This has always been my approach to most of my professional work and analytics based personal projects. It’s a joy to read someone articulating and casting aspersions on how my functioning mind runs things.
“For any challenge, the first thing to do is optimize it. Break it down to its bare minimum, simplify it, and eliminate everything that’s not completely necessary. Once you’ve boiled the task down to its essentials, the goal is to break what’s left into bite-sized tasks that can be replicated and possibly delegated.”
― Ari Meisel , Less Doing, More Living: Make Everything in Life Easier
a photograph of beautiful rose petals that I captured from Tsaghkadzor in Northern Yerevan, Armenia
If you’re going to commit your efforts to anything, it could be a good idea to focus on something that already works. To people who already love you, to promising things, and to places that make you feel more alive. You may have to stop trying to fit in places where you no longer belong. You may have to abandon your efforts to become someone who is more widely accepted by the public but more foreign to your own heart. Life communicates with us in the most subtle and minute ways. In the little clicks, delightful coincidences, and unexpected unfoldings of the most routine things. These signals are striving to direct us down the many pathways that have been structured for us. Perhaps you should learn to believe what passes you by before you can trust what settles seamlessly in front of you. Perhaps you should trust what isn’t working because it will ultimately try to point you in the direction of what will. On the other side, your life awaits you. Presumably, my most recent posts have all been on hope and perseverance. God bless you. It is an honor to have your time and attention on the themes. : )
“Roses and thorns are parts of the same plant. Somehow though, some people are concerned mainly about the roses. The rose is not on the plant for more than a week, but the thorns are there forever. Roses are teaching that the beauty of life will bloom, once you have taught yourself the lessons given by living with the thorns.”
Life is, to put it mildly, uncertain. It is a beautiful and one-of-a-kind gift to everyone of us. We don’t give ourselves enough credit for enduring adversity and conquering challenging situations. Even at the worst of circumstances, given enough time to heal and think, there is always a lesson to be learned. Don’t get me wrong: life may be thoroughly seem to be harsh and unjust at times, and there may be moments when you can’t find any rationale atl all for what you’re going through. But hang on, you’re doing well. That’s where you have let go and trust on the divine will. Everything that happens to you and those around you has a reason and a purpose, which we would comprehend only after a certain phase. Keep the light of hope blazing.
Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.
I often discuss with Netta on coping with uncertainity. We are meticulous planners by nature and often it requires robust emotional strength to cope up with the smallest uncertainity in life. In most contexts, uncertainty is often related with vulnerability. After all, we all want to feel in charge of our lives, whether it’s our employment, education, friendships, or relationships. The sensation of being “out of control” is unsettling, and we are all guilty of avoiding this vulnerable zone whenever possible. However, by doing so, we are eventually restricting our potential to improve in these areas of our life that need commitment. It is often in these moments of dread and uncertainty that we learn how strong we can be and how much inner strength we really possess. After all, personal progress flourishes where distress flows. That’s what I’ve learned with experiences throughtout my life. Often strong rooted faith and trust in the divine will of Almighty can be a good solace, often in times when we are going through tough times. You may not notice it today or tomorrow, but in a few years you will be completely mystified and astonished by how everything lined together to bring you somewhere beautiful – or where you’ve always wanted to be. You will be relieved that things did not turn out the way you had hoped. Never lose hope. Everything is manageable as long as you have hope. In reality, this inside fire of patience, trust, perseverance, faith and hope is alluded to as the real inner strength.
“Hopeful Fortitude” | Original Fine Art from The Border of a Mind studios.
A fragment of a recollection from a brief visit to Georgian territories in the Caucasus, at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. However, the article’s point is universal.
I occurred to recall something I read a few years ago about money. Kent Nerburn, if I recall correctly, was the author. I don’t recall the precise wording, but it was something about delineating the state of one’s financial health. People who measure their money against their wants will never be satisfied since another desire will always entice them. People who assess their money in relation to their requirements might acquire control of their lives by controlling their needs. Certain requirements must be fulfilled. If the weight of poverty falls on you, do not seek money. Look for employment. Money will follow, and you will be able to start removing money from the center of your life and reintroducing it as a tool to help you live a meaningful life. Financial well-being is just a matter of harmonizing circumstances.
