Robert Greene, in his book of The 48 laws of power wrote, “By planning to the end you will not be defeated by circumstances, and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.”  The second thing is in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People begin with an end mind. Having an end in mind is no guarantee that you will succeed — no one would tolerate it practically — but not having an end in mind is a guarantee you won’t. Some false conceptions which may be bias and arbitrary are responsible not just for disturbances in the soul but for confused and dysfunctional lives and progress. How will you notice what to do day in and out when your efforts are not directed at a cause or a purpose?  How will you realise that you have reached your goal, what made you go off your track if you don’t specify what those things are?  The answer is that you cannot. And so you are driven into failure — or worse, into madness by the oblivion of directionless.

Epictetus said, “The proper work of the mind is the exercise of choice, refusal, yearning, repulsion, preparation, purpose, and assent. What then can pollute and clog the mind’s proper functioning? Nothing but its own corrupt decisions.”

So now we shall have a look at these seven roles deeply:

Choice — We need to think right to do right if we think with honesty and optimism, we can understand why we made this choice and also can have better clarity with our intention.

Refusal — We get tempted easily for somethings before we acknowledge whether it is good or bad for us, so we need to have control over ourselves with some temptations.

Yearning — who on this earth doesn’t want to strive for better, everyone right? Everyone wants to make a minor impact during their lifetime before they die, but what we lack is clarity and some tools to strive, thus if we take a step forward to do something better and if we yearn for it we can do better at it.

Repulsion — don’t get attracted to negativity, bad influences, and what isn’t true. Try to repel from those things which only sucks all your positive energy.

Preparation — We need to be prepared for everything that lies ahead or whatever may happen.

Purpose — Everyone, including me, is born for this on the earth, you may realise your worth and purpose later, but never give up on yourself.

Assent — I understand it is hard for us to think positive all the time, but you gotta do this free yourself from deception about what’s in and out of our control.

Make sure that your mind sees this, accept everything else as abuse or pollution.

We are too busy in such a way that we became preoccupied with the work, stuff or things we are indulged in but aren’t self-obsessed in what, who, why, where we are. We completely forgot to remind ourselves that we are doing something with purpose by ourselves; instead, we are pursuing some worthless things, impersonating the evil influences, and following unexpected or unfulfilling or imaginary paths. Ask yourself a simple question like “Who are you?” or “What do you do?” or “Where are you from?” Don’t consider it as a superficial question where you try to give some wrong, shallow answer. Acknowledge yourself with a substantive response. Don’t bother about anything. Enhance yourself with clarity in your mind with The 4 Ws.

This is the method I came across the book called “The Obstacle is the way” by Ryan Holiday. The big-three method. It includes Perception, Action, and Will. We need to be aware of somethings and have to accept some other things that are outside of our experience. All we need to do is: have certainty of judgement in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes to our way.

In simple words:

Control your perceptions, Direct your actions correctly, and willingly accept what’s outside your control.

A simple question to you everyone who is listening.

When was the last time you remember saying “No” to the thing that doesn’t matter to you at all? Answer yourselves. I know it is one of the hardest things to do in life. To some parties, to obligations, to unnecessary things, we can’t simply state a “No”. Apart from this, it is even harder saying no to certain time-consuming emotions like anger, excitement, distraction, obsession, greed. It is consuming us, overwhelming us, sucking our energy. “How to avoid this?” is the main question. Start by learning the power of “No!” — as in “No, thank you,” and “No, I am not this kind of person.” It hurts some feelings, also hurts other people too. Remember this the more you say no to the things that don’t matter, the more you can say yes to the things you want. It helps you to live your life in a meaningful way — the way that you want.

How do you distinguish between good and evil, right or wrong, this and that? What motivates you to do your work? Do you have the assured tools to accomplish what you have started? No, until you attain knowledge on that particular thing. Education helps you to obtain knowledge — reading and meditating on the wisdom of great minds — is not to be done for its own sake. It will be best if you learn to live. It has a purpose. It will be awesome if you are freer, fearless to achieve a state of peace. Education is the key to gain knowledge which gives you freedom. With freedom, you can construct and design a beautiful life.

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Voice by Sangamesh Gella

Editing by Vibhav Sharma

Control and Choice is the vital entity to have clarity over anything.

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Voice: Sangamesh Gella

Editor: Vibhav Sharma