Time Zone of life

New York is 3 hours ahead of California but it does not mean that California is slow, or that New York is fast. Both are  working based on their own "Time Zone."

Some one is still single. Someone got married and 'waited' 10 years before having a child. There is another who had a baby within a year of marriage.

Someone graduated at the age of 22, yet waited 5 years before securing a good job; and there is another who graduated at 27 and secured employment immediately !

Someone became CEO at 25 and died at 50 while another became a CEO at 50 and lived to 90 years.
Everyone works based on their 'Time Zone',

People can have things worked out only according to their pace.
Work in your “time zone”.

Your Colleagues, friends, younger ones might "seem" to go ahead of you.
May be some might "seem" behind you.

Everyone is in this world running their own race on their own lane in their own time.Time is the difference. Obama retires at 55, Trump resumes at 70

Don't envy them or mock them, it's their 'Time Zone.'
You are in yours!

Hold on, be strong, and stay true to yourself. All things shall work together for your good.

You’re not late … You are not early ... you’re very much On time! stay blessed.
You Are In Your Time Zone....��Good day

Govt. Of India these days be like

Ant and Grasshopper - Indian Version of story - too good and fact so please read. You will love it

Original Story:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool
and laughs dances plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and
well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the
cold.

Indian Version:

The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter. The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool
and laughs dances plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands
to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others
are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN , Asianet show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper
next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with
food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor
Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that
Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

Mayawati states this as 'injustice' done on Minorities.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
Grasshopper

CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in
the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and
Grasshoppers.

Railway minister allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway
Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the 'Prevention of Terrorism Against
Grasshoppers Act'[POTAGA] , with effect from the beginning of the winter..

Education minister makes 'Special Reservation' for Grasshoppers in Educational
Institutions in Government Services.

The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left
to pay his retroactive taxes, it's home is confiscated by the Government
and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV, BBC,Zee News , CNN

Arundhati Roy calls it 'A Triumph of Justice'.

Railway minister calls it 'Socialistic Justice'.

CPM calls it the 'Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden'

Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar
company in Silicon Valley ,

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere
in India ,

....AND

As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the
grasshoppers, India is still a developing country...!!

P.S.: I have no idea whose creative mind this has come out from, but this piece is awesome..✨✨✨
Think about this....seems so true

Story behind breakups

We can all agree: Breakups are the worst. 

But, as one of the most universal experiences stemming from romance, it's a circumstance many of us can relate to. The average woman, for example, will experience severe heartbreak at least twice before she ends up with a long-term partner — if she ever does.

While lifestyle magazines may force-feed us supposedly foolproof methods for getting over a breakup (ice cream, sobbing, Tinder binges) and others may emphasize the seven "normal" phases of a breakup, the aftermath of splitting from someone you truly care about is enormously complex and unique for every person. 

People deal with breakups in different and much messier ways than the media would have you believe. Here are 11 lies about breakups we need to stop telling ourselves — and each other. 

1. You shouldn't dwell on it.

Yes, you should. A recent study from the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that critically thinking about and dwelling on a past relationship (preferably while eating a tub of ice cream) might actually expedite the healing process. By allowing ourselves to work out what went wrong in a relationship, researchers found that recently heartbroken people could quickly rebuild the sense of self they once had as a single person, according to the study. 

What's a healthy mourning period? However long it takes, but the sooner we verbalize emotions, the sooner we can leave them behind. That's how an attached "we" becomes a confident, single "I."

2. Men initiate breakups most often.

Wrong. It turns out that women are much more effective at initiating breakups than men. 

A survey Cosmopolitan reported last year found that, on average, women take about six days to decide to break up with a partner, while men agonize over the decision for about 10. That's because, according to the study, 88% percent of men are working carefully to frame a polite "exit strategy." While there aren't a lot of stats about who dumps who in premarital breakups, past research indicates that women initiate about 66% of divorces.

3. Rebound relationships 

Actually, they do. In many cases, experts recommend using rebounds — short flings or even longer-term relationships — as a healthy way to assess yourself and what you're looking for in a new partner.

A 2006 study from Princeton University found that people who enter new relationships immediately after a divorce don't have a higher future divorce rate than those who took their time getting back in the saddle. As Jennifer Nagy advises on the Huffington Post, "Enjoy a rebound relationship, which offers fun, companionship and excitement, without the long-term commitment." 

