In this world, everything revolves around physical beauty and money. How do we save ourselves from getting entangled in this web and remain happy, whether we are rich, poor, ugly or beautiful?
Sujatha Pranesh
A. Happiness is loving and accepting everything about yourself. Be the best you can be, without comparing what you have with others. Everyone has strong and weak points. Enhance what is good and beautiful about you — in mental, emotional and spiritual areas. Focus on being kind to others and recognising their strengths. Writer, historian and philosopher, Voltaire, when he was old and wrinkled said, “Give me an hour to speak away my face and I will seduce the queen of France”. People are usually more interested in themselves than in you. So help others bloom and develop their good qualities. Make good, responsible, innovative use of your resources. You will be rich in self-esteem and good friends.
What is one supposed to do when the person you expect to be responsible and command respect behaves rashly and doesn’t really bother about his image?
Vaibhav Puniyani
A. Stand by that person and remind him of his true qualities. Speak of all the good he has done in the past and the great reputation he has built for himself. Give him sincere affirmations about how much you and others respect him. This will pull him back from the brink of losing his head. Within all of us lurk the highest and the lowest. At this point, he may be acting from his lowest self. Reawaken the Divine in him, remind him of who really he is, and this base and low part of him will vanish like mist in the sunlight.
It was the sociologist Calvin Cooly, who wrote about how each of us presents our loved ones with a mirror image of themselves. He wrote, “I am, what I think, you think I am”. If I think you think of me as smart, adventurous and responsible, I become smart, adventurous and responsible. If I feel that you think of me as a stupid, bumbling idiot, I become an incompetent idiot. He will live up to your mirror image of him. So allow this person to see himself in the mirror of your eyes as smart, responsible and worthy of respect.