My Skeptical Thoughts by Suleman Nasir (book club suggestions .txt) 📕

Immoderate greed for material gains is a parent of unhappiness; money and opulence of wealth are essential but cannot be entirely relied upon to allay social needs. It is the bonds of friendship, family, and love that grant us true peace. The one who has only money is the worst kind of poor.

Unhappy, despondent, and ungrateful people are ringed by a peculiar aura that casts a melancholic shadow on all those in their company.

Idleness is a means of ensuring unhappiness. Everything in the universe follows its patterns; the sun and the moon set and rise as per their ordained manner; birds and animals leave as the sky sheds the morning light to prowl through the vast canvas of the earth in search of nourishments and hark back to their abodes as the sun sets. In the same manner, man has a set of purposes to bring to actualization; if he procrastinates and engages in idleness he swerves from his determined pattern, and by the force of circumstance, plunges into dissatisfaction.

Another reason why we are invaded by unhappiness is that we do not keep a concerned eye on our health; the mind-body connection is the key to a good life. A body bursting with health paves way for a healthy and happy mind.

Being a perfectionist is an unrealistic goal, the pursuit of which strangles happiness; whether it is self-perfection (expecting perfection from oneself) or social-perfection (expecting perfection from others) both are extremely implausible.

Most of the times we are unhappy because we seek validation from others; instead of loving ourselves, we are in love with the idea of others loving us.

Insecurities cause unhappiness as they halt us from chasing our dreams out of the fear of failure; we will not truly triumph in the battlefield of life unless we conquer our fear; I am not sure about Redbull, but fear definitely gives men wings. An insecure individual is like a bird with wounded wings.

Neglecting family, friends and other relationships for the pursuit of a career is a misguided step that people regret at the twilight of their lives. Lion’s shares of people on their deathbed regret not spending enough time with their kith and kin.

Learning and discovering new things is not only a sign of growth but also a wellspring of joy. Learning new skills and taking on hobbies brings one into an idyllic setting since it puts an end to boredom and most of the time it is boredom that invites unhappiness.

To put an end to the span of unhappiness, spirituality is just what the doctor ordered. Worship, praying, reading Holy Scriptures, helping others through charities or any other means brings peace and emotional wellbeing.

The burglars that rob us of our material possessions are regarded with disgust and contempt, but we inadvertently allow the aforementioned thieves to strip us of our joys. Happiness is not a privilege given randomly; it is a consequence of our actions. It is in our own hands to create worlds where our souls feel at home. Anything that steals our joys and happiness is our foe; if we rashly keep engaging in such enterprises, then we are colluding with our foes against our own self.

Chapter 37

Who Am I ?

“Don’t pretend to be someone, Heavens never created you to be.”

There is a wide array of elements that serve as pointers of our individualism; the language we articulate, appearances we curate, customs and traditions, social settings we inhabit serve as insignia of our individual and collective identity and are called sign vehicles. Every individual, culture, society, and nation boasts its own indicators of identity; these entities tell the difference between them and others. When an individual or a society as a whole emulates its peers abandoning its own distinctive identity, it proceeds towards a faceless existence having no fixed identity of their own.

In the latter-day world, victims of an identity crisis are not hard to find. We all, in one way or another, suffer from periods of uncertainty and confusion pertaining to our sense of identity. Not being awake to our true identity, we foolishly sink our lives in pretending to be what we are not. It occurs only when we are disinclined towards the identity bequeathed to us, and begin to take others’ as models of perfection and superiority. Language is a door to the edifice of culture; we are seduced by the languages, English to reckon with, that are not ours, for we are persuaded by the false notion that it will land us in favor with society; we slip into the attires that are antithetical to our culture and often to our liking, solely to portray ourselves as up to the minute individuals. We, the generation of today, are living in a deplorable state, as we have thrown our cultural indoctrination to the wind and have adhered to the unethical lifestyles of drugs, sex, and addictions. In doing so, we are rendered similar to lost travelers wandering in the desert, and the pursuits we are engaged in are naught but merely beautiful illusions. The jack of all trades is master of none; when we attempt to mimic others’ culture, traditions, and customs, we not only fail at it, but we also lose our selfhood and uniqueness. We become a graceless mess; anonymous nobodies of the world.

Language, culture, custom, castes, traditions are orchestrated only to civilize and recognize man, and making it a standard to gauge superiority is utter idiocy. The one who does not acknowledge and appreciate his culture, if demands respect then he undoubtedly is living in a fool’s paradise. When it comes to personal identity or collective identity, one must be at home with the milieu he is allocated in and embrace and ingrain in himself the elements it envelops. For if we abandoned our hereditary identity, we shall never find an apt answer to the question “who am I?”

Chapter 38

The World is Your Oyster

“Your life is your story. Write well; edit often.”

As long as we are drawing breath, the tale of our life continues; we are both its author and protagonist. With the dawn of every new day, a new chapter ushers in. Our story, just like other stories, has its set of amiable characters, foes, crises, tests and trials, treasures and rewards. The conclusion of our story is yet undisclosed, and how it ends pivots on each chapter that we scribble on a daily period.

The quotidian ascending sun is a call to an adventure and to alter our status quo for better. To have an adventurous story to be written, we will have to jump out of our comfort zones. An unexceptional life devoid of endeavors and challenges is not worth living. We, the heroes of our stories, have been equipped with heaps of superpowers that are yet to be discovered. The moment we clap eyes on our powers and abilities, everything is confined within the limits of possibility. To have our chapters brimming with thrill and excitement, we must yearn for the impossible.

Every one of us possesses distinctive and treasured qualities. It is upon us to bring them into the light. It is by the virtue of these qualities that we smoothly sail through the tempestuous tests and trials of life. Our approaches determine the genre of our stories; if we knuckle under the afflictions of life our story will be a tragedy, but if we stand tall before life’s tribulations, our story will be recounted as a hero’s legend.

Waking up every day is like a new birth; a resurrection. It is a privilege to wash away the errors that we had committed in the days gone by; it is a chance to evolve. A splendid life is not a perk to be thrown in our laps. It is a reward that the tests and trials of life ensue. Whatever we want can be wrested from life through diligent and earnest struggle. Pluck out all the pearls that the world shrouds in her chest, for she is your oyster.

Publication Date: 05-22-2020

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