4. Men cope with breakups better than women do.

This troubling gendered myth not only paints women dealing with breakups as pathetic, but also does a disservice to men who are trying to get over the person of their dreams.

A 2010 study from the Journal of Health and Social Behavior examined the effect of men's and women's relationships on their mental health and found that, "[w]hile current involvements and recent breakups are more closely associated with women's than men's mental health, support and strain in an ongoing relationship are more closely associated with men's than women's emotional well-being." 

In sum, men often rely on their partners, rather than friends, for emotional intimacy and personal support, and losing that support during a breakup can cause a lot of emotional distress. As Men's Health points out, "Women adjust better to the end of a relationship because they've already given consideration to the possibility of a breakup, whereas men are typically unprepared for it." But it's okay, dudes; the truth is that we all have an incredibly hard time getting over a breakup.

5. It's totally cool to still follow your ex on social media.

No. Unfriend and unfollow immediately. It's really bad for you. 

A 2012 study conducted by Western University found that around 88% of individuals dealing with a breakup in the last 12 months have followed their ex's Facebook activity, while another study from Brunel University found that surveilling an ex on social media slows down the recovery process. If love has an effect on the brain similar to that of drugs, then it makes sense that liking every Instagram selfie your ex takes just feeds the endorphin-fueled addiction. "Continued Facebook surveillance may mean that an individual becomes stuck in a rut, unable to let go of that ex-partner," study author Tara Marshall told Mic.

You don't need to go cold turkey, but use the reality of your breakup as a digital wake-up call. As online dating expert Laurie Davies tellsRefinery29, "Give your timeline a reality check. Following them is fun, but it can hurt your heart ... if they want to get in touch, they will."

6. The time it will take you to get over your relationship is equal to half of the time you spent together.

Known as "the breakup golden rule," this formula is dangerously misleading. Pop culture loves perpetuating this rule of thumb on shows like How I Met Your Mother and Sex and the City, but there's one key problem: Emotions can't be timed. 

A 2009 study suggests it can take up to 18 months to get over a serious relationship, and that's just a survey average. But many factors contribute to how long someone takes to heal after a breakup, such as the length of the relationship, terms of the breakup, amount of communication and future romantic opportunities.

When the question was posed to the men of Reddit last year, responses ranged from 18 hours to 10 months to going on 11 years. The golden rule must be thrown out the window.

7. If you were supposed to break up, it won't be tough to get over.

No matter who initiates a breakup, both parties will likely experience a strong emotional reaction. Those who did the dumping know that initiating the breakup doesn't necessarily mean it will be easier to get over. 

As Jennifer Kromberg notes in Psychology Today, "The part of our brain that governs emotional reactions doesn't care whether or not the breakup was for the best. It just knows there's been a loss. As shaped by your previous experiences of loss, the emotional center of your brain may still react negatively even when the logical part of you knows it's positive." As much as we want our reaction to breakups to be logical, we're still dealing with the messy knot that is love and loss.

8. Breakups are caused by the change of seasons.

"Breakup seasons" are not real, as heartbreak happens at all times of the year. The major reasons people break up aren't because "it got hot" or "it got cold." A Cosmopolitan survey of 1,400 women found that the most commonly cited reasons for a breakup were falling out of love, infidelity, lying and incessant fighting.

But still the the popular myths remain — people believe others are more apt to break up as the months warm up, when more people go out or are open to summer flings, some say. Facebook data shows the opposite is true: Breakups start rising in mid-November and peak two weeks before Christmas. They also tend to peak around Valentine's Day and spring break. These trends have less to do with the seasons themselves and are more likely in correlation with the heavy questions big holidays tend to stir up: "Am I with the right person?" "Do I want to introduce them to my family?"

So, don't write off a breakup to just the beginning of tourist season or the onset of Thanksgiving. It's more likely indicative of an issue that was present long before the change in season. Or, maybe, it's just a Monday.

9. Men do most of the cheating.

Stop blaming men, and look towards your genes. A new study from the University of Oxford in England explains there are many factors that contribute to someone cheating, and that hormonally, some of us are more likely to be promiscuous than others. The study shows that there are two different "mating" strategies — people who stray and people who stay. Factors like a long ring finger (compared to the index) may suggest someone is more likely to stray. But it's good to note that daters destined for either long term or short term partners come in all shapes, sizes and, importantly, genders.

