there is no issue. But if you are part
of the rat race, rushing off this morning for another stress-filled, meaningless,
day ahead, and you grieve every minute of your Life thinking, “why am I doing
this?” or “there’s no more joy in what I do”, then you seriously need to review your Life. You need to ask
yourself: 1. Can I live with lesser income than what I am getting just now? 2.
Can I confer with my family and make them share my vision for me and them? 3.
Can I find a good platform to launch myself and work to a plan to restore my
earning to match my joy factor in doing what gives me joy? The answers you get
will determine how you proceed. Anything in Life requires planning, thinking
through and excellent execution. Grieving, pining and cursing your fate is not a solution.
 |
| Prof.C.V.Chandrasekhar Photo Courtesy: Ganesh/www.purpleganesh.com |
A couple of years ago, I heard the maestro
of Indian art and culture, and Bharatanatyam exponent, Prof.C.V.Chandraskehar,
a Padma Bhushan awardee, reminisce about his years in Benares. He said although
he had an MSc degree while starting off his career in the 1950s, he was not
getting a job or salary that matched his qualifications. His heart, he said,
was in the arts, particularly in dance. So, he made a decision: “If I must
suffer, let me suffer in joy and bliss, doing what I love doing.” He dumped his
Msc-based options and plunged into the world of art. That choice, he
reminisced, led to a lifetime of joy and bliss, in the pursuit of learning and
living his art, his dance, though money did not arrive in as much proportion as
he would have wanted. “Money is incidental. In later years, it did come, and it
did go. But that is the way money is. Joy, however, can be permanent if you
embrace it,” he told us in his soulful, evocative, candid style.
There is a lesson here for all of us
strugglers, climbers and rat race runners. If you choose making money, and
therefore comfort yourself with a false sense of security, then please don’t complain
about Life or pine for joy! If you choose joy, over money, remember that money
will take its own time coming into your Life. If you find both in one pursuit,
brilliant, just be content with it! In any case, be happy! Because
it is only one Life that you will live. Live that Life well and happily!
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