None of these stories or parables are new. They have been told and retold countless times, yet they never lose their moral appeal. Inspired and adapted from Zen, Sufi and other tales of the wise, they’re simple and uplifting, carrying timeless insights passed down through the ages.   Perhaps that’s why they still resonate with readers: the world keeps changing, but wisdom never loses its power to inspire humans to live ethical, meaningful and compassionate lives.   Why are y

I learnt to read time back in elementary school, as I’m sure most of us did. If I remember correctly, it took me less than an hour to master the big hand, the small hand and the seconds hand, and how they worked together to tell the hours, minutes and seconds.   It was only when I grew up that I realised there was more to glancing at the clock and telling the time in a split second. I soon found out that time is one of the most deceptive things in life. One moment, the second

Paramahansa Yogananda, the renowned yogi, once said, “Blessed are those who do not indulge in sensational news.” To that timeless wisdom, one might add, “Blessed, still, are those who do not read or consume distressing news.”   But in this 24/7 plugged-in world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the flood of bad news. There’s so much of it that at times it seems inescapable, leaving you anxious and somewhat apprehensive about your present and future. While you can’t control g

Nobody likes to lose a job—it’s never a pleasant experience. But many of you, at some point in your careers, have been fired from a job you thought you’d keep until you left on your own for something better. One moment, you feel secure in your position, and the next, you’re shown the door—often without a good reason.   It doesn’t just hurt—it positively sucks.   The worst part of being fired isn’t the uncertainty over income. It’s the anger, bitterness and self-doubt that co

Everyone deserves to be happy in their own way. But is happiness really the purpose of life? It's a matter of personal belief or choice, as one person’s idea of happiness might simply be another’s state of contentment.   In Stoic philosophy, for example, happiness is seen as a natural outcome of living a virtuous life guided by wisdom and reason. It’s not something to be pursued actively, like a career goal, but rather as a consequence of aligning our thoughts and actions w

Actor-director Woody Allen once said, “If you're not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.”   Essentially, Allen is saying that success rarely comes without failure, or at least without trying and never giving up. He is also suggesting that failure comes from taking risks and pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation .   So, with this in mind, it’s worth reflecting on how you perceive failure and how it affects your abi

Until the turn of this century, nostalgia—a sentimental longing for something good that happened in our past—often dominated...

Picture this.   You’re on cloud nine because you nailed a job interview. At least, you think you did. But then, you start having doubts and brood over how the interview might have actually gone; maybe you didn’t leave a good impression. Before long, you’re convinced that you’re not going to get the job. Then, a week or so later, you get a call saying you’ve been hired.   Here’s another scenario.   You catch the flu bug and your doctor recommends routine blood tests as a preca

Our thoughts —some 60,000 to 80,000 per day, as studies suggest—are like bumper-to-bumper traffic with vehicles tailgating one another and getting nowhere. At least not anytime soon. Rush-hour traffic, day in and day out, leaves us stressed and traps us in a mental gridlock. We find ourselves stuck, unable to move forward or backward. As it is on the road, so it is in the mind. While we can do little about traffic jams, we can, however, control our tailgating thoughts by slow

My wife and I visited a popular book fair in South Mumbai. The book sale was held in a large assembly hall where hundreds of thousands of books —fiction and nonfiction, paperbacks and hardbacks—were tightly stacked front to back with their spines up, in rows upon rows that stretched longer than bowling alleys.   The place was teeming with all kinds of readers, and perhaps even non-readers. There were book browsers casually flipping through titles, old-school readers savouring

Actor Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani in the hit sitcom Friends, once said in a television interview: “My favourite thing in the...

As a journalist many years ago, I was intrigued by the writing process and referred to writing guides such as The Economist Style Guide,...

In his presentation speech at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards in 2016, actor and comedian Jim Carrey famously said: “Thank you. I'm two-time...

“Don’t waste time – it’s precious!” or “Time is passing and you’re doing nothing worthwhile!” How often have you been the recipient of...

Watching the Indian film The Archies  brought to mind the start of the school summer holidays and the last day of the final exams. My sister and I would make a beeline for the library where we’d pick up a stack of Archie Double Digests. The first two days were spent in Riverdale following the antics of the good-natured but clumsy teenage boy, Archie, his best friend Jughead, his two loves, Betty and Veronica, and his arch rival, Reggie. Of course, Archies would be incomplete

Greek philosopher Socrates, spiritual teacher Eknath Easwaran and American radio host Bernard Meltzer have variously said: Before we...

Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg): Give me a compliment. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons): Fine. You have very tiny hands. Howard Wolowitz: No....

In the Generative AI: Steam Engine of the Fourth Industrial Revolution session on Day 2 of Davos 2024, speakers broadly agreed that AI...

Appreciation matters. To anyone who has a job and takes home a salary. But appreciation doesn’t always come easily. Even when we’re...

Most mistakes are genuine. They are oversights. Made unintentionally or inadvertently. They occur due to human error resulting from...