Happiness and Peace

Is there anyone in our world who wants neither peace nor happiness? I have not found such a person in my life. Please tell me in the blog's comment section if anyone finds such a person. Everyone wants happiness and peace, but that’s another thing, and not everyone has both. Some people do not have any of them. 

2. Happiness and peace share a deep relationship and enhance each other. Both contribute to sound health, including mental health. Peace is a calm state of mind. It stays the same, no matter what happens outside. Happiness is an emotion. It changes based on events and external factors. You can feel happy when you achieve things. But you can also find peace even without any achievements. Happiness is momentary, but peace is long-lasting.

3. Getting something, whether real or not, makes a person happy. But this may not always be true. Some people feel happy about small wins. Others aren’t satisfied, even with significant achievements. Happiness and achievement levels differ for each person.

4. Peace is a calm state of mind. It helps you stay composed during chaos and challenging times. In tough situations, a person might not feel happy. But they can still find peace. This peace allows them to make better decisions. Enough wealth and money may give happiness but may not always provide peace. You may find a person in a hand-to-mouth condition but having peace of mind. Such a person may not be happy but is living in peace.

5. Let us discuss the situation when a person is happy but not peaceful. Although happy, there may be several reasons for a person not having peace. A person can feel happy due to wealth, money, or personal achievements. These can be both tangible and intangible. However, a person may not have peace for several reasons. Guilt consciousness is one of the main reasons for not having peace. There may be several reasons for guilt consciousness. Hurting or insulting another person may give rise to guilt consciousness. Using illegal or unethical methods to get what you want can lead to feelings of guilt. Worry also disturbs our peace. Some people tend to worry for no reason. These worries can prevent them from experiencing a peaceful life. Unnecessary doubts raise our fears and keep us from having peace of mind. Few people may have lifetime achievements but are not at peace because of a fear of loss. Fear of loss disturbs peace. Persons accustomed to comparing themselves with others cannot live in peace. Such persons are always in competition with others as regards achievements in life. These people are unhappy with what they’ve achieved. They only feel satisfied when they think others have achieved even less. Such comparisons generally develop jealousy, which disturbs peace.

6. Let us discuss the situation when a person is peaceful but unhappy. People without guilt, worries, or jealousy live in peace. They don’t doubt themselves or fear loss. Plus, they keep a positive mindset. By "without guilt," I mean that a person is not doing the things that may cause guilt consciousness. You should feel guilt for actions that harm others, whether you meant to or not. These individuals may not like bad situations but still find a way to maintain peace. They never repent for non-achievements in the past. These people don’t feel jealous of others' successes. They also don’t compare their achievements to those of others. They never compete with others. Such persons never carry a grudge against another person. Some people may feel unhappy due to financial issues, crises, or not meeting their goals. But they live in harmony by accepting their unhappiness. They don’t let it disrupt their inner peace.

7. Now, let us discuss when a person experiences peace and happiness. Happiness often comes from having a steady income and achieving goals. A person's attitude toward their success and achievements brings peace. They feel thankful to the Almighty and those who help them succeed. A person may achieve success, but at the same time, another person may not achieve that success. A person with a positive attitude doesn’t flaunt their happiness around others. Instead, they offer support and encourage them to try again next time. A person with an attitude has empathy for others. Such persons never compare their achievements with others.

8. Every person wants to live a life of happiness and peace. People link happiness to various achievements, both seen and unseen. But sometimes, that doesn’t happen. One has to find happiness in small achievements. Many people overlook small joys, but some can uncover great happiness. The child can be happy with small things. Then, why not we adults? As we age, what makes us happy shifts. We no longer find joy in small achievements. One can always find the reasons for happiness if one desires. We have to make our mindset to find the reasons for joy. One can also find happiness in another person’s achievements. Are we not happy with the successes of our spouses and children? Sure, everyone becomes satisfied with the accomplishments of their family members. Make it a habit to celebrate the achievements of everyone around you. Be happy for yourself, your family, friends, neighbours, and anyone else. Increase the domain of people to become satisfied with their accomplishments.

9. Cultivate happiness to live a life filled with happiness and peace. We describe various approaches to living in peace.

(i) Never hurt or criticize others, which may lead to a guilty consciousness.

(ii) Remove doubts and increase clarity. Clarity removes doubts and helps keep our minds calm and peaceful. It also helps to remove unnecessary worries.

(iii) Be happy with what you have and what you have achieved. Never compare yourself to others. Comparing yourself to others can lead to two feelings. If someone achieves more, you might feel unhappy. But if you achieve more, you could become complacent. Complacency may deter you from taking initiative and is a barrier to progress.

(iv) Ego is another barrier to peaceful living. There is a difference between ego and self-respect. One should not allow anyone to play with one’s self-respect. A person with a big ego tries to prove others wrong. They rarely listen to different viewpoints. Ego spoils relationships with others, which disturbs peace.

(v) Never be jealous of others' achievements. Be happy with their accomplishments and congratulate them on their achievements. This will enhance your happiness and contribute to a peaceful life.

