“Never take success to your head or failure to your heart”
How does it feel like being successful? What does one go through when one fails? Are these two phenomenon relative , interdependent or one & the same thing?
We all know about the resilience shown by Sourav Ganguli( & I’ll always have that Bong prejudice for him 🙂 c’mon he is cute & “mishti” too 🙂 ) & Steve Jobs. Both of them had to leave their respective team & company that they were leading & had to prove their resilience. Oprah Winfrey is an absolute favourite – look at how confidently a Black American woman can interview the most powerful people in this world. J.K.Rowling’s on this list as well. Karan Johar is today one of the most powerful people in Bollywood who’s father suffered a near about bankruptcy on producing 6 debacles one after the other. There can be many examples of “failure-to-stupendous success” stories but all these successful people had one thing in common – since they knew what it is like to fail they remained grounded. Humbleness & humility are indeed not everyone’s forte. Priyanka Chopra says that “the immense love of fans which stardom brings makes me feel so small”…how true indeed…how small are we compared to even our own accomplishments which deserve a respectful heart not a vain conceited mind!
During the Infosys recruitement process(the 1st job interview experience of my life 🙂 ) I saw a conceited smile on the faces of all the qualified ones. Indeed a proud moment but that was the moment when I realised how fleeting & momentary both success & failure are in their own nature & existence. BOTH ARE SO TEMPORARY! My “class topper” status in school didn’t last. My “sophisticated girl” image in college didn’t last.My “disastrous grade point ” & “biggest loser” image didn’t last either. But I enjoyed both my “topper” & “sophisticated” image as much as I suffered my “disastrous grade point” & “biggest loser” image. There were nights when I would cry myself to sleep but now (buddhi hamesha der se hi ati hai mujhe 🙂 ) I realise that EVERYTHING IS ABOUT LIVING IN THE MOMENT & ACTING IN THE PRESENT as I read somewhere
“Live your life in the present tense as life is not a rehearsal”
Be happy in the moment, that’s enough. Each moment is all we need, not more. ~ Mother Teresa
These are lines from my most favourite poem Psalm of Life :
A Psalm of Life
Tell me not in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou are, to dust thou returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.
Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.
Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.
In the world’s broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!
Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, – act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o’erhead!
Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time;
Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solenm main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.
Let us then be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
savoir vivre 