Husain Journal

You know what’s good for your growth, and you know what’s holding you back. Yet, you often look the other way. Sure, you’ve made some progress and achieved a few milestones, but most of those accomplishments came from the progressive steps you’ve taken. And deep down, you probably know that if you’d taken even more of those steps, you’d be in a much better place today. Sound familiar? If so, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get real with yourself. Ask yourself these tough questions—your answers could ignite the change you need: What foolish habits or behaviours am I engaging in that are holding me back? How can I eliminate them? What obstacles are in the way of eliminating these barriers? What small action can I take today to start moving in the right direction? Take some time to sit down in a quiet space, away from distractions. Switch off your phone and let those around you know you n...

I’ll reward myself with a cup of tea after pouring down my thoughts in writing. Today, I don’t have a specific topic in mind to write about. Not having a clear focus might seem like a disadvantage, but when I look at it differently, I realize it's actually a blessing. Why is it a blessing? Because without a specific topic, I’m free to express my thoughts as they come to me. This often sparks my creativity in unexpected ways. Many of my blog posts have come from this kind of free, mindful writing. It’s also a therapeutic exercise for my mind, helping me calm the mental rush and clear away the clutter. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “There’s more to life than just increasing its speed.” In today’s fast-paced world, the advice to slow down carries more weight than ever. So, I’m grateful for an activity that not only helps ...

For quite some time, and especially after my mother whispered goodbye to this fleeting world, I’m having difficulty waking up fresh and energetic. Yes, you might say that waking up with that cloggy feeling in mornings is pretty general, but if due to them your normal work is skidding off the rails? The alarm bells begin to ring, bang, pound. And if you snooze, you lose. You have to wake up. Well, first joining a gym and racking my bones to the point of cracking appeared clever. I reasoned that this way I’ll fall asleep as I threw myself on the bed. Good idea? But this required a heck lot of time and effort. Going to and from gym, managing office and personal work – all this appeared a little beyond the time and energy at my disposal. (Additionally, I hate sad and crappy music played in these places. Isn’t it true that all that we expose ourselves to – knowingly or unknowingly – has a bearing on our thinking?) Second I thought of purchasing some physical exercising ma...

So? You’re terribly busy running on the hectic treadmill of life. And you hardly get a chance of slowing down to feel the heart-moving beauty – these blessings that are all around you. But the amazing truth is that if we feel thankful for our daily blessings, that we take for granted, we’ll feel as if heavens have opened up their breasts to shower joy on us. We might get so energetic that we’ll turn back all the negative forces no matter however powerful they're to grab success. So, I’m going to list a few blessings which you have, but never feel grateful about. Shedding these blessings attention would kill your worries, scale up your strength, multiply your optimism, and eventually bring you near the success your heart hungers for. 1. There’re many people on ventilators, neither able to speak nor allowed to eat or drink anything. They helplessly see their relatives, but they know that nothing is going to be of any help. They’re waiting for their death, in a deep w...

You or I or anybody can get as successful as he dreams to by doing a simple thing. And, that simple thing is meditation, or being fully present in the moment . Many people think that meditation is the practice of sitting quietly in a secluded corner, paying attention to your breathing and mentally scanning all the parts of your body. It means that you shut off yourself from all external stimuli and internal triggers so to cancel out all the bustle of this ever-speeding world. While this is true, many folks also are of the view that you can’t meditate while you’re Fixed in traffic Engaged in any mentally demanding tasks Having food or coffee However, pause and reflect… Isn’t meditation another name for being fully present in the moment – of pouring the purest of your attention on whatever you’re doing at that specific moment? If you’re having a juice, pay attention to its taste, colour, texture. How it touches your lips, how it slides down your throat, what se...

I think and talk enough about how to improve myself. I do the same about shedding my unproductive activities. It’s not that I’m not implementing what I’m reading, but it feels that there’s more that I need to do to ramp up my improvement further. I also feel that brooding all the time about improvement and success can turn counterproductive. I must have days when I should write only for pleasure. Writing can be a great pastime to entertain my mind. These days I have written quite a bit, and now I’m feeling like putting it down for some time, maybe for a day. Today I don’t feel like writing on my blog, but the word that I have inadvertently omitted needs to be put back because it’s rendering the entire sentence meaningless. Had it been a typo, I could have afforded to go without changing, but it’s a clear mistake, and this is the reason why I have to set it right forthwith. No matter however much I strive to write lightly, it happens that I feel a heaviness in my heart when it...

Does this describe you? You’re so overfilled with stuff that before you know it, scores of highly important tasks slip through the cracks and vanish. After all, state of things earlier were not as jumbled up as they’re now, right? And no matter how terribly you try to mute it, that same question scratches the core of your heart – Will I ever be able to organise and clear up the traffic of my affairs? Read on, I’m going to mention a bunch of attention-chewing habits that could be contributing in messing up your life. The hot metric to instantly ment away your crutch activities This piercing truth might sting you right on your face, but let me tell you a dirty secret about us. We invent clever, fox-cunning excuses to dodge the tough – the results-fetching stuff so to embrace the easy and mundane. But if easy tasks would have made our audacious, soul-stirring dreams true, every second person had cut it. So success lies in challenging and blood-squeezing work. For e...