(vi) Never hold a grudge against others, even if they hurt you. Follow the principles of forgiveness and forgetfulness for your eternal peace. You may not condone their deeds, but you can forgive and forget.

(vii) Never compete with others in any matter. Instead, cooperate with others. Cooperation benefits everyone. It strengthens bonds and allows people to live in harmony.

10. Let's focus on living a life filled with happiness and peace. We can also help others do the same. Let us spread happiness and peace in our surroundings to make our society peaceful.

 

 

#Unfulfilled Desires

Have you found anyone in your life with no unfulfilled desires? I have not. If you see someone who does, please let me know in the comments. We all know life has limits, and we must fulfill our desires during this limited lifespan. A complete lifespan has four phases: childhood, education, work, and post-retirement.

During every phase of our lifespan, we have desires. Few strong desires build up during educational and professional stages. During childhood, our parents fulfill our minimal desires. Later in our education, we find one or two strong desires. These aligned with our vision and dreams. For example, someone might want a higher education in a specific subject to build a career. In our careers, we often wish for progress and success. This includes a good salary and regular promotions. We also have personal dreams, like finding the right partner or owning a lovely home. Later in life, we seek stability and peace. One wants to have a stable passive income during this phase of life.

Are all our desires fulfilled, or are some left unfulfilled? Can anyone claim not to have any unfulfilled desires? Yes, you may find some people with no unfulfilled desires. Who are those people? Those people do not have much desire in their lives or may not have any desire. Most of us have desires, some fulfilled and others not.

We all know that we can fulfill our unfulfilled desires only during our lifetime. Some may be fulfilled, but others cannot be fulfilled once they are time-barred. Your effort can fulfill some desires, but it cannot fulfill others. Their fulfillment depends on someone else's wishes and efforts. For example, with one's effort and wish, one may become a spouse but not a parent-in-law. 

The question is how to deal with unfulfilled desires. Some desires have the potential for fulfillment, while others do not. For example, a person may have dreamed of working in medicine but become an engineer instead. It is too late to take medical courses and seek a career in the medical profession. Some specific desires become impossible after a lapse of time. You should accept that you cannot fulfill a time-barred desire. It is better not to repent for unfulfilled desires that have become time-barred. Focusing on desires that can be fulfilled is a better approach. A person who wants to write a book can start now, regardless of age.

We can't meet some desires with our own efforts. They rely on others to make them happen. Examples include a desire to become a parent-in-law or grandparent. It is better not to focus on desires that do not rely on your effort. It is better not to repent for unfulfilled desires, whether achievable or not. Act on it for its fulfillment instead of repenting if it is attainable. Don't expect your children to fulfill your own unachieved dreams. They have their own paths to follow. For example, a person desired to become a lawyer but could not. It is not advisable to expect their child to become a lawyer. Relying on others to fulfill your dreams can lead to unhappiness if they don't.

For a happy and peaceful post-retirement life, don’t dwell on unfulfilled desires. If they are achievable, take steps to fulfill them. Also, avoid having expectations from others (including your spouse and children).

#Annual Picnic

 

#Annual Picnic

My earlier post mentioned the various tours a senior citizen can enjoy making post-retirement life joyful and exciting. During the previous year, the last month of 2024, I had a tour of the Sundarbans with my wife and two sons. On 5th January, the new year, our housing society organized a picnic at Saheb Bagan, Village—Sibalaya, Duttapukur, 30 kilometers from our residence. It’s also a short group tour with our known people in the locality organized by our Housing Society. The contribution was Rs.400.00 per person. A large bus was arranged to take us to the picnic spot. An individual had the option to go by their vehicle. 

The bus was scheduled to depart at 8 a.m. on January 05, 2025. About 70 people participated in the picnic, of whom around 50 went to the picnic spot by bus and the remaining by their vehicle. The bus started at 9 a.m. and reached the picnic spot at 10.15 a.m.  The picnic spot, Saheb Bagan is very spacious having many big trees, a kitchen, space for vehicle parking, and open spaces for playing and gathering. Big walls enclose the picnic spot. There was only one entrance.  Eleven cars entered the picnic spot. The Bus was parked outside the picnic spot.

After entering Saheb Bagan, breakfast was served. After finishing breakfast, we gathered and sat together. There was a good seating arrangement with sufficient chairs and tables. There was a badminton court where children were playing badminton. My son also played badminton there. I also played badminton with the children. A few children and adults were playing football and cricket. I also played cricket with them. I enjoyed playing cricket. For more than two decades I could not play cricket. Therefore, I was excited to play cricket. In between lunch and breakfast, snacks were served. They served chicken pakora with tea/coffee as snacks. For vegetarians, they served veg pakora.

Before lunch, we enjoyed a few interesting fun games. Prizes were kept for the winners of various fun games. We enjoyed the fun games. After fun games we had lunch. In addition to vegetarian items, fish and mutton were served as non-vegetarian items. After lunch we played ‘Housie’. We enjoyed our participation in the Housie Game. In between, oranges were served to all. After having evening tea/coffee we packed up to return home by the same bus. 

