Take control of your mind, or else it will. — I read 10 books per month. Mostly, I toggle between reading self-improvement books and novels. It’s fun to live in reality this way. Last week, I came across a book by Darius Foroux, “Think Straight.” I gulped down the whole book in one day. The book has some catchy illustrations…

Soak your mind in the wisdom of Buddha’s teachings. — Buddha received a visitor: a young man. The young man came with a blanket full of never-ending questions. According to him, he never uncovered answers about life. He wanted to search for his true purpose. Buddha politely replied to the young man: “If you want answers, you must pay the…

Behind every strong person, there’s a problem that gave them no choice. — Friedrich Nietzsche is a german philosopher and influential thinker of the 19th century. The “human condition and self-realization” is the concept first discovered by Nietzsche. He believed that for a man to achieve superiority in life, he must hone his craft. Nietzsche felt our meaning of life ‘comes from within’…

Only dead fishes go with the flow. — “Self-discipline is the mother of success.” — Topsy Gift I read the above quote a few weeks ago. From that day onwards, I have deeply tried to maintain self-discipline while reading, eating, sleeping, etc. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to build nugget habits or feed them to my mind. That’s…

Color your life with every stain people throw at you. — Pablo Picasso — a Spaniard painter, is known for creating 50,000+ artworks, sculptures, and drawings. During his 91-year life span, Picasso founded the artistic movement “Cubism,” which featured drawing with pure geometric shapes and new painting variations. Picasso’s inspiration for his artworks was inherited by his artistic father — José…

If you want to succeed, choose your failures — in advance — Imagine flying through your to-do list and noticing your tasks crossed by a (winking) checkmark. Congratulations… you did it! Sounds like a dream come true. We all want to ‘shut our eyes’ before peeking at the to-do list to pretend nothing’s left. But we secretly know there’s much, much left. …

Live the life of Riley. — Growing up, Marcus Aurelius learned Greek and Latin as a teenager. But Stoicism meddled with his mind. Stoicism: A philosophical concept that maximizes positive emotions, reason, and self-restraint. According to Stoicism, our thoughts dovetail with our lives. External factors play a tiny role. Marcus Aurelius opted for Stoic methods to…

Don’t expect to see change if you never make one. — Have you wondered why you can’t get along with everyone? Wearing branded clothes, dipped in fragrance oils, and studying at a prestigious university all go into an ashtray. You do everything in your favor to impress friends, but you miss the boat. Recently, I realized: What makes us unfit is…

Be *that* person everyone treasures. — We all have heard this quote: A friend in need is a friend indeed! To me, this quote appears exaggerated (over-kill). Upon researching, I found that this quote belongs to Benjamin Franklin, founder of the Ben Franklin effect. Benjamin grew up penniless. Without education, Benjamin knew all doors were sealed…