Author: Pratibha

I am Pratibha. I live with my husband, son and mother in India. Teaching is my passion and so is reading books. I created this blog so that I can share what I have learnt from all the books that I have read so far and all the things that experiences in life has taught me so far. I love listening to music, dancing and taking to people and yes, these days I love spending moments of silence with nature!

Reading Books, Growing Minds # Reason 2

Butterfly_Wallpaper_by_MisSToTi

Have you ever heard of Chaos Theory or Butter Fly Effect?

No.

I also didn’t know about this theory until I taught a chapter on Chaos: The Ultimate Asymmetry written by Arthur Fisher from the Best Science Writing Reading and Insights edited by Robert Gannon to B.Tech Students from 2008 to 2011. While teaching this chapter I not only found this theory quite interesting, but truly fascinating! Read why?

What this theory conveys is the idea of “sensitive dependence on initial conditions,” which Jules Henri Poincaré, a French mathematician and physicist explains in 1998 as “ A very small cause which escapes our notice determines a very considerable effect that we cannot fail to see, and then we say that effect is due to the chance…It may happen that very small differences in the initial conditions produce very great ones in the final phenomena.”

I think this theory makes great sense. A small habit, which could be reading a book for 20 minutes or an hour a day over a period of time, can bring enormous results. It is needless to say that small good acts and habits over a period of time bring successful results and bad habits not cared over a period of time produce fatal results. What we generalize is the fact that success is possible because of good luck and failure because of bad luck but the truth is hidden in sensitive dependence on initial conditions.

So, what I suggest is to read good books and work on focusing your sensitive dependence on initial conditions. This sensitive dependence on reading books for 30 minutes or an hour in a day may change the course of your life completely just like the butterfly effect. This effect may be visible when you use your mind to lead your life the way you want and take better decisions to take your life where you want.

This sensitive dependence on reading everyday will strengthen you mind as Joseph Addison says that, “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body” because studies have shown that reading books sharpens your brain, improves your memory, and power of focus and concentration. Just like exercising strengthens your muscles and tones them and improves the blood circulation in the entire body in the same manner reading good literature and good books improves functioning of your brain, improves your creative faculties, relaxes your mind and deepen your thought process. Reading good books recharge your mind and prepare you to workout efficiently throughout the day without mental and psychological exhaustion.

Like body needs vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats and proteins for its proper growth and development in the same manner books on different subjects from important areas of your life like : Health and Fitness, Mind Power and Wisdom Literature, Business and Its Growth, finance and its Management, Family and its care and Fulfilling Spiritual Needs, feed and nourish your mind and make you resistant and strong to navigate successfully in every day workforce dynamics and prepare you to meet the personal challenges effectively. And therefore, along with physical exercise, it is important for you to join the mental gym as well.

I am sure after reading this post you are ready to join the mental gym along with me and ready to work out. Aren’t you?

Meet the Adversity Professor!

Adversity_Professor_ImageCredit: Google Images

In the University of Life, Adversity is one of the oldest Professors. This professor loves the experiential mode of teaching for better understanding of the concepts of personal challenge, physical hardships and emotional misfortunes in one’s life. But unfortunately, unlike other professors, the Adversity Professors is known for his strict disciplinarian attitude and honest treatment of his subject under discussion. He loves assignments, timely submission and final desertations. So, we do not like him, nor do we like his ways of teachings and experimentation.

But it is only after understanding the deep lessons learnt from this teacher, we realize that his lessons are the best lessons of life because they leave the lasting impressions on our minds. His lessons reveal the true secrets of happiness and peace in life, his lessons reveal the lessons of compassion and empathy in life and his lessons reveal the true meaning of relationship and love in our lives.

And, should I mention, that this Professor is one of the best professors in the University of Life . And he is one of the most successful professors because he has to his credit, the shaping and making of the greatest people in this world. Whom he considers his favorite students!

If I may take names of few, whom you all know so well because of their great achievements,  Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Gautam Buddha and Abraham Lincoln, Leonardo da vinci and Pablo Picasso, William Shakespeare and Mozart, Alexander the great, Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa. Business personalities like, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Sam Walton and Akio Morita. Sports starts like Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and our own Master Blaster Sachin Tendulker, just to name a few. Well, there are millions of many such examples. Some are known in the world and some are unknown in the world. But the Adversity Professor knows that it does not matter whether you are known or unknown in the world but what matters is that the unknown realities, beauties and secrets should be known to these students in the University of Live.

So, if you want to know the hardships and toils and turmoils in the lives of all these students, just turn the pages of their autobiographical desertations and see how many sufferings, roadblocks and challenges they all have faced in pursuit of their passion. It is because, the Adversity Professor wanted them to suffer, to toil, to bleed and not to give up and this is what they all did. They sweated, and they suffered. They fell and they cried but they did not give up. They just kept on going, kept on moving, every day and every day with persistence and with perseverance, with passion and greatest of determination, with compassion and humble submission in pursuit of their soul’s mission. They just did what he said. They just followed what he commanded. They just remained calm, just like water, in their toughest of times. And they gained the fame for what the world knows about them today and they become the favorites of this Professor.

If you want to take the course offered by him, then be ready to take one of the most adventurous, grueling, hard and gritting life lessons from the most dynamic teacher on the Campus, in the University of Life and you very know whom I am talking about, it  is by none another than THE ADVERSITY PROFESSOR!

By the way, my father got an A+ in this professor’s course!