The picnic spot was very spacious and had a variety of trees, particularly mango and betel nuts. In addition, vegetables were grown inside the property. They cultivated cauliflower, cabbage, potatoes, and onion. Betel nut trees were in a row on both sides of the pathway, which enhanced the scenic beauty of the picnic spot. Mango trees were located in such a manner that they provided sufficient shade without affecting sunlight and open spaces.

 We enjoyed the natural beauty and sunlight throughout the day. Every individual was free to roam around inside the picnic spot. People of almost all age groups participated in the picnic. I enjoyed interactions with many people both known and unknown. We had two singers amongst us. We enjoyed their live songs. It was a nice gathering away from our home in a natural environment. Every year we wait for this picnic. We are all waiting for the next picnic in 2026.

 #picnic

 

 

 

 #Sundarbans Tour

  1. Our Tour Planning

 I visited the Sundarbans 34 years ago when I was single. We have decided to visit the Sundarbans with our two adult sons this time. We explored several options for the Sundarbans tour. Finally, we have decided to travel to the Sundarbans with Sagar Sangam Travels. We have booked a three-day and two-night tour for which they charged Rs. 3500.00 for each person, which is fair compared to other options. Four persons included myself, my wife, and our two adult sons. The package tour included breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and a two-night hotel stay. The package tour included a visit to certain tourist spots in the Sundarbans. Those tourist spots were Gosaba, Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali, Dobanki Watch Tower, and Loknath Temple. It also included a pick-up from Canning Railway Station and a drop-off at Sonakhali Ferry Ghat by auto. It is preferable to have a Sundarbans tour during the winter season. Thus, we scheduled our tour from December 6 to 8, 2024.

2. How to reach Sonakhlai Ferry Ghat?

One can take a local train from Sealdah to Canning. It takes about one hour and 20 minutes to reach Canning Railway Station. The nearest international airport is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata. It is about 14 km from Sealdah Railway Station. Our tour operator arranged for vehicles to pick us up at Canning Railway Station and take us to Sonakhali Ferry Ghat. Sonakhali Ferry Ghat is about 17 km from Canning Railway Station. One can reach Sonakhali Ferry Ghat by road. Paid parking is available near Ferry Ghat for Rs. 150.00 per day. We reached Sonakhali Ferry Ghat by 9:00 am on December 06, 2024, by our vehicle. We parked our vehicle at the parking place from where we walked about 600 meters to Sonakhali Ferry Ghat.

3. The first day of our tour.

After we boarded the boat at Sonakhali Ferry Ghat, the staff served us a welcome drink. Thereafter, they served us breakfast. The boat was big and could carry 40 passengers. At 11:30 am, they provided us with snacks and tea/coffee. They provided us with prawn pakora as snacks. After sailing through the Hogol River, Gumti River, and other rivers, they took us to Gosaba. We got down from the boat at Gosaba Ferry Ghat. We visited Hamilton’s Bungalow, Rabindranath Tagore’s Bungalow, and Beacon Bungalow.

3.1 Hamilton’s Bungalow

Hamilton's Bungalow is also called Gosaba Beacon Bungalow. Sir Daniel Mackinnon Hamilton, a Scottish businessman, built it in 1903. He contributed to the development of the Sundarbans region. He introduced the Co-operative System in Gosaba and in the Sundarbans region. He established the cooperative credit society with 15 members in Gosaba. He was also known for establishing the Zamindari System in Gosaba. He had a strong association with Rabindranath Tagore.

3.2 Rabindranath Tagore’s Bungalow

Rabindranath Tagore's father, Debendranath, built this bungalow in 1890. A beautiful garden surrounds it. This bungalow is a museum. It preserves Tagore's legacy and displays his personal items, manuscripts, and photos. Traditional Bengali furniture and artwork decorate the interior of the bungalow. Tagore spent many of his summers in this bungalow. He engaged himself in writing, composing music, and gardening.

3.3 Beacon Bungalow

The Beacon Bungalow, built in 1903 by Sir Daniel Hamilton, is in a quiet area of Sundarbans National Park. Sir Daniel Hamilton was a Scottish businessman and social worker. They named this bungalow after the beacon light that once stood nearby. This bungalow stands on stilts and has lush gardens surrounding it. The interior of the bungalow features antique furniture and paintings. This bungalow was a meeting place for key talks during the British colonial era.

After completing sightseeing at Gosaba, we reached Pakhiralaya by boat. At Pakhiralaya, they allotted us hotel rooms for a two-night stay. Many shops near Ferry Ghat at Pakhiralaya sell local crafts and various articles. Our stay in the hotel was fine. On the first day at the hotel, our tour operator entertained us. They organized the Jhumur dance and other folk dances by local artists, with snacks and tea. We enjoyed the folk dance. The tour operator provided dinner in the hotel. After dinner, we went to our hotel room to take a rest and refresh ourselves for the next day's tour.

