Why did I pick this book ?
I picked it up from the recommendation section of the wonderful news letter from Brain Pickings. I strongly recommend you subscribe to that news letter. It is an example of what magic hand crafted curation can bring.
What do I like about the book ?
The book is a recollection of essays and speeches by the author. It comes out in an easy to understand format and has a poetic prose appeal to it. Gives us a platform to examine our life with a different lens .
What is one interesting idea that I learnt ?
It opens up to an interesting view of how we view our vocation. Typically we force our vocation upon our own selves. It is like I want to achieve something and I go after it, but the author gives us enough case and room for us to explore the premise ‘Is what we are going after is really what we want to go after’ ? Have we unwittingly silenced our inner voices ? In other words, ‘Are we listening to our own selves?’
How long it would take ?
Anywhere between 90 – 120 minutes.
Paras or Quotes that I liked
“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”
“Rabbi Zusya, when he was an old man, said, “In the coming world, they will not ask me: `Why were you not Moses?’ They will ask me: Why were you not Zusya?”‘=
“It took me a long time to understand that although everyone needs to be loved, I cannot be the source of that gift to everyone who asks me for it. There are some relations in which I am capable of love and others in which I am not. To pretend otherwise, to put out promissory notes I am unable to honor, is to damage my own integrity and that of the person in need-all in the name of love.”
“The pilgrimage toward true self will take “time, many years and places.” The world needs people with the patience and the passion to make that pilgrimage not only for their own sake but also as a social and political act. “
Enjoy Maadi (Have Fun)
Zunder
Random Thoughts 
I still believe one should know what he wants to do to this society. But if that does not help to survive in this materialistic world.. Then the term comes life balancing. I feel work, marriage life and inner self being should be balanced for a peaceful happy living. Anyone overtaking the other consistently will not help in happy living, but work overtaking in the age of 25 to 35 and Marriage life overtaking 35 to 50 and inner self being overtaking from 50 to rest of the life is fine in the current scenario.So it is very important to teach the kids what how plan the life. It is very important that inner self being will be the one that will try to come up from the age of 50 and it should not get into conflict with the way we are living, This is my view.. May be i am wrong for some and right for some.. When we think back , we should not feel we have lost or should not be a bitter story.
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