17 Jan 2019  |   04:06am IST

Be Joyful and Count your Blessings

Sathappan N

For being successful anywhere, one must be physically fit, mentally calm, and alert. Such a person is joyful. Success dependent joy is transient. A joyful attitude on the other hand is, irrespective of the external factors, leads to efficient decisions and action, improving chances of success. A joyful person is also able to handle setbacks much better. Stress harms health, whereas joyfulness improves it. Hence, joyful attitude is far more important as a way of life itself. 

You can be well qualified, you can have all the skill sets and experience, but if you have sour attitude about life, that can be the major setback that keeps you from reaching your potential.

A joyful positive attitude can indirectly cause doors open in all situations. A joyful pleasant attitude can work wonders for you in number of ways which you may never think of. Those who smile appear more friendly, outgoing and more approachable. When you smile often, you tend to get breakthroughs that others don’t get. If you observe, during your next visit to any mall, you can notice that it is always those sales staff who smile and exhibit good attitude through eye-contact, attract more customers and bring in more profit for the employer and as well for them by increased incentives.

The raise and rapid growth of Japan is always attributed to the positive attitude of Japanese. The country got devastated during World War II. The size of Japan is small and 80% of its territory is hilly region, not very suitable for agriculture, cattle rearing or for any other productive usage. Still Japan is world’s third economy. The difference is the attitude of the people framed over the years, from generation to generation. People of no other country can be thought of to exhibit the disciplined behavior that Japanese exhibit. During Fukushima tragedy, earthquake caused tsunami collapsed the nuclear power plant, buildings and roads, and made the people run for their life for miles. After such a fearful run, once they reached the evacuation center they did not overcrowd and block the train doors by panic, but stood in queue to board the train! This despite the 30 feet high tsunami related high tide and the imminent threat of nuclear radiation. What an attitude!

Hats off to great Japanese, unlike other disasters where the world has observed looting, rioting and public outbursts of sorrow and rage, it has seen a country quietly mourning, its people standing patiently for hours in orderly lines for a few bottles of water.

This is surprising only for outsiders who never lived in Japan or experienced how Japan's society operates. Foreigners who lived in Japan said that they would be surprised if this country's people behaved in any other manner.

At stores, which took hours to get to in some cases, shoppers were limited to 10 food or beverage items. No complaints, no cheating.

The Japanese from a young age are socialized to put group interest ahead of individual interest.

Let us learn and emulate the great Japanese. Always have a great attitude in every walk of your life, smile and joyful always. Regardless of how things are looking, vow to be in good cheer and watch your life change for better, both health wise and wealth wise.

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