10. All breakups are explicit.

Have you ever heard of something called "ghosting?" It's a term that describes when a person just fades away without any formal breakup. The increasingly virtual nature of our dating lives has made it easy for many of us to us that sense of anonymity to avoid awkward moments like breakup talks. 

Surveys like the one reported in Elle show that up to 27% of women and 14% of men have been ghosted. And just because we have been ghosted doesn't mean we don't ghost people ourselves. So, no, signs of a breakup are not explicit to everyone — especially when we haven't been given a proper goodbye talk (or even a text.) In today's dating landscape, many of us might not know we've been dumped until our partner has given us a few weeks of radio silence.

11. With every breakup, you're just collecting baggage.

Past relationships can help inform our future ones, and are crucial for our personal and romantic development. Singles now make up the majority of the adult population in the United States. While that may mean that more potential romantic partners than ever are previously dumped or historical dumpers, it doesn't mean we have to worry about what our baggage means.

Western Illinois University professor Christopher Carpenter found in a 2013 study that the more previous relationship statuses a person has on Facebook, the more "likes" and interests they display on their profile. The study indicated that the more unique interests we adopt from a partner, the more attractive or interesting we will look to future dates. So that David Bowie obsession you adopted from your college boyfriend back in 2006, the one that inadvertently attracted someone on OkCupid? Thank your ex. You couldn't have gotten here without a breakup.

ON THAT DAY I DIE

A lot of things will happen on the day that I die.

Many things will change.

The whole world will be bustling with energy as it always does.

The appointments that were so important will be left unattended on the day of my death.

All of the plans that I made will never come to fruition.

The calendar that has ruled my days and nights for years will no longer be relevant at all.

All of my material possessions that I pined for and guarded will be up for the taking to those who want them, or will carelessly be thrown aside.

My critics can no longer hurt me, and their harsh words will never cause me undue pain again.

The arguments I won that gave me such a sense of satisfaction no longer bring solace or comfort.

I no longer rush to answer all of the urgent notification beeps of texts and calls and emails. Their gravity is forever ebbed.

All of the regrets I wasted so many sleepless nights on aAll those things both big and small that caused me such anxiety and so many sleepless nights are now obscured.

The mystifying questions about life and death and what it all means are at once clarified.

All of this and more will come true, on the day I depart this earth.

For all of this that shall come to pass, there is still yet one more thing that will occur.

There will be those people who truly knew and loved me who will now grieve with the pain of my passing.

They will suffer a new void.

They will be beaten by fate.

They will feel unwilling to accept that my time has come.

A part of them will have been stolen from them on the day I die.

And what they will wish for more than anything on that day, is to be able to spend just one more day with me in it.

I know this, for I myself have grieved over the loss of those I have loved.

And because I have mourned, I will try to remember that time is precious.

It is finite.

It is fleeting.

It must not be wasted.

For this reason, I will not place materials before moments. I will cease worrying about those things which are beyond my control.

All of those things that seem to matter so much, don't. Do not let them compete for your attention against those things that truly do matter, those moments and people that allow you to actually live while you are alive.

Do not be robbed of the joy you deserve. Spend your energy on those who make you feel alive, who want to spend their precious time with you.

Dance with them before it is too late.

Do not waste the daylight any longer in the precious days before the one in which your life ends.

Don't keep giving your life to all that seems to matter, because when you die and are gone from this earth, that stuff won't matter at all.

Yes, I will die one day, and so shall you.

But before we do, may we both live.re forever where they should have always been - firmly placed in the past.

The worries about the size of my waist, my thinning hair and the deepening wrinkles on my face are gone.

The image of myself I so desperately wanted others to have is a mirage; they now have to complete it themselves anyhow.

My reputation, flawless and so worked for, is of little concern.

Dealing with exam stress

Stress can show itself in many ways. 

Some of the common signs of stress are: your heart racing, having stomach cramps,having trouble sleeping, losing your appetite, or over-eating. Here are some tips to

help you chill out…

Start studying early

Start studying as soon as your teacher 
announces the exam. Even before that, 

read over your notes after each class to
 make sure you understand them. Put the

 notes down in your own words.

Make a plan

Planning is an important aspect of preparing 
yourself for the exams. If you

 are preparing for exams, make sure 
that all your notes are ready and intact.

 It is advisable to make a chart which 
enables you to study accordingly.

