Choose not to be miserable.(from an other list)

[Guest guest]

ways to be miserable... Sounds weird! That's what I thought when I first heard it. My face clearly displayed a hugequestion mark (just like yours).

 

Once again I heard the professor repeat (this time firmly), "Yes, 'Hundred ways to be miserable'. This is your next topic for the group discussion. Youget 15 minutes to think about it." Saying this, the professor left the room.

 

"How ridiculous!" I thought, "a discussion on such a

 

Within seconds there was commotion in the room with all the students discussing about the ambiguity of the topic. We finally concluded that our professorwas going through tough times in life and may be he wanted

 

to vent out his frustration this way. So, out of sheer sympathy for him we went ahead with the work (Okay... we also did it for the mark sheet's sake).

 

I started to think and kept writing whatever came to my mind, but deep within I was annoyed with the topic itself. And so was the case with most of myclassmates as well, except for my bench-mate 'Maher'. He seemed to be as relaxed as always, busy watching through the window the tree outside the classand smiling away to glory. I felt like advising him on how important this discussion was and that he needed to prepare; but there was no time for all that.Within no time our professor appeared, "Is the class ready?" Nobody said yes. So he assumed we Were ready. "Ok then, let's begin."

 

As we began to discuss, one by one we gave out ways to be miserable. Someone said, "Watch at least two mega serials daily without fail." Some other putforward the idea of reading between the lines of what people say and jump to negative conclusions. Some su

 

Ericsson

 

that we keep a track of all the latest news from newspapers and especially news channels. I added that a good method to be miserable is to keep thinkingof some unfavourable experience over and over and over again. My friend Sohail suggested searching for everything that's not right with people we know.Ricky proposed to adopt the mission of proving to the other person that he is wrong and so on.

 

From the web of all the voices I noticed that Maher had not spoken a single word. I was beginning to get concerned about his grades. Just then I heardthe Professor say, "Yes Maher, you haven't spoken at all, is there something you have to say?" The entire class was silent.

 

Maher stood up and simply said, "It's just a matter of a decision Sir, rest are details."

 

The classroom was filled with raised eyebrows. Maher made no sense to any one of us. I was confidently positive that he had earned himself a F-grade. Butto our urprise, the professor proudly smiled at Maher (as if there was a silent communication between them, as if they both knew something that we couldn'tcomprehend) and then asked him to explain what he had just said.

 

Maher clarified, "After all the pondering on the topic of 100 ways to be miserable, I have understood one thing. Being miserable or happy is just a matterof a decision. If I've decided to be miserable anything and everything can make me miserable. At the same time if I've decided to be happy, with anythingand in spite of anything I can still be happy. There was apoor old lady who was overwhelmed with happiness because she had just found one gold coin andthere was a rich lady who was miserable because she had 99 gold coins but Jacked that one more coin to make it 100. The same sunrise that makes me happybecause I look forward to the day can be the cause for my misery if sleep is what I love. The

 

same expression of love that makes me happy can be the cause for my misery if I have doubts in my mind."

 

Maher concluded, "If! decide to be happy, my mind will create and find 100 causes for me to be happy. If I decide to be miserable, my mind will createand find 100 causes for me to be miserable. That is why Sir, it is all a matter of a decision. The rest all are details)'

 

Then he looked at the class and said, "I have made my decision, what's yours?"

 

In a state of astonishment I stood up with the rest of the class and applauded Maher. In a fraction of a second I understood why our professor chose thistopic; in a fraction of a second I understood the silent communication between Maher and Sir; in a fraction of a second I knew that Maher had scored thehighest and taught us probably the most important lesson of our lives; in a fraction of a second I also knew that without any extra effort I had made mydecision, my decision to be Happy!

 

 

Regards,K.s.Vishwanathan.Tel No: 022-28738192.e-mail:kalpathyvs.