4. The second day of our tour.

The next day, we left our hotel at 8:00 am after tea. We went to Ferry Ghat at Pakhiralaya for our boat tour of the Sundarbans. On the boat, they served us breakfast and tea. The boat departed from Pakhiralaya Ferry Ghat as scheduled. It was for sightseeing at Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali, Dobanki, and Jharkhali Watch Towers.

4.1 Sajnekhali Watch Tower

First, we got off the boat at Sajnekhali Ferry Ghat. Then, we entered Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary. Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary was set up as a sanctuary in 1976. On the way to Sajnekhali Watch Tower, there was high fencing. It protected visitors from wild animal attacks. On the way to the Watch Tower, we saw leopards, crocodiles, fiddler crabs, and monkeys. Those animals were outside the fencing area. 

From the watch tower, we had a bird's-eye view of Sundarbans National Park. After getting down from the watch tower, we walked to the ferry ghat. We enjoyed the scenery along the way. On the way, inside the wildlife sanctuary, there was a Mangrove Interpretation Centre. We boarded the boat. It took us to another tourist spot, Sudhanyakhali Watch Tower.

4.2 Sudhanyakhali Watch Tower

After getting down from the boat, we proceeded towards Sudhanyakhali Watch Tower. As we entered Iceland, we saw Bono Bibi Temple. All locals, regardless of religion, worship Bono Bibi. They do this before venturing into the deep forest for honey. We also found an old, abandoned ship lying on the bank of the river. On the way to Sudhanyakhali Watch Tower, we found a mini forest of mangroves. Their names were on the tree trunks. From the watchtower, we saw a sweet water pond where the wild animals come to drink water. But we could not see any animals near the pond. We also saw a dry river or waterway near the pond. This river is full of water during high tide.

4.3 Dobanki Camp

After getting off the boat at Dobanki Camp Ferry Ghat, we went to Dobanki Watch Tower. The path to the Watch Tower was 20 feet above the ground. It had a grill and a strong net as a canopy to keep tourists safe from wild animals. One has to walk more than half a kilometer through this canopy to reach the Tower. On both sides of the pathway, we had beautiful views of mangrove forests. We saw many migratory birds swimming in the water bodies. We climbed up to the top of the watch tower with the hope of seeing the royal Bengal tiger. But we could not see any royal Bengal tiger. It’s a matter of chance to see the royal Bengal tiger from the watch tower.

4.4 Jharkhali Island

After our visit to Dobanki Tower, we went by boat to Jharkhali Island. In the meantime, they served us lunch. We could buy the ticket to visit the Tiger Rehabilitation Centre until 4 pm. The entry fee is Rs. 30.00 per person. Jharkhali is very close to the forest area. One can hire a boat to venture into the island deep inside the forests. This island is famous for the Forest Department's Tiger Rehabilitation Centre. They treat wounded tigers here and release them afterward. We saw tigers moving in an enclosed area. It had high metallic fencing. We also saw crocodiles and birds. While returning to Jharkhali Jetty Ghat, we found many shops on both sides of the road. After our visit to Jharkhali Island, we boarded a boat to return to Pakhiralaya for a night stay at the hotel.

 

  

     👈 Crocodile at Tiger Rehabilitation Centre

5. The third and last day of our tour.

After waking up, we packed and got ready to check out of the hotel at Pakhiralaya. Our tour operator arranged the hotel rooms within the package. After checking out from the hotel, we headed to Pakhiralaya Jetty Ghat. We would take a boat to visit Lokenath Temple. Then, we would return to Sonakhali Ghat, where our journey began on day one of our tour. Before boarding the boat, we bought a key holder. It had the words "Sundarban Pakhiralaya" and a picture of a Royal Bengal Tiger. We wanted to keep it as a memento at home. After we boarded the boat, they served breakfast. At 11:30 am, they served snacks, and we got down at Jetty Ghat to visit Lokenath Temple. We walked on the road surrounded by a golden paddy field to reach Lokenath Temple. In between, we found villagers selling vegetables and local honey on the roadside. We also bought vegetables from that place. It was cheaper than those at the local market. Paddy fields surround Lokenath Temple. You will have the feeling of rural Bengal. The temple features a design based on rural architecture and includes a roof made from straw. After our visit, we boarded the boat. It took us to Sonakhali Ferry Ghat, where we began our Sundarban trip. The entire boat journey was enjoyable. We loved the scenic beauty of the mangrove forests and waterbodies. 

