Author: Dr. Ajit Varwandkar
I have always advocated the necessity of Positivity, Optimism, and Hopefulness for leading a fulfilling life. I intend to inspire my reader through every column I write and through my books.
There is a person keeps reading all my articles and generously responds to those with his comments. The fellow, by nature, is very negative in his overall approach to life. Once, he asked me, “Sir, don’t you think you always lost a lot of realistic views of life in your pursuit of being positive? Can you tell me exactly what you gained from your positive attitude, gyan?” To this, I replied, “Dear, I may not be able to explain what specific benefits I got from being positive. However, I know I didn’t get all that you got with that strong cloud of negativity inside your mind!”
Let me tell you, the person who asked me this question is a patient with blood sugar and hypertension. He has been fired from his job twice and is known for bearing a very argumentative character.
The other day, someone told me this story of two friends from Mumbai – one was filthy rich, and the other was not so rich. The rich had four high-value cars, while the others had two mid-size vehicles. Once when they met, the rich man said, “Mere pass Lamborghini hai, BMW hai, Audi hai Merc bhi hai. Tere pass kya hai? (I have these many cars, what do you have?) The other fellow replied, “mere pass do car hai aur dono ke liye parking space hai!!” (I have only two cars, but I also have a parking space for both!)
Friends, positivity is the best approach in life. It relaxes your mind and keeps it cool. Positive people avoid comparing themselves with others regarding their material possessions and achievements. Their approach is to identify the best qualities of those who may have achieved better feet in life. They benchmark those milestones and start working on self-improvement.
At this stage, I wish to clarify one myth. Some people think that adverse situations will not come to you if you are very positive in your approach. Once, a student asked a guru why bad things happen to good people? The teacher said, “This is because bad situations already exist in this universe. Some people act like a fly and gets trapped in the sweetness of jaggery. One must know where to stop and when to move ahead. Most of the time, adverse outcomes are attracted out of one’s ignorance.
One young professional got stuck with a highly snobbish, irritating, horrible, and arrogant boss. It goes without saying his life became hell, and there was no peace whatsoever. Somehow, he managed to wriggle out of that department and get a place in a better work environment. This guy once asked me, “Sir, what positive aspect can you find in the traumatic experience which I went through?” I said, “Now you know how not to be a bad boss!”
Positive nature brings in happiness, which in turn builds immunity. There was research done among 500 participants. For a continuous period of sixty days, their happiness level was measured by a psychometric scale. Simultaneously their saliva sample was collected to check their immunity levels by way of specific medicine standards. As a result of this survey, it was found that most subjects reported high immunity the day they were positive and cheerful in their life. Likewise, their immunity levels dropped substantially on days when they were not so happy and positive.
One last word, the attitude of positivity is a learnable skill. When you have the conviction and aspiration to lead a blissful life, you will quickly adopt a positive and hopeful lifestyle.
Do contact me in case you have any career queries.
Dr. Ajit Varwandkar is the Director of myaglakadam.com. He is a leading career counselor and can be contacted on 9826132972 or email him at info@fsindia.in
This column was originally published by the author in The Times of India