Living Life in Parts — Three Buckets. One Lifetime.




Think of some of your happiest memories.



Perhaps it was the satisfaction of completing a challenging project after months of hard work. Or a holiday with your children when they were young. Years later, you may have forgotten what the hotel cost, but you still remember the fun.

And then there are the people who have filled our lives with affection. Meeting an aunt who pampered you as a child and remembered your favourite sweets can bring a different kind of happiness.

Three experiences. Three kinds of fulfilment. Each precious in its own way.

So why do we sometimes behave as though life has only one purpose at a time?

I like to think of life as three buckets. One holds our duties and responsibilities. Another holds our search for inner peace. The third holds joy and enjoyment.

We need all three. Their proportions will change with time, but each has something valuable to offer.

Read the full article on Substack


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Faith Becomes a Festival

  Where devotion meets celebration, community and commerce. The world's religions have emerged in different regions, at different times, and from remarkably different understandings of life and existence. Some believe in one God, others in many manifestations of the divine, while still others give central importance to understanding human suffering, compassion, ethical conduct and the search for liberation. Their teachings, rituals, philosophies and traditions may differ enormously. Yet, despite these differences, religion has rarely remained confined to matters of faith and worship. Over centuries, it has influenced how people live, the customs they follow, the communities they form and the occasions they celebrate. Some of these traditions have become so deeply woven into everyday life that their influence extends far beyond those who practise the faith itself. Religious festivals offer a particularly delightful example. For the devout, a festival may be an occasion f...
Read more

Leadership: The Chair Is Already Taken!

  Imagine someone telling you that the secret to becoming a great actor is to become Amitabh Bachchan. You practise his walk, imitate his deep baritone, perfect his expressions and perhaps even master that famous pause before delivering a dialogue. Eventually, you become an excellent Amitabh Bachchan impersonator. Congratulations! You have become his double. But the hero is still Amitabh Bachchan. That chair is already taken! If you aspire to be a great actor, the challenge is not to become another Amitabh Bachchan, but to earn a place of your own, perhaps even of comparable stature. Remember, Amitabh himself did not become a legend by trying to be another Dilip Kumar or Raj Kapoor. He developed his own style, his own screen presence and his own identity. He learnt his craft, but made it distinctly his own. And herein lies an important lesson for anyone aspiring to leadership. The Inner Foundation of Leadership First, you cannot lead by imitation. Every individual is...
Read more

Mera Desh Bahut Mahan! — A Satirical Short Story from 1998

Image
  A Note from the Author I wrote this little satire in 1998, when my pen was perhaps sharper and my opinions rather more forceful. Twenty-eight years later, I have revisited it with a gentler touch. The setting remains deliberately unnamed, the characters are fictional, and the humour is intended to travel beyond geographical boundaries. One unusual feature of the original remains unchanged: every sentence in the story contains exactly four words. The Story                                                             The landscape was breathtaking. Green hills stood majestically. The sea shimmered below. Nature had been generous. Travelling was another matter. There was ...
Read more