  

6.  What is special about Sundarbans?

Sundarbans is the largest delta. It has the world's largest mangrove forest, across parts of India and Bangladesh. The Sundarbans Forest lies in the vast delta of the Bay of Bengal. It is in the delta at the confluence of the Hooghly, Padma, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal. The Sundarbans has the Royal Bengal Tiger and Estuarine Crocodiles. It also has other endangered species. The name 'Sundarbans' likely comes from the local name for the abundant mangrove species, Heritiera fomes: the Sundari trees. In the past 200 years, the 'Sundarbans' shrank to one-third of its original size. This was due to cyclones and rising sea levels from climate change. The mangrove forest provides a biological shield against cyclones. High tide raises water levels in the rivers and their branches in the Sundarbans. The mangroves are submerged in water to some extent during high tide. The 'Sundarbans' is unique in its plants and animals. It is home to many endangered species, like the Royal Bengal Tiger, estuarine crocodile, Ganges and Irawadi dolphins, and sea turtles.  

#Sundarbans

#Mangroves

Senior Citizens – Issue of Socialization

 

Senior Citizens – Issue of Socialization

We all know regarding the various challenges that a senior citizen faces of which the most serious challenge is lack of socialization. After the completion of working life, a senior citizen faces the challenges of lack of engagement and socialization. Challenge of engagement can be mitigated by pursuing hobbies, reading books, helping spouse in domestic work, etc., for which one may not need another person’s help. But to mitigate the challenge of socialization one need other persons for interaction. Without interactions with other persons, one cannot mitigate the challenge of socialization. Therefore, there is a necessity to have regular chit chat with a group of senior citizens.

2. With the increase in age, a senior citizen faces a gradual reduction in the number of persons for interaction within home as well as in social circle. After retirement, there is a sudden reduction in number of persons for interactions due to cease of working relationship with colleagues. Most of the senior citizens have adult children busy with their profession and family life and may not be staying with them. Therefore, they hardly get a scope for interacting with people including family members. Therefore, there is a necessity to form a group of senior citizens residing in the same locality to have frequent chit chat with each other. 

3. Every senior citizen is having a stock of experiences and knowledge acquired during the course of journey of their life which they want to share with someone. A group of 10 to 15 persons is an ideal size for having a chit chat. In a large size group, all the senior citizens may not get a scope to share his or her thoughts and opinions. If a group is too small then the participants may not get enriched with the diversified views on the subject matter. It is better to have a group size of 10-15 persons staying in the same or nearby locality having diversified backgrounds i.e. having experiences in various fields and from different professions. It is better to have a group having persons from diversified cultural backgrounds. The purpose is to have divergent views on the subject matter which helps in widening our horizon of thoughts.

4.  The chit chat may be informal or formal. Informal chit chats are more frequently held in common places like club house of housing society, garden, etc. Generally informal chit chats are on daily basis in which everyone shares their problems, day-to-day experiences, important information helpful to all, etc. There may not be any fixed topic for such informal chit chat. Sometimes chit chat starts spontaneously by the persons on certain occasions like marriage ceremony, birthday party, etc.

In a formal chit chat, there is a fixed topic for discussion. Formal chit chats are generally preplanned and topics for discussion are decided well in advance. Date and timing are also decided well in advance and informed to all the participants. Such formal chit chat requires strong initiative by at least one interested person.

5. Organizing meeting for chit chat: The success of any meeting whether formal or informal depends on the way the meeting has been conducted. The meeting should be conducted in such a manner that every participant gets a chance to share his or her viewpoints or opinions on the subject and meeting should end within a reasonable time with important takeaways. If a meeting is informal then everyone should take care to allow others to speak and wait for their turn to speak. Depending on the number of persons and the expected duration of a meeting, one should decide the timing for each participant to speak. Successful meeting ends within a reasonable time with logical conclusion. Successful meeting helps in enriching the participants with important takeaway. 

6. Subject matters during chit chat: Generally informal chit chat does not have any pre decided subject matters for discussion. Subject matters evolved during the course of discussion during chit chat. If the same set up of senior citizens are meeting on daily basis, then care should be taken to have discussion on variety of subjects and not to repeat the same subject on every occasion otherwise persons may lose interest in chit chat. Please take care to avoid discussion on any controversial topic which may heart the sentiment of any other person. The topic should be interesting and of general interest to all. Discussion on serious topics of technical in nature may be discussed in formal meetings of senior citizens. Formal meeting should be organized after informing timing, venue and subject matter to the participants well in advance so that participants interested to deliberate on the subject matter may have sufficient time for preparation. It is better to have discussions on the subject matters related to general health and hygiene, finance, peace of mind, managing relationships, philosophy of life, etc. There are lot of subject matters in addition to these on which one may have discussion.

7. No doubt that the subject matter for discussion is very important but the more important is the way of conducting meeting for making the discussion healthy and enriching. It was observed that despite having interesting subject matter the participants are not getting interest and could not enrich themselves from the meeting. Thumb rule for making the meeting successful is that every person during the chit chat should be allowed to speak and all other should listen to the person speaking. It was observed that all the persons are eager to speak and many times all start speaking simultaneously without listening to anyone. Such meetings end in chaos making everyone unhappy. There should be one person taking leading role in conducting meeting. That person should give brief introduction of the subject matter for discussion and should fix time for each person to speak. The person speaking should focus on the subject matter. No other person should talk or interrupt in between when a person is speaking. The other person should listen to that person attentively and if there is any point of disagreement then it should be raised after that person finishes his talk. While raising point of disagreement care should be taken not to hurt the sentiment of the speaker. It should be raised in a polite manner without hurting anyone. Everyone should try to finish within allotted time so as to give chance to others to speak.  