Practice, practice, practice

Ask your teacher for a practice test. If there
 isn't one, make your own. Answer the

 questions with friends and grade each other's work.

Take a break

Psychologists suggest that we can only
 concentrate properly for about 45 minutes at

 a stretch, while neuroscientists tell us that
 the longer we try and focus on one thing,

 the less our brains are able to deal with it
 effectively. So, take breaks to stay refreshed.

Drink well

Staying hydrated with lots of water or herbal
 teas is the key to being alert. Juices or 

sugary drinks can make you feel jittery and mess
 up your energy levels. Tea and coffee 

perk you up, but you should stick to just five cups
 a day. If you’re feeling jittery or have

 problems sleeping, drink your last one in the late
 afternoon. Bear in mind that colas,

 energy drinks and sports drinks may all
 contain a lot of sugar and caffeine.

Get some exercise

This is probably one of the best ways of dealing
 with exam stress. Anything - from walking 

the dog to going for a swim, running or riding a
 bike - helps reduce physical tension that leads

 to aches and pains, and releases natural, feel-good, 
brain chemicals.

Sleep well

Most importantly, sleep well. Schedule your study
 timings and sleep timings in a systematic 

order and make sure you get a minimum of seven
 hours’ sleep, as it helps retain what you have

 studied during the day, besides keeping you fresh.

Relax

If you are really anxious, find a calm, quiet space
 and try breathing deeply in and out for a

 few minutes, focusing your mind on something
 pleasant, like a beautiful place with happy

 memories, or anything that helps you wind down.

Get your doubts cleared

If you have any doubts, make sure you get it clarified
 while preparing for exams and do not leave

it till the last minute. By following this tip, you will
 not just take your studies to another level,

 but will also be clear about the subject of study.

Keep it in perspective

If you feel you have really messed up an exam, there’s
 nothing you can do until you get the results.

 Worrying about it won’t help and may, in fact, reduce
 your chances of doing well in any other exams

 that you may be taking. Think about what you could
 do about a disappointing result that will help you

 feel in control.

searching for true love? must read this:

Whenever we hear the term, “finding love,” we immediately think of relationships: the ones from the past and the ones we dream of having. There are so many ways of finding love in our lives. We fall in love with ourselves, with work, with strangers, and with nature. We fall in love with life, creativity, and situations.

Love expands and contracts with our response. What we put out, we receive in the most beautiful of ways. The most ultimate form of love is the one we give to another unconditionally.

We find love through the things we know. We live based on our environment and the evolution of experiences. If we think less, we become less. If we aspire for more, we expect more. In love, there is no limitation, no capacity, no measurement exceeding or sufficiency to the heart.

Love is the greatest emotion of all. The more opened the heart is, the easier the vastness of light and love appear. No one escapes from the broken heart. To love is to risk everything just to experiment with the unknown. What an amazing teacher love becomes once we know and understand that the reason we live is to allow for it to be!

It is heart wrenching to move past the devastation of falling in love and being hurt.

It’s hard to cope with rejection, loss, and the memories. But, we are created with the power to surpass challenges and grow from them. Love isn’t meant to be kept for the self. Yes, self-love is number one. We need to have the most incredible love for ourselves, because you cannot give what you don’t possess.

Love is about giving and taking and knowing all boundaries of compassion. In selflessness lies the seed to unconditional love. There is no imposing or expecting, because love just is. In that lack of pushing and forcing, respect and appreciation are born into a relationship.

Love is sharing a path without forcing the other to mimic your steps or expecting them to see what you are witnessing. It requires the allowance and letting go of egotism. Love is something you can’t give without possessing; something you can’t trust without living it; and something you can’t understand without comprehending. The most powerful tool in the universe is the easiest to discard, reject and fear.

The moment we are born we are all experts and volunteers in this experiment. Each heartache is an opportunity to expand and grow. Each person who passes into your life provides the ability to love yourself deeper. Each circumstance you overcome creates space for more empathy, kindness, and adoration for another. Do not shut love out of your life.

Use love as the strength to keep going, and pushing through all obstacles. You should not forget all the beauty love brings. If you can fall in love in a fifth of a second, imagine what you can give in hours and days. The depth is priceless.

We find love in the strangest places. We look into the eyes of our children when they are born and cannot believe love could be so flawless and perfect. We remember the kindness and security of love when we see our elderly parents holding us in their legacy. Love calls to be found in every place. It nudges and urges us to open the heart again and let a new person reside.

