Sense and Nonsense
View(s):
You may consider it harsh when I say “Don’t talk with everyone”. Just think for a moment, what do you think would happen if you toss a few pearls before a pig? It will simply walk over it, as a pig would not have any clue of the value of pearls. Similarly an Ayurvedic doctor will pick herbs very carefully even though a cow would just walk over it as it does not possess the knowledge the Ayurvedic doctor has regarding the value of the herbs.
All of us are born with just 24 hours a day, none of us are granted a few more additional hours as bonus with our birth certificate. Therefore, time is the most precious asset that we convert into currency. If you climb a tree that bears fruits you are bound to come down with a hand full of fruits, yet if you climb a barren tree you are certain to come down empty handed. You will be left in a similar situation when you listen and speak to people who talk with sense and those who talk nothing but nonsense.
There is undoubtedly no argument that you should love each and everybody unconditionally. However, you need to be definitely selective of whom you mingle with. The question you must ask yourself is “Does the person you talk to advance your thoughts or do they degrade your thoughts?” A good friend of mine recently invited me for one of their gatherings where they consume alcohol, along with the invitation he told me “Mate, it’s alright that you don’t consume alcohol, but why don’t you come and have some companionship”.
I told him that my presence would be futile to both the parties, since I don’t consume alcohol and none of them are themselves after a few shots. I further told him that I would just be wasting few hours of my productive time in order to listen to worthless gossips or filthy stories about women. I have made a firm decision to invest such times more productively for things that make me and my loving family happy.
More than 75% of what you hear every day arouses nothing but negative thoughts. They mutter about the leadership of the country, grumble about their workplace, discriminate someone or talk badly about someone. Do you think such thoughts would do any good to you? Communicating with redundant people would only make your sharpness blunt. Assume that you are a Knife, you must make it a point to expose yourself to people or instances that can further sharpen your thoughts rather than making you blunt. What do you think would be the aftermath of a recipe that is made of stale raw ingredients? Likewise do you expose yourself to people who are venomous, stale, outdated in their thoughts, destructive in talking or futile in their acts?
I am certain all of you have heard the famous saying “If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas”. Similarly talking to unproductive people are bound to influence you to lose your productivity. For your information I have only a handful of friends. As for those who I have disconnected from my affiliation, they are the ones who are destructive to speak to even for two minutes. I have also stated to my Managers, not to come and gossip with me in the CEO room, as none of us will gain anything by doing so. I encourage them to talk about strategies that improve the business and sharpen our thoughts to the next level. Choose your seat wisely, are you willing to sit with the winners and learn the formulae of winning or are you going to sit with the losers and convert your style of thinking into becoming a loser?
A lot of people desire to look good in front of others, hence they decide to sit with people who are inferior to them because the inferior are bound to praise the superior. Let me ask you a simple question. “With whom would you practice to enhance your soccer skills, would it be Cristiano Ronaldo or your friend down the lane? I am not asking you to avoid those who are inferior to you, but all that I am suggesting is to avoid people who think negatively as they will not have much to contribute towards your growth.
Just as you do not store stale and expired products in your refrigerator, do not store the nonsense of destructive people in the storage of your mind. Leave adequate space to store more valuable possessions. Even furniture and electronic shops remove the outdated products in order to display new and productive models at their showrooms. Take a strong decision today to clean the storage of your mind and heart. Leaving space in your heart for certain negative people will only present you with hurtful feelings. Instead, make room in your heart for people who flood you with peace, joy and love and not pain, agony and misery. During the last 15 years in my life, I have distanced a countless number of people from my list of associates, by now my count has come down to a maximum of only ten (10) people. It surely is challenging to find productive people in today’s context, but it does not mean that you should talk to people who talk utter nonsense. It is better to be by yourself than associating venomous snakes.
Associate people who talk with sense and not those who talk nonsense. The world is full of people who talk nonsense. Communicate with people who nourish you with their thoughts, words and deeds. Moreover, avoid people who poison you with their destructive thoughts and attitudes. There are two types of people in this world. People who have many tasks to fulfil and people who do not have anything to do. Which category do you belong to? If you are occupied with many tasks to accomplish, then do not waste your time talking to people who do not have anything to do, as they will talk about anything and everything which tastes good to them but is bitter for your heart and soul to digest. Just like your stomach, your mind is also accustomed to certain types of food which are known as thoughts. Do not destroy your mind by feeding it with unproductive food. What your mind accepts and rejects is purely determined by how and what you have been feeding your mind with. If you have been feeding your mind with productive thoughts, keep up the good work. Nevertheless, if you have been feeding your mind with corrupt thoughts of people with nonsense then it is high time that you revert that destructive configuration immediately.
When you constantly pay attention to nonsense then your mind will no longer have the ability to listen to sensible things. What you habitually store would not make any sense but only nonsense. Choose to be in productive avenues where you could fructify the rich words that roams in such a fruitful dwelling.
Words that are rich in value act as fertiliser on a fertile ground. Therefore you ought to be selective of what you hear and whom you chose to listen to. Just as you would choose the radio station of your choice, why not select the people to whom you should listen to. Even though I come from a decent family, I used to speak in filth during my younger days purely because of the filthy people I associated, more than associating my family who communicates in kind and tender words.
You may hurt a few people when they realise that you are avoiding them. That is okay. If I was given two options, number one to say NO and hurt the feelings of someone who offers me poison and the second option to drink the poison he offers, get myself killed and please the person who offered it to me what do you think I would choose?
For comments: e-mail – philipnehri@chandanalepa.lk / voice – 0779526496