8. Socialization is very important during every phase of our life but a person faces the challenge of socialization during the second innings of life. During this phase, a person requires someone to interact with. Since every senior citizen is facing this problem, it is therefore essential to form a group of senior citizens for frequent interactions with each which will serve the purpose of socialization. Let us come together to socialize with each other and enrich ourselves with various information and thoughts shared by everyone during chit-chat. Let us together make our journey of life meaningful and joyful. 

#Socialization

 

Ability to Interpret

R

eading is very important for providing food to our thought. But mere reading is useless without having the ability to interpret correctly. Wrong interpretation of the written content may convey wrong message to the readers which the author did not intend to convey.

2. Different readers interpret the content differently. Different interpretation by different readers may be due to the following reasons.

(i) Lack of concentration while reading is one of the main reasons for wrong interpretation of the written content. Lack of concentration is due to some thoughts coming in the back of the mind while reading. Most of the time thoughts in the back of the mind interfere with the content while reading which leads to different interpretation of the written content. Lack of concentration may be due to various other reasons i.e., doing something else while reading, unnecessary worries, etc.

 (ii) Preconceived thought about the content or its writer is also one of the reasons for wrong interpretation. Preconceived thought closes our mind and makes us to view the content through the lenses of preconceived mindset or ideas. This leads to wrong interpretation even after repeated reading of the content.

(iii) Not reading between the lines may lead to different interpretation of the written content by the reader which the author did not intend. Reading between the lines means reading with understanding of the underlying meaning in proper context.

(iv) Intermittent reading is also one the reason for wrong interpretation of the written content. Intermittent reading means reading part of the content on one day and remaining parts on other days. Intermittent reading cannot establish proper connectivity between the contents read during various time intervals which may lead to incomplete understanding of the subject matter. With incomplete understanding of the subject matter, one cannot make proper interpretation.

(v) Reading without understanding the central idea of the content may lead to wrong interpretation of the subject matter.

3. For interpretating the contents correctly, the following measures are suggested. One need to develop certain habits based on the measures suggested hereunder to increase the ability of correct interpretation of the written content.

(i) For proper interpretation of the written content, one should develop the habit of reading the content with the understanding of writer’s perspective. One should read the content by understanding the underlying meanings of each and every sentence of the content i.e. reading between the lines.

(ii) One should read the content with full concentration for which one should free his or her mind from all other thoughts before reading. Never do any other work while reading as our mind cannot concentrate on two different things at the same time. Never think on any other matter while reading. Many times, phone calls also divert our attention from reading. It’s better to keep our mobile on silent mode while reading unless you expect some emergency or important calls from someone.

(iii) To increase the concentration, one should develop the habit of fast reading. Slow reading diverts the attention of the reader from the content. By slow reading one fail to establish the link between the contents in various lines and paragraphs. One cannot read fast during the first reading. Spead of reading increases during second and subsequent readings.

(iv) Never read any line or paragraph of the whole content in isolation. Many times, reading a line or paragraph in isolation may convey meaning which may be different from that when you read it in the context of the whole content. Therefore, develop the habit of reading the whole content before reading any line or paragraph of the content.

(v) Always read the content in a serial order. Reading the content in a haphazard manner may lead to wrong interpretation of the whole content.

(vi) For proper interpretation of the whole content one has to read the content more than two times. One may not draw any conclusion of the whole content by a single reading as it may not be possible to develop understanding in a single reading. Read at least three to four times to develop the understanding of the whole content which will help in its proper interpretation.

4. Proper interpretation of content convey the appropriate message which the author intends to convey through his writing. Wrong interpretation may convey different message to the reader which frustrate the very purpose of writing the content by the author. Initially one can practice interpretating small content of few pages. If you can build your expertise in interpretating small content, then you can move towards building expertise in interpretating big contents and even books. Reading ‘acknowledgements by the author’ before starting reading a book will help you in understanding the perspective and context in which the author wrote the book. This will help you in proper interpretation of a book.

5. Let us hone our skill of proper interpretation of the written content whether it’s an article, a story or a book. This skill will make our reading meaningful and interesting.  

 

Promises to Self

In one of my articles ‘How to make post-retirement life happy and fruitful?’ I mentioned that the foremost reason for happiness during post-retirement life is not having any boss and all the 24 hours in a day are at our disposal. But the question is how many persons during their post- retirement life are utilizing their time in a fruitful manner to pursue their hobbies and to achieve their goals set during their post-retirement life. You will find that very few persons are utilizing their time in a fruitful manner.