We recognize it in the need to watch a romantic movie, or read an inspiring article. We are moved to tears through a delicate passage of words that tug into our memories. Everywhere we look, love beacons for attention. It is the purest language of the universe.

Fall in love often and deeply. Don’t hold back. Allow your soul to feel the crevices of another who sees you. In order to be loved, you must be the love. Let love gift you with its vibrations. We are created in the image of love, with love, for love. Do not allow hopelessness to dictate what is naturally available to you. You deserve all the love you give to the world.

The Lemon Water

We all know how many people often make a characteristic face when they eat lemons. You know the tight, puckered lips and squinted eyes.

You probably think that lemon has the best effect when it’s eaten raw, but actually if you combine lemon juice with a glass of hot water and drink it in the morning, can have some amazing benefits for your overall health, too.

Is Lemon Water Good For You?

One positive thing is that you won’t make that odd face like you do when you eat a raw lemon! Hot lemon water in the morning is incredibly refreshing, invigorating and it gives your metabolism the much needed boost.

Lemons are loaded with healthy benefits, and they’re a particularly great source of vitamin C.

One cup of fresh lemon juice provides 187 % of your recommended daily serving of vitamin C!

Lemon juice also offers you a healthy serving of potassium, magnesium and copper.

Still, you must pay attention of how you serve and drink lemon water. There is one common mistake that most people make when they’re enjoying a glass of lemon water. The lemon peel is one of the most nutritious parts of the whole fruit.

Your normal routine would probably be: slicing the lemon, squeezing the juice into a bottle and adding some hot or ice water.

This is actually the wrong way.

Luckily for you, that’s why we’re here today! Here’s the right way to prepare lemon water!

The Ideal Lemon Water Recipe

-Take out a couple of fresh, preferably organic lemons.

-Slice them as thin or thick as you like.

-Squeeze some of the sliced lemons into the water but not all.

-Grate some of the zest of these squeezed slices into your drink.

-Place the remaining un-squeezed slices in your blender bottle, mug, or travel cup.

-Fill to the brim with either boiling hot, or ice cold water.

-Enjoy!

How to handle negativity around you?

All of us at some point or the other in our lives have encountered varying shades of negativity in several forms. No matter how good you are, there will still be some people who will speak ill of you and run you down.

Negativity can spring from your home, workplace, toxic relationships – from anything and anyone that drains your spirit. So, how do you handle it?
 

Six simple steps to tackle negativity that has worked for me:
 

First, take a step back
If you wish to counter attack negativity, you got to first take a step back to re-assess and regroup the energies of your soul.
 

Get out of the fighting ring
Second step, come out of the fighting arena and ask yourself what battles are you fighting? Are they big enough to matter and small enough to win?
 

Gather all your energies
Third, once you have ascertained the nature of your battles, gather all your energies. Replenish your drained energies through silence, prayer, mediation, etc. Find time to be all by yourself and gather every ounce of your energy.
 

Increase the power of your goodness
Fourth, you cannot counter negativity by being bad to others.

You can only counter it by increasing the power of your goodness. Do not allow others to take you down to their level. You raise your level higher, so that they will be unable to reach you.
 

Understand
Everything happens for a reason, even the so-called negative things. Once you have understood the higher purpose of why certain things happen with you, life stands explained. It becomes much easier to accept and handle.
 

Allow karma to catch up

Do your best and leave the rest to God. Trust me when karma catches up you need not have to do anything. Karma does everything for you in ways you can never imagine or expect.

By the time you have gone through these six simple steps, you realise you are much more calm and at peace with yourself. You will join the league of those people who will be very difficult to unfaze or rattle.

get a hold on your ego

Ego is neither good nor bad. Ego is false.You cannot reach the truth without passing through falsehood, for there is no other way to perceive the truth directly. When a child is born, he is not aware of himself. He does not see himself as a body or mind or any such entity. It is through his senses that his awareness grows and he creates his identity.All his senses open outward, whether it is sight, touch or smell. Through these, he develops a concept of himself that contrasts with the outside world.There is no way for him to know his own self.

Usually, a child’s first encounter is with his mother and through her he becomes aware of his own body.Thus a centre is born, which is in reference with the world outside, in this case, the mother. If the mother caresses the child and treats him with love, the child feels loved. If the mother rejects him, the child feels he is worthless.This is how his concept of self develops.This concept of self which is based on perceptions by the outside world is ‘ego.’ It is not our reality,but is the image of ourselves that is based on how we are treated by the outside world.