Principal Photography: Netta Edited & Styled by The Border Of A Mind Studios
The pace of the world has slowed from within through a gradual change in perspective. I’ve mirrored the same. I’ve made more time to listen—to my heart, to the new season ahead of me. At these times, I choose happiness over disorder. These are the times when my steps sing with delight. These are the times when I am my most authentic, real, and honest self. In silence, I realize how much I run throughout my days. I realize how infrequently I pause to collect my breath. This reality kindles something within. It weakens because I know I’m not supposed to spend my life swayed under this rush .The more I pray about my pace, the more I realize it has taken me nowhere. I’ve only discovered emptiness in the midst of the chaos. But in my slowness, I’ve discovered richness. I’ve merely found potential for growth and recollection. I’ve just come to believe in more and more grace. When I go back on my recollections, I just want to remember the quiet, simple, and peaceful moments. Nothing is more precious to me now than chasing harmony via divine affirmation rather than earthly approval. The world is continually in motion. And all too often, I emulate its shaky steps. I strive to keep up with its unpredictability and unbalance, but I always fail in its middle. In silent and peaceful prayers, I come to respect how I was never intended to seek anything other than pure, honest, and sincere rest—the sort that takes me to the route I was always meant to travel and the tale I was always meant to live. In short, try to feel and experience every moment. God bless : )
You may believe you have no influence in this world. Yet, someone hears a tune on the radio that makes them think of you. Someone has been lost in the pages of a book you suggested to them. Someone on the bus recalled a joke you told them and giggled to themselves. Someone put on a shirt and felt stunning because you complemented it. Someone has a recollection of you that makes them smile. Someone is sipping a drink from a cup that you gifted them with. Someone now loves themselves even more since you made a casual remark that made them feel wonderful. Never underestimate your effect; your fingerprints can’t be removed from the little acts of kindness you’ve left behind.
Holding Ehan’s hands on a calm morning of the weekend | theborderofamind.com
I’ve always experienced and perceived that organic and holistic growth is always incremental and gradual instead of a sporadic leap. Incremental, constant progress over a long time frame is the recipe for the mastery of a craft, purposeful, fulfilling education, powerful aquisition of skill sets, learning something totally new (like learning a language, for example), etc. Small successes aggregate to produce massive change over time. Although the outcomes may not be spectacular right away, they will be long-lasting. And the accumulation of multiple modest gains is sometimes as potent, if not more powerful, than efforts to make large jumps. The same is true for personal change. People who make a difference always begin slowly, one person at a time. It is not completed entirely at once. It’s done gradually.
“And I’ve noticed something about people who make a difference in the world: They hold the unshakable conviction that individuals are extremely important, that every life matters. They get excited over onesmile. They are willing to feed onestomach, educate onemind, and treat onewound. They aren’t determined to revolutionize the world all at once; they’re satisfied with small changes. Over time, though, the small changes add up. Sometimes they even transform cities and nations, and yes, the world. “
“Everything comes in time to him who knows how to wait” told Leo Tolstoy once. This is a very profound statement on exercising patience and unravelling the beauty of persistence. This broadly applies to everything small and big and could be a material entity, an experience or anything longed for that matter. This can also imply on working very hard on a potential opportunity found. It’s a beautiful, yet hard phase of being unshattered and unwavered by provocation, misfortune, annoyances. It’s a work in progress on let’s say a willingness to bite down restlessness and anger when confronted with delay. It’s in that calm state of mind yearned for in a soul with steady perseavarance, gentle dillingence and even tempered care. It’s a powerful deployment for endurance. Every uncertainity, every hardship (small or large as battles fought within are different and real for different people), every misfortune on the outset is an opportunity for doing things different and to walk out of your usual comfort zone. Relying on divine will and being calm and composed no matter what happens, is one of the biggest comforts of this life. Me, you, everyone is a work in progress. God bless !