Oh, end of another bone-stiffening day. You sigh, rub your misty eyes, and slump down on your soft bed to taste some ice-cream. You’re tired and drained yet a part of your mind desires to push more. But you direly feel like resting a little. It’s vital to refresh your creativity and health, right? As it slips around your tongue, you try enjoying the crispy texture of the ice-cream, but you can’t, because a bunch of work files are open in your mind. And you think… Can I ever get successful in enjoying the little pleasures of my everyday life? Maybe you’re overambitious, maybe not. But you certainly require changing the approach you have for your work. Fortunately, these mind-quickening points can inject fresh electric in you when you’re sucked up: Forget work and talk about war Rewind to June, 1942. German air force is bombarding England to hold sway over Europe. The Commanding General of the European Theater of Operations for the US Army, Dwight Eisenhower is plunged ...

“Your worst enemy cannot harm you As much as your own thoughts, unguarded. But once mastered, No one can help you as much, Not even your father or your mother.” Lord Buddha A simple thing that can turn us highly productive is that we must train ourselves to guard our thoughts. If every moment we’re guarding our thoughts optimally, if every moment we’re true in doing justice with our cognitive capabilities and blessings, the success we dream about isn’t going to evade us for that long. The problem with us is that we’re lazy, rest-loving folks, and doing justice with our blessings is no easy feat. This is because we have entangled ourselves in bad, unproductive thoughts, and therefore we find ourselves backing out when it comes to using our blessings optimally. The ugly truth is that we have chained ourselves in clutter and frivolity: The clothes we want to wear at the party Why is she hanging around with that guy so often…is there a romantic story brewing up? He never ...

Certainly, we’re of a hasty temperament. And “Hastiness,” Imam Husain said, “is a kind of stupidity.” To curb the rush of my mind, I meditate by using the free version of an app called Headspace . When I play the body scan session of this app, I feel relaxed and well-grounded in the present. The instructor will ask you to think about a photocopy machine. As the light whizzes back and forth through the paper in it, similarly he will ask you to imagine a light is passing through your body, scanning every part of it from head to toe. Actually, oftentimes there’s a voice in my head which tries to race ahead of the present time. This voice disturbs me because it doesn’t permit me to focus on my present. As a consequence I can’t enjoy and saver the bliss of the present moment. But when I meditate, it reminds me to come in my natural unhurried speed, and unloads the burden of doing more than it’s required of me. The effect is that I get unburdened, and then I’m fairly successful in...

“The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” Thomas Grey, English poet When Alexander the Great, who conquered the world was dying, he called up his generals and asked them to do 3 things after his death: To have his coffin carried by top physicians, To strewn the path leading up to his grave with precious gems and rubies that he had achieved, And to cut off his hands to keep them outside his grave. His faithful generals, overflowing with emotions, said that they’ll certainly do as the master commanded, but they requested him to tell them the reason behind such weird orders. Ailing in pain, Alexander explained: He wants his coffin to be carried by top physicians to let the world know that death catches everyone, no matter how resourceful he is. Therefore top physicians should carry his coffin. Secondly he wanted the world to know that no matter however power or riches you grab, the path of life eventually ends in death. Therefore precious gems and rubies on the path t...

What if, God forbid, tomorrow you’re thrown in the prison for 27 years? Not for killing people, not for looting banks, not for passing out any super classified information of your country…but you’re jailed just because you demanded the rights you’re entitled to. Would you feel that the cruelty of life has slapped you on your face? Most unfair huh? Well, this is exactly what happened with a lovely man whose name was Nelson. Yes, Nelson Mandela. Of South Africa. Who stood up against tyranny, against slavery, against injustice. And grabbed success. Who made the soil of his motherland so hot for the invaders that they eventually had to flee. Want to know one mind-quickening secret behind his success? You may be disappointed to know it. It was thinking, as he revealed in many of his interviews. Answering what he did in the vast time available to him in the prison, he said of thinking about the plan of action he needed to pursue. He said that introspecting about the past mist...

I miss the 2 pigeons that perched themselves on my window in the mild evening sun. When I returned from work, the day’s cares and noises got lightened in their soft cooing. While I sipped tea, my little daughter fed them with crumbs from her own hands. The pigeons gracefully flapped their fair wings and cooed as if to thank my daughter. I watched this scene from a distance. For the pigeons my daughter was a friend and I stranger, so I feared their flying away by infringing their safe area. If any day an unavoidable commitment took us somewhere else at the appointed hour, we placed the crumbs for our revered and innocent guests. But sadly this holy practice of ours broke when the traffic of daily cares made us busy, even forcing us to leave home for several days. During that time, those holy doves would have waited upon my daughter. Evening upon evening thus going by, in disappointment they would have left frequenting my window. So sweet, so pure, the pigeons that visit m...