The Sine Curve of Life...

Really interesting conversations are rare. In one such chat, a friend came up with a question. ”What do you think is the most important quality that a person should possess?” At that time I could not come up with anything substantial. After the rendezvous, this question kept on lingering in my mind. After all what is that one parameter which is of utmost importance. I am normally acceptable to all kinds of personalities. Rather, it is the diversity amongst us which makes everyone unique and special in his or her own way. Someone might be really interesting, some might not be so much fun, but there is an individual trait in every person which differentiates him from the other mortals.

So, what is that trait? Finally after thinking a lot about this, I could come up with only one major quality. Major, because it is one trait that can be generalized across all kinds of people. It is being humble in your best times. In my opinion, a person who understands that good times and bad times keep coming and going, both in our personal and professional life, has a long way to go. The simple sine curve below shows the essence of life more than anything else.






As the cliché goes, “Each dog has its day”. So whenever you are in a happy state of mind and feel it’s your day, it’s essential to have your feet firmly grounded. One should never forget the people who were with them in the low periods of their life. The same applies to the other person also. If an acquaintance is going through a bad phase, we may try to help the other person. If that is not possible or will be of no use to them, then just let them be. There is no need to bully the person. I am saying all this not because this is what we were taught in moral science classes but simply because the sine curve is inevitable and applies to everyone. The maximum one can do is delay the periods of trough. But for every crest, there will be a trough. So try to make maximum of the peaks and just be careful while the lows.

"I told you so..."

The previous post i wrote was two years back. And today, in a recessionary economic scenario, most of that has come true. A few days before i was talking to one of the friends who had inspired me to write " Another Irrational Exuberance". My conversation with him made me think again about something I always thought of. And so I am penning down my thoughts here.

When a friend in distress reveals a problem to you, there are two options. One is to just listen and give the person a streak of optimism and hope for the future. The other one is very easy. It is to blame the person for what happened and say, " I told you so...You should have listened to me". Most often we do the second thing, though we might feel genuinely for the other person. But then, if we contemplate and place ourselves in that person's situation, we can safely conclude that this was certainly not the reply the friend was expecting. Well, you may be right in the first instance but are equally likely as any one else to make mistakes, especially when it comes to thinking about others.

So the next time a friend reveals any problem to you, please dont act God. Just sit back and listen. The maximum you can say to console the person is to learn from their mistakes and move on. Because if you can't lend a patient ear, then there is no point for the other person in having you as a friend.