It is a reflected awareness. Hence, it is false. Gradually, this centre becomes the kingpin. If you go to school, your teacher perceives you in a certain way. If you have friends, they have opinions about you.When your parents interact with you, they express their opinion about you.Everybody adds something to how you perceive yourself and it gets reinforced day after day.You start living your life from this centre and believe it to be yourself.

Thus, when someone suggests that you drop your ego,you cannot.You cannot drop your ego, but it can drop by itself. It’s just like a leaf of a tree.When it matures, it drops by itself without causing any damage to the tree. But if you try to remove a fresh leaf from a tree,you will damage it. Our ego or self-image is our social need. If we have a healthy ego,we behave appropriately in society,whereas, a weak or an ill-formed ego makes us behave either as a victim or a victimiser. All that comes to the conscious from the unconscious passes through the filter of the ego. If this filter is not strong and healthy, then all kinds of desires and wishes will come to your conscious mind and will confuse you.Your pleasures are false and so are your sufferings. They all relate to a centre that is not your own and this centre demands a lot, and therefore, you have to give it constant attention.So you make efforts to get attention. It’s like trying to feel the fragrance of an artificial flower. However beautiful an artificial flower may be, you always know it’s not real. Your ego helps you get success in this world, hence, you are always attached to it. However, a slight turn of events can change everything and leave you confused.

In the Mahabharata,Arjuna got confused in the beginning of a battle that was most crucial for him. You were always in the state of ‘being’ before your birth and will return to it again after your death.This state of being is your true centre.The moment you are free of your false centre, you are in the space of your being.And that is true freedom, your home. No suffering can bother you in this centre because it is irrelevant in the space of being. The wise try to make you understand, but your false centre blocks your vision.You have to just explore a little more and see the false as false. By this very ‘seeing’, ego becomes transparent and loses its grip over you.Then ups and downs of life will not affect you.

The Key To Positive Change

The New Year is a time to look ahead towards the accomplishment of our goals. As we move forward in the months ahead, we may find that the biggest obstacle to growth is falling back into old patterns of behaviour. To avoid this pitfall, let us make a new resolution to become more successful in fulfilling our dreams by forgetting the past. We do not want to erase our good memories as they encourage future growth,but let us forget the bad memories. Thinking about painful incidents from our past often leads to dwelling on thoughts of anger, hatred, revenge, regret, and other negative thoughts.Time is wasted in reliving what has already happened rather than in moving forward to implement our future plans.When we keep replaying the same painful remembrances — which become like bad movies — we lose precious time to write new, happier movies for our future.Conversely, when we forget the past,we can begin the New Year with a clean slate to write the good we want in our future. The tendency of many people is to repeat the same negative patterns of behaviour.

In doing so, the same forces that may have led to failure in the previous year repeat themselves.


However, we want to inculcate new positive behaviours. By continuously thinking about past failures, we tend to engrain deeper impressions into ourselves and reinforce those behaviours. Instead, we should practice new habits that will lead to better results.We can consider our situation in this way:When we have a wound,we have to leave it alone to let it heal. If we keep picking at it,we reopen that wound,making it worse. Similarly, if we have a wound from past failures or emotional upsets, by replaying them in our mind we keep the wound fresh. If we want it to heal,we must forget about what caused it. For those of us who are setting spiritual goals for the New Year, yet we have not put in appropriate meditation time in the previous year, let us forget about the last year’s schedule. Let us make a new schedule for daily meditation. Furthermore, if we have not lived up to the ethical virtues in the past, let us forget about what we did last year, and begin anew to lead a life of nonviolence, truthfulness, purity, humility, and selfless service. If we harbour any anger towards anyone, let us forget about our anger and the situation that caused it, and let us start anew with that relationship.

Each day in the classroom, teachers have students erase the previous day’s work from the board so that there is a clean slate to post the new lesson. Similarly,we can erase last year’s negativity, anger, and hurts to start the New Year with a fresh slate. On that slate we can write a future containing a schedule of regular meditations, plans to live the ethical virtues, and positive steps to achieve our goals. If we do so, we will find that we have more time to move forward instead of pedalling backwards. We will find that at the end of the year, we would have moved farther than ever to reach our goals, and we will have done so peacefully, happily, and filled with optimism and joy.