2. The question is why many persons are not able to utilize their time in a fruitful manner? The answer lies in the second paragraph of my article ‘How to make post-retirement life happy and fruitful?’ in which there is a mention about the absence of boss during post-retirement life. Since we have spent 30-35 years of our life in working under the direction of boss, we could not develop the habit of working on our own. You will not be surprised to know that many persons could not set their goals during their post-retirement life. They do not have any objective for the rest of their life.

3. To make the post-retirement life purposeful and fruitful one need to find out the purpose and objectives for their rest of the life. In addition, one is required to set their goals with definite timeframe for its achievement. You know whenever we make promise to someone, we try to fulfil it. If one is making promise to spouse, then definitely all the efforts are made to fulfil that promise. It is therefore advisable to make a promise to spouse regarding achievement of your goal within the targeted date. You may also make a promise to yourself regarding achievement of your goal. Develop the habit of making promises to self for the achievement of your goals. After making a promise to self, ask yourself about the progress made in fulfilling your promise. Constant reminder to self about the promise made will help you in achieving your goal. Mere promise will not help in achieving your goal. It needs continuous follow up with the self.

4. Promise to self is important not only during the second innings of life but also during all the stages of our life. In paragraph 4 of my article ‘Talking to Self’, I have mentioned that the self-talk can be effectively used for the achievement of goals. Whenever you are making promises to self you are talking to self. During your working life you were accountable to your boss regarding your performance. Absence of boss during post-retirement life makes us unaccountable. Therefore, it is very much essential to make ourselves boss for our own performances i.e. to make ourselves our own boss. Therefore, it is advisable to be your own boss and make accountable to yourself by making promises to self.  

5. How to make your self-promises effective in achieving your goals? The success rate of fulfilment of your self-promise depends on the degree of emotional attachment to it. Therefore, after making promise to self, develop emotional attachment to it. More you make emotional attachment the chances of its fulfilment increases. Have a picture or rough sketch of your promise to make it concrete and place it in your bedroom or any other convenient place in your home to make it easily visible to you. If you are not able to picturize your promise, then you can write it in bold and big letters on a sheet of paper. See the picture or writing at least once in the morning and once before going to bed for sleep every day. Daily visualization of it day and night will make your subconscious mind to work for its fulfilment and automatically all your thoughts and actions will be channelized in the direction of achieving your goal. In addition, it is very much essential to formulate your action points for the fulfilment of your promise made to self. Initiate action and frequently monitor its progress. In this way you can make your self-promises effective in achieving your goals.

6. We are in this material world for a very limited time period. There should be some purpose in our life. Find out some purpose in your life which will drive and motivate you to lead the life happily. Make a promise to self to create happiness and positivity in your mind. Make a promise to spread positivity and happiness to your near and dear as well as to your neighborhoods and society. Make a promise to self to be helpful, caring and kind to others. Make a promise to self to make yourself a good human being and to have positive contribution to the society and mankind. Let us hope that by making the above promises to self we can make our society as well as this planet a better place to live.

Reference Links:

1. https://post-retirementlife.blogspot.com/2023/09/how-to-make-post-retirement-life-happy.html

2. https://post-retirementlife.blogspot.com/2023/12/talking-to-self.html

 Setting Goals in Life

Goal setting is very important not only for an organization but also for an individual. Setting goals in life helps in developing a roadmap to fulfil dreams during various stages of life. You may wonder why I am discussing about goal settings in life during various stages of life when we senior citizens are in the last phase of life. What is its utility to senior citizens? If any senior citizen is thinking like that, he is not wrong since at this stage we cannot set our goals retrospectively. During this phase of life, we have a lot of old memories related to both achievements and failures in life. No doubt, one feels pleasure in cherishing old memories of pleasant moments and experiences of successes in life, but it is very difficult to cherish memories of failures in life. Many senior citizens repent for their failures in past. But instead of repenting, it is better to learn lessons from past failures which will be helpful in giving proper guidance to the upcoming generation for achieving their goals and fulfilment of their dreams. 

2.  For achieving dream, one need to do the followings.

(i)             Setting Goals

(ii)           Developing Strategies to achieve Goals

(iii)         Taking initiatives and actions based on strategies

(iv)          Review of actions taken

2.1 Setting Goals: Setting Goal is the first and foremost step for the achievement of dream. Goals in life differ during various phases of life.  During student life a person is mostly having academic goal and near the end of student life one may have professional goal in addition to academic goal. During working life, a person is mostly having professional and financial goals. During initial stage of working life, one may have a goal to settle in life and to have a family. After the completion of working life when a person enters into post-retirement life, goals are totally different due to drastic change in lifestyle and priorities after retirement. During post-retirement life focus is more on stability and therefore a person’s financial goal is mostly to have consistent flow of passive income so as to take care of one’s daily needs, medical expenditure and leisure travels by making proper placement of retirement corpus in various financial instruments. Peace of mind with sound health become priority at this stage. I am not going into the details of goal settings for which I may have to write a separate article.  Goals should be SMART i.e., specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.

