How these 3 things will change your life forever.

Building a good habit or cutting out a bad habit is not that easy. As we grow up, we start to change, cause life happens. Things which we used to like few years back, might not interest us now. Vice-verse, things which we didn’t like a few years back, we might start liking.

We as humans are prone to change in ourselves. More over, the age and time demands change as well. But sometimes a single incident can change your life forever. I’ll tell you a story about that.

“In mid 50’s, there was a lower middle class couple living in a small town in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India.  They were living a frugal life. They had a girl named ‘Shanti’ as their only child.

Shanti who couldn’t get too much in her childhood in comparison of any other child of a middle class family kid in that time. But still she was a happy child. She would run behind the sheep, the shepherd will shout at her in joy as she was a cute little freak.

As she grew up she got habituated of treating the animals badly. She would throw stones at the street dogs, kick the sheep or abuse any of the sort of animals. Her parents who thought they were giving her great cultural values didn’t know about this bad habit of her.

She was now in her seventeens. One day while she was coming back from the school and was about to reach home. She saw a dog behind the bushes. Freak inside her was awake again. She gathered a few stone, put her schoolbag on a side of the street and started moving slowly towards the dog to take that perfect shot. As she reached near, she was just couple of meters across. She took the aim and swung her hand and threw the stone with a lightning speed. Bulls eye, stone which was a little sharp from one edge, hit the dog, perfectly on her stomach. Dog started crying and whining in a flick.

Shanti’s father who was also coming back to home after the long working day, saw this horrible act of animal abuse. But it was too late when he saw it happening. The stone was already slightly inside the dog’s stomach and she was her badly. He came running and picked up the dog, she was bleeding so damn bad.

He turned his neck and sighed seeing Shanti. He didn’t talk to her and just rushed home with the dog in his hands, blood rolling down his hand and clothes.

She was stunned. She used to take pleasure out of this kinda animal abuse. But when her father looked at her with that inglorious look. She was disgusted with herself. Suddenly, she felt like her world was upside down. What the hell was she doing by abusing animals like that. As if sense of humility had entered her brain for the first time. For the first time, she felt like these animals were also the inhabitants of planet earth and they  deserved as much as humans did. This was the first strike of self-awareness to her. After that day she thought to change her behaviour towards animals. She started decreasing the distance in physical and mental ways. She go near a dog or a cat, touch them in a loving way, gently caress their small furred heads.  To her surprise, these animals loved her back so quick, she couldn’t have imagined. They were now her friends for life.”

Shanti is in her 60s now. I met her in a social event. Over a cup of tea, we had this small conversation  and she told me about this story. She told me that it was that one  glance from her father that changed her life forever. It changed the way she treated animals . The way she looked at and treated other human beings. It changed it all.

She gave me this great piece of advise:

To be humane and remain humane, one should incorporate these 3 things in life.

 

1. Humility

2. Honesty

3. Gratitude.

 

Even though these three things are isolated. But if you practice them together, your life will be a bliss.

First of all, If you are honest, you will always be confident. Then comes the humility part. Whenever you feel like you know everything about something, stop and try to reflect. Take time out and meet other people. You will be amazed to know their side of the story. You may come to know, that  there is a lot you still don’t know. Once you start practising humility, it will take you to the right direction. You’ll start giving value to life more than ever before.

Lastly, gratitude! Which is the base of it all. You should be grateful for the life you have. Because more than half of the world might not ever have the life you are already having.

Practising these 3 behavioural patterns will make you super human. Not in the physical sense but in a transcendent way.

What behavioural habits you would like to build or cut out?

Let me know in the comments.