|| FOCUS ON STRENGTH ||

This new year, gift yourself the focus on strength. The year 2020 got over and left us with many sour and sweet memories. Emotions of panic, at the same time emotions of togetherness. Fear of being away from all, in terms of distance and the reduction of the distance of hearts, and learned to help each other consciously and unconsciously. Similar fluctuations and swift happens with seasons. In winter, it's too cold and snow covers trees, leaves shrink because of the cold and start distancing from each other. During summer, the sun shines above, the land gets enough soil and water and the leaves start growing and getting closer to each other. It's nature and it happens naturally. Similar natural swift took place in our lives. We all have shone like the plants, trees and leaves shine in all seasons with the sun shining above, whether it's winter or summer. We have overcome the challenges of life and have learned to shine in any difficult situation. I think this difficult time has taught us the right thing- "To focus on our own strengths."

If you understand Ramayana, Lord Rama had a difficult childhood. He had difficulty to attain his kingdom, gave away his kingdom to his brothers, had a difficult marriage, had to fight to get his wife back, and even after fighting with Ravana, had to sacrifice his marriage for the kingdom. I mean each and every stage of Lord Rama's life had to face difficulties and challenges. Similarly, in Bhagwad Geeta, we read about Lord Krishna who had a similar difficult childhood, had to sacrifice his love, Radha, had to leave his own Vraj even though he could not stop the fight of Mahabharata. Now, if you read and try to analyze both the books of Ramayana and Mahabharata, what the Lord wants us to understand is that we must focus on our strengths rather than weaknesses and should move ahead in life.  The emotions and feelings of Ramayana and Mahabharata will be there in every person's life. Like Lord Rama and Krishna, it's up to us; how well and honestly we fight and come out of it, focusing on our strengths.

Having faith in God is the biggest strength I have felt during this pandemic. Many of us have. Our Indian culture has embedded the thought in our minds that God does exist in this universe and especially in our country, India. Many of us don't believe, especially today's young generation but I would like to narrate my faith in God that has brought so many miracles in my life. At first, I started writing articles and it so happened that it made me channel to complete writing 50 articles on my 50th birthday and I could celebrate my birthday with my book launch, Spreading positivity in this difficult time. I never thought I would celebrate my golden birthday this way. Apart from that, my book launch had the best hosts, my two lovely and charming daughters, the gracious presence of all the personalities from whom I have got inspiration, and the support of a publisher. I mean it happened in a flow by having strength and faith in God. I'd like everyone who reads my articles or are connected with me to believe this once and have faith in God. It works very well with your hard work.

Recently, I came across a very tragic incident with one lady. This lady lost her young son a few months back in an accident and a month ago, she lost her husband due to the Coronavirus. She was talking to me and was crying at every word. She has another daughter who recently started having hesitancy in talking but that child was so intelligent very nicely said that I know I have difficulty in talking but I will overcome it soon and I will take care of my mom. I loved the emotions of that little 10-year-old child. She knew what she was saying, hiding her emotions in front of her mother. They were from an economically strong family and she had the support of her sister-in-law and all other family members. I requested her not to cry and see that she has the strength of her family who is standing strong with her rather than thinking too much about her loss. I know it's difficult to face but we can't undo certain things and we need to see life in the direction where our strength takes us.

The pandemic also made us realize that the most dangerous word in our lives is fear. "Fear is a virus" and "love is the cure". If we all need to come out of this fear of Coronavirus then we all, together, need to spread love. Some could not meet their loved ones when they lost them. Now, their love and good memories are their only treasures. Why don't we cherish our love and memories when we are with them? I think all of us need to change and make the best of our balanced life. Create and spread love, helping each other, being there for each other, understanding and appreciating the strengths of each other. Our universe will glow again if we all use our strength of love.

The key to success is simple, put in hard work analyzing our own strength. From birth to speaking at the age of one, is the hard work of our brain's listening, understanding, and expressing. From birth to moving our hands, legs, and crawling to walking at the age of one, is the hard work of our small brain. Till there, everything happens with the flow and unconsciously. Then the conscious mind (which creates hurdles to go in a state of fear or confidence and that continues throughout our life) takes over. Just sit and think back to which situations created feelings of weakness and also how well your brain collected strength to talk and walk and relate to today's situations; you will get all the answers and it will help you to notice your strength. Everything needs to be done through the process of hard work but if you understand your strength then it happens faster than expected like a miracle.

"Practice makes a man perfect." This is a phrase which, in reality, if we start using, will create wonders in our lives. Whenever we exercise, in the beginning, our body gets tired and doesn't support that you are going against your brain that loves relaxation and not hard work. But once you overcome those situations then the body gets used to this hard work and exercises. Those learning lessons of exercising teaches us to try once more. "One more mile" and "one more rep" gives you the determination that leads to trying your best until you make it. I have seen many paralytic patients who have been courageous and fitness freaks and understand their strengths. They recover much faster and get their lost memory and speech back. Those who give up take a longer time to recover.

I, strongly feel that when you believe in your strength with all your heart and mind, you bring it to life. So let's, in this new year, bring that change in us to have a better understanding of our own strength, the strength of people around us, the strength of our country, and our universe to make a difference.