When we enter an amusement park like Disney Land or Imagica, our aim is to experience the maximum and make the best of the day. The first thing we do on entering the park is to pick up a map of the amusement park and plan the route for the rides to be taken depending on our own preferences. If, for a single day to be spent in a small amusement area, we do not start and move without a map and a route plan, what in the world makes us believe that we can go about our lives without the help of a map and a plan? In ‘life planning,’ the map is not available off the shelf as in an amusement park. Maps resemble your goals which are derived from your values. You have to prepare your own map. Once the map of goals is ready, the journey has to be planned. But again, in the journey of life, we cannot have an exactly predefined route. Planning your life is not about bringing rigidity in the way you want to live. It is about clarifying why and what you want to do with your life, and then plan to realise that vision. It is more of a compass which shows you the direction towards your own goals. Unexpected circumstances and events happen, but you know ultimately where you are heading and that keeps you enthused and unbaffled.
We only live once within a limited time slot. A moment gone is gone forever. You cannot relive that moment. You cannot rewind that moment. You cannot repair that moment even though it passed just one second ago. You cannot manufacture a single second. There are only two things about time which is under your influence. One is to make the best use of the time available to you and second, is to take optimum health precautions so that your time slot does not shrink. When we are at a funeral of someone we know, we realise the temporal nature of life and are jolted for a brief moment. But soon, this great realisation wanes off.
Life is too precious to be spent on watching television shows, tapping the screens of smart phones, cribbing about work, babbling about climate change, gobbling food, attending mindless functions and forwarding messages on Whatsapp. Life is much more than this.
Life is about your heart’s calling for experiences, love, play, passion and purpose. The heart doesn’t speak, it vibrates. Take time to be silent. Feel those vibrations with all your awareness. These vibrations are buried deep below the layers of our sensual entertainment, our showy possessions, our borrowed wisdom, and our societal definitions of success. All these layers have to be peeled off. As these layers are peeled off, the vibrations start throbbing. It is impossible for you to ignore them anymore.
To be able to function with vigour, you need a healthy mind and body. Health gives you time and freedom. And yes, money is the sixth sense without which you cannot make good use of the other five. Money is a thing, but not everything. Fame, power and sensual gratifications are like salt water – the more you drink, the thirstier you get. Understand the basics, set your goals, plan for them and act. The sooner you start, the better.
Planning helps you make the best use of the available time and resources to achieve your ‘goals in life’ and ‘goals of life’. Time wasted is a portion of life wasted. Wastage of resources is wastage of your potential. When the ‘day plan’ flows from your ‘life plan,’ the magic begins. Your ‘life plan’ serves as an inspiration for the ‘day plan.’ Then, you don’t carry the plan. The plan carries you.
Try it. All I want to say is, it’s urgent.