[Guest guest]

Very true!No one can make us unhappy except ourselves!!Meera--- On Wed, 6/24/09, Vishwanathan K S <kalpathyvs wrote:Vishwanathan K S <kalpathyvs Choose not to be miserable.(from an other list) Cc: "gayathri vishwanathan" <gayathrivishwanathan, "Siddharth Vishwanathan" <sidjustis, "Hetal" <hets_shah28, "Vanessa Pereira" <vanessaWednesday, June 24, 2009, 2:17 AM

 

 

ways to be miserable... Sounds weird! That's what I thought when I first heard it. My face clearly displayed a hugequestion mark (just like yours).

 

Once again I heard the professor repeat (this time firmly), "Yes, 'Hundred ways to be miserable'. This is your next topic for the group discussion. Youget 15 minutes to think about it." Saying this, the professor left the room.

 

"How ridiculous!" I thought, "a discussion on such a

 

Within seconds there was commotion in the room with all the students discussing about the ambiguity of the topic. We finally concluded that our professorwas going through tough times in life and may be he wanted

 

to vent out his frustration this way. So, out of sheer sympathy for him we went ahead with the work (Okay... we also did it for the mark sheet's sake).

 

I started to think and kept writing whatever came to my mind, but deep within I was annoyed with the topic itself. And so was the case with most of myclassmates as well, except for my bench-mate 'Maher'. He seemed to be as relaxed as always, busy watching through the window the tree outside the classand smiling away to glory. I felt like advising him on how important this discussion was and that he needed to prepare; but there was no time for all that.Within no time our professor appeared, "Is the class ready?" Nobody said yes. So he assumed we Were ready. "Ok then, let's begin."

 

As we began to discuss, one by one we gave out ways to be miserable. Someone said, "Watch at least two mega serials daily without fail." Some other putforward the idea of reading between the lines of what people say and jump to negative conclusions. Some su

 

Ericsson

 

that we keep a track of all the latest news from newspapers and especially news channels. I added that a good method to be miserable is to keep thinkingof some unfavourable experience over and over and over again. My friend Sohail suggested searching for everything that's not right with people we know.Ricky proposed to adopt the mission of proving to the other person that he is wrong and so on.

 

From the web of all the voices I noticed that Maher had not spoken a single word. I was beginning to get concerned about his grades. Just then I heardthe Professor say, "Yes Maher, you haven't spoken at all, is there something you have to say?" The entire class was silent.

 

Maher stood up and simply said, "It's just a matter of a decision Sir, rest are details."

 

The classroom was filled with raised eyebrows. Maher made no sense to any one of us. I was confidently positive that he had earned himself a F-grade. Butto our urprise, the professor proudly smiled at Maher (as if there was a silent communication between them, as if they both knew something that we couldn'tcomprehend) and then asked him to explain what he had just said.

 

Maher clarified, "After all the pondering on the topic of 100 ways to be miserable, I have understood one thing. Being miserable or happy is just a matterof a decision. If I've decided to be miserable anything and everything can make me miserable. At the same time if I've decided to be happy, with anythingand in spite of anything I can still be happy. There was apoor old lady who was overwhelmed with happiness because she had just found one gold coin andthere was a rich lady who was miserable because she had 99 gold coins but Jacked that one more coin to make it 100. The same sunrise that makes me happybecause I look forward to the day can be the cause for my misery if sleep is what I love. The

 

same expression of love that makes me happy can be the cause for my misery if I have doubts in my mind."

 

Maher concluded, "If! decide to be happy, my mind will create and find 100 causes for me to be happy. If I decide to be miserable, my mind will createand find 100 causes for me to be miserable. That is why Sir, it is all a matter of a decision. The rest all are details)'

 

Then he looked at the class and said, "I have made my decision, what's yours?"

 

In a state of astonishment I stood up with the rest of the class and applauded Maher. In a fraction of a second I understood why our professor chose thistopic; in a fraction of a second I understood the silent communication between Maher and Sir; in a fraction of a second I knew that Maher had scored thehighest and taught us probably the most important lesson of our lives; in a fraction of a second I also knew that without any extra effort I had made mydecision, my decision to be Happy!

 

 

Regards,K.s.Vishwanathan.Tel No: 022-28738192.e-mail:kalpathyvs@ gmail.com.