Recently, one of my close associates considered me a competitor of materialistic war. I would not bore you with the specifics, yet it is imperative to mention that I do not hold any grudge against my fellow. He is one of the brilliantly dedicated, and hard-working individuals I have met. He is my inspiration and a teacher in many aspects.
Knowing about the war I was dragged in, my basic instinct was to react. A reaction that would showcase nothing, but my unstable emotional state. Amygdala came into action, releasing cortisol - the fear hormone - and I became defensive for a short while. A couple of minutes later, feelings of gratitude started blossoming within me. I could sense it as partly it was a conscious effort of forgetting the discomfort I had come across, and another part was a realization, thanks to the conscience. The realization that what I had today was not even available to the many royal members of the previous decades.
While following my habitual routine of reading, I came across very beautiful learning indeed. Highly relatable in fact. How I keep up with my routines and habits? Let's keep that discussion for some other day. For the rest of the part, I will be quoting the billionaire industrialist from The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma.
The magnate mentions a quote by Theodore Roosevelt, "Comparison is the thief of joy." This is where it hit me, and I felt deeply moved by the quote. The more I contemplated on this quote, the more I realized the truth behind disgruntled faces that appear joyous on Facebook and Instagram. The tycoon continued, "Someone will always have more fortune, fame, and stuff than you do...."
"More and more of this hunger comes from deeper feelings of scarcity. And a lot of this is stemming from the workings of your ancient brain. It's scanning your environment and the negativity bias is being activated, preventing you from enjoying all the good you have...."
Sharma completely took me by surprise here. His character, the tycoon, furthers telling about the working of the brain, and how our perspective and thinking tends to change as we enter the world of unexplored opportunities (read a lot of difficulties). I would want to take the opportunity to discuss this wonderful book's learnings, but let's keep it for another day? Give this book a read!
In the end, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank my associate for giving me this wonderful lesson. I certainly have no hard feelings for him. We all are the students of life, and every lesson is a pathway to growth, and today life taught me to reapproach the abundance mindset through my associate. Alhamdulillah.
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