Count your blessings

About 90 per cent of the people you meet are those who eternally complain.

They are never satisfied with their salaries, perks, children, or lovers.

Trade unions are the worst culprits. Their demands keep on multiplying day by day and no government or business organization will be able to satisfy them. At the Lipton Circus or opposite the Fort Railway Station you see endless protests demanding their pound of flesh. Sometimes, the demands are not put forward by the workers, but by some disgruntled political parties who are eager to destabilize the Government in power.

Asking for more appears to be a social malady. Although all the major religions preach that you should be satisfied with what you have, nobody seems to have taken them seriously.

Take the case of an ordinary office worker in the State or the private sector. Wherever you work there is a hierarchy of officials from the humble office peon to the Managing Director. It means that everybody who works for such an organization will find that there are people above them and below them. If you refuse to respect authority or take orders from a higher official, you are simply courting disaster. Many problems may arise when there is someone above you. You cannot simply get into his/her shoes. You need the right qualifications and experience to do so.

When you fail to get what you want, you begin to criticize your superior.

Office gossip and unwanted stories are made up to tarnish the image of the people you do not like. Instead of doing a solid job of work, you start gossiping and spreading rumours. All this will lead to low output on the part of the employee and losses to the organization. What is more, when you are dissatisfied with your work, you will begin to develop mental and physical problems. When you come under stress, you forget that it is a silent killer.

If you want to lead a happy life, you will have to be content with what you get. If you think that you are not earning enough, make an attempt to earn something extra by doing a part-time job. For an average educated person, there are many opportunities to engage in some form of profitable work. Only those who seek such opportunities will find them easily.

Employees who demand higher salaries should think twice before doing so.

This is because there are thousands of people who have no regular income and they live a hand-to-mouth life. Bank and hospital employees who enjoy higher salaries and other perks must take a trip to a remote village and see for themselves how people live below the poverty line. What is great about them is that they never complain to anyone about their plight.

Look at a pavement hawker who peddles his wares from dawn to dusk, making a small profit to maintain his family. He has to look after himself while selling his goods in the hot sun or rain. He is not entitled to any pension or provident fund. Even a bank will hesitate to give him a loan. But he too does not complain. He returns home tired but happy. He is welcomed by his wife and children.

Living in a consumerist society, people seem to be pursuing targets they cannot achieve. What they must remember is that desire often creates paradoxical effects. Suppose you want to possess an expensive car. When you begin to chase after it, it tends to elude you. It is strange but true that when you have a strong desire to achieve something, it seems to be moving beyond your reach. This is because when your interest is too strong, it makes you awkward and fearful. When you are not in control of yourself, you begin to show signs of weakness.

Once, one of my colleagues submitted his thesis for the Master's degree after passing the written examination. The thesis, as usual, was completed under the supervision of a senior lecturer. When he was called before a panel, the presiding professor told him that the contents of the thesis were good, but they had not been compiled in the correct format. He was given one year's time to rewrite the thesis according to the new format. However, my friend who did not want to waste his time, submitted the thesis to a foreign university. Eventually, he received his Master's degree!

Luck always plays a major role in our lives. People who always suffer bad luck develop a sense of balance, patience, and a desire to do better next time. If you enjoy good luck all the time, it will turn against you. While enjoying the fruits of success at a given time, be prepared for that unexpected fall.

Every human being has been gifted with some form of skill. The tragedy is that most of us are not aware of our skills. As a result, we engage in unprofitable and unsuitable work. Pharmacists want to be lawyers and some doctors start teaching Information Technology. This shows that something has gone wrong somewhere. If you can identify your talents quite early in life, you will not be wasting a portion of your valuable time.

Whether you are in the proper job or not, you have to earn your living.

Instead of complaining all the time, try to count your blessings. It will give you immense pleasure and save the country of many wasted working hours spent on picketing, strikes, and other fruitless activities. Let me reiterate: Count your blessings.