Imagine There's No Countries

Brexit, the electoral triumph of Donald Trump and the rise of politicians like Nigel Farage in Britain and Mar ine Le Pen in France are all signs of a backlash against globalisation. But don't exaggerate this. The world still resonates with positive outcomes of globalisation, which remains popular in all emerging markets and, hence, in most of the world.
Remember, globalisation is not just about commerce and investment. It is more fundamentally about a universalisation of values and ideals in place of the land-grabbing, moneygrabbing nationalism of yore. That shift to universal values remains strong, and is best exemplified by a place I was lucky enough to visit this month: Antarctica.

Whaled and Sealed

In the Arctic Sea, all the islands (such as Greenland, Svalbard and Ellesmere Island) had for centuries been populated and divided among nations like the Soviet Union, Canada, the US, Norway and Denmark. But Antarctica was so remote that it was unknown till the late 18th century .

Then some ships landed in the outlying islands of the white continent, such as King George's Island, and were wonderstruck with the discovery of wildlife -especially fur seals and whales -that promised millions in profits.

Other explorers created dreams of massive mineral resources, including coal and oil.

By the early 20th century, more than adozen countries had established whaling and sealing stations and made territorial claims on enormous chunks of Antarctica and its outlying islands. A few scientific stations came up too. But in the main, it was an imperial race for territory and resources.

The main claimants were Britain, the US, the Soviet Union, Japan, Norway , Argentina, Australia and France. But several smaller countries made claims too. Since Antarctica was unpopulated, anybody could establish astation and claim millions of square miles of territory around it.

The earliest plunder was done by the fur trade. Seal fur was of high quality and fetched high prices. Hunters could just walk up to unsuspecting seals and bludgeon them to death.Within a few decades, millions of seals were killed and entire islands were wiped clean.

Then followed a mad rush for whales. The Antarctic Ocean in summer generated vast amounts of plankton that provided food for billions of krill, ashrimp-like creature. These, in turn, were eaten by huge populations of whales, seals and penguins.

Commercial whaling was highly profitable in the 19th century , since oil from whale blubber fetched high prices. Whales stripped of blubber were mostly dumped into the sea in the 19th century . But gradually, countries like Japan and Norway developed a taste for whale meat. Whales are mammals, not fish, and yield red meat that is compared in some countries to fine steak.

Antarctic whales were decimated from the mid-19th century onwards, and many species became scarce and faced extinction. Meanwhile, the tech nological progress of the oil indust ry threw up possibilities of finding vast reserves in the white continent.

Given the sorry history of human plunder, we could have expected an imperial rush for land and natural resources in Antarctica as bloody and widespread as those that occur red when Europeans discovered the Americas. The race for Antarctic ter ritory was already a political fact by the early 20th century.

From Fights to Rights

Yet, a totally new set of global values was created by the horrors of World War 2. This led to the establishment of new global institutions, declara tions of universal rights, and global cooperation in place of never-ending territorial wars. Few realise that but for this foundation in values, globali sation could not have proceeded so rapidly in commerce.

In 1959, the 12 territorial claimants in Antarctica signed a treaty estab lishing scientific and technical col laboration in place of the old com petition. The treaty did not set aside territorial claims, but abolished mi litary bases to create a continent of peace. It did not prohibit mineral or animal exploitation.

But in succeeding decades, the for ces of globalisation beat those of nationalism. All countries agreed to abandon territorial claims, abandon exploitation of resources, and treat Antarctica as a special territory for all humanity , to be conserved and not commercially exploited.

Whale oil was made obsolete by petroleum and this helped forge an agreement to ban commercial whaling.Japan still kills a limited number of whales supposedly for scientific research, though actually to meet a declining local demand for whale meat.Animal populations have revived strongly in the continent.

Instead of hunters, tourists now flood into Antarctica in search of whales, seals, penguins, albatrosses and other minor fauna. Tourism is strictly regulated to check any intrusion of alien species and germs that might affect the natural Antarctic species.

Scientific collaboration in Antarctica led to the discovery of the hole in the ozone layer, and to the Montreal Protocol to solve the problem. This was the first-ever global agreement to meet an environmental threat to all humanity , and has set the pace for other global initiatives.

So, don't get demoralised by the triumph of Brexiteers and Trump. Globalisation is still going strong in ways that are not obvious, even as some of its rough edges are being smoothened.