2.2 Developing Strategies to achieve Goals: Once a goal is set there is a need to develop strategies to achieve the goal. Before developing strategies, one should set the timeline for the achievement of goal, and it should be achievable within the timeline. While developing strategies one should take the stock of available resources which includes available information, tools and other material resources required for the achievement of goal. Once you know the resources required for the achievement of goal, you can ascertain the resources gap to be fulfilled. Strategy includes the following steps.

(i) Identification of resources required for the achievement of goal.

(ii) Ascertaining the resources gap to be fulfilled.

(iii) Developing action points to fill the resources gap.

(iv) Developing various milestones in a chronological order for the achievement of goal.

(v) Creating action points for the achievement of each and every milestone with deadlines.

2.3 Taking initiatives and actions based on strategies

This is the most important steps without which the first two steps will become useless. Even after having a noble goal with robust strategies, one may not achieve any success if there is a lack of initiatives and actions. It is very important to take initiative i.e., the first step and subsequent actions based on strategies. Action should be appropriate for achieving each and every milestone within the deadline. After achieving the first milestone one need to initiate action for moving towards the next milestone.

2.4 Review of actions taken

It is very important to review the actions after reaching every milestone. If you are not able to reach the milestone before targeted date or sure that your action is not taking you near the targeted date, then you should review your actions and find out the most appropriate way to reach the targeted date. Even after reaching the first milestone within the targeted date, one should review the actions taken for reaching the first milestone. On similar way review of actions should be made for each and every milestone. Review of your actions helps in finding out the most appropriate way to reach the milestone and in achieving your goal. It also helps in identifying irrelevant steps which can be removed for facilitating achievement of goal in a smooth manner within the targeted date.

3. Types of Goals

Goals are of various types based on its importance and tenure of achievement. Strategies for achieving goals may not be the same for every goal and may differ for each goal based on its type and nature. One need to prioritize the goals to be achieved as it may not be possible to work on the strategies for all the goals simultaneously.

3.1 Types of Goals based on importance

Based on its importance, goals are of three types.

(i) The Most Important Goal

(ii) Important Goal

(iii) Least Important Goal

Based on the degree of importance one need to prioritize the goals. The most important goal should always be on one’s top priority. But it does not mean that one should not focus on the least important goal. One need to develop the strategies for the achievement of each and every goal, but action should be first initiated for the most important goal and more efforts should be made for its achievement. Not necessarily your lifetime goal may be the most important goal during each and every phase of your life. For example, at the age of 25 years one may have a dream to have a farmhouse and accordingly a goal has been set to have it within the next 15 years. But to have a job for livelihood is also a goal that gains importance over long term goal of having farmhouse because without livelihood it may not be possible to have a dream farmhouse. Accordingly, one need to prioritize one’s goal. Many times, achievement of one’s long- term goal depends on the achievement of short-term goal.  

3.2 Types of Goals based on tenure

Based on time required for the achievement of goals, we may categorize the goals into three types.

(i) Short Term Goals

(ii) Medium Term Goals

(iii) Long Term Goals

A short-term goal requires a time span of one to two years for its achievement. A medium-term goal requires three to five years whereas a long-term goal takes at least 10 years for its achievement. These time periods are flexible. Persons of young and middle age groups can have the scope for short term, medium term and long-term goals. Whereas persons in old age group have very little scope for long term goals.

4. Goal Setting during post-retirement life

Setting of goals in life is not only important during earlier phases of life but is also important during post-retirement life though there is a very little scope for setting long-term goals during this phase of life. One can have mostly short-term goals and rarely mid-term goals during this phase of life. Pursuing hobbies, planning for travel, having celebrations, planning events, etc., maybe one’s goal during this phase of life. Still there are possibilities of achieving unfulfilled dream during this phase of life.  

5. Evaluating reasons for failures in achieving goals during past

On recapitulation of old memories, one may have complete picture of both achievement and non-achievement of goals set during earlier phases of life. No doubt one will have pleasure in cherishing the memories related to goals successfully achieved in life but is equally important to analyze the reasons for failure in achieving certain goals in life.  On introspection, one may come to know the reasons for non-achievement of goals. Instead of blaming others it is better to own the responsibility for failures in past. In most cases the main reason for failure is lack of commitment and focus. Due to lack of commitment, a person fails to develop the strategies for achieving goal and many times lose focus on goal. In case of particularly long-term goal, tendency to lose focus is more due to intermittent distractions which may be due to events and incidents happening in between. Most of the events and incidents are not in our control, but the only thing that is in our control is our response and reactions towards such events and incidents. Incidents and events are momentary in our life, but our response and reaction are not momentary and carried for longer duration which leads to distraction from our main goal. It is our responsibility to have control over our reactions and not allowing it to be carried for longer period. Giving undue importance to the opinions of other persons regarding our goal also lead to distractions.

6. Conclusion

Senior Citizens have experiences of both successes and failures in life which may help them to prepare learning points which will be helpful in providing guidance to the upcoming generations for achievement of their goals successfully without repeating the mistakes already done in the pasts.