Whose driving your car?

There are two kinds of people in life, one who prefer sitting on passenger seat and then those who love sitting on the driver's seat. Which one of them are you? Don't you think we human beings are always conflicted when it comes to our driving force, whether we are capable of pulling ourselves or is it life which is pulling us. Too much of confusion. I have seen some people who consider themselves responsible for every single thing that happens and then there are those who hate responsibility and find it easy to put the entire blame on God or Government.

Sometimes I think about great people like Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi or Rosa Park who brought about a change in their world. It seems as if these people were different from us in some way. Why it happens that only few of us reach the height of excellence? Initially I thought that people are different but you know the reality is just the other way round, we are very much alike. Then the question is what is it that makes us appear so different?

There are a variety of people we meet everyday, some are of the view that life is what controls us, whatever happens with you is fated and will happen with you no matter how hard you try to escape it. I have seen such people behaving like victims of fate! 'O life did this to me' or 'I am ill fated'. I have seen these people waiting outside the Astrologer’s home just to know what they must be doing next. Again there are those who think that they get to decide what happens with them. They love sitting on the drivers seat and they spare life for all mishaps. After thinking about it for a long period of time, I have reached the conclusion that our perspective about life makes all the difference.

Recently I was listening to a psychic who was talking about Astrology and how it impacts mankind, with so much ease he summed up the concept by saying that planets will affect you till the time you allow them to affect you. If I think that so and so planet is transitioning and such and such thing will happen, I have already decided for myself and that will surely happen. I can't control my laughter when people say that they are aggressive because Mars is strong in their chart! I am not against the Science of Astrology and I too believe in it but the only influence planets have on us is that they either accelerate our success rate or slow it down but they are not going to work for us, efforts need to be put from our side and universe shall garnish only the result of such efforts, either speeding it up or slowing it down. We don't listen to Astrologers to predict our future but to know that if universal situations are not suitable then what efforts should be put in to nullify the bad energy. This is the correct way of looking at Astrology. We cannot allow things to happen to us. Universe is doing its job, you need to do yours.

I remember a story of two boys who were predicted by a known psychic to top in their respective classes and as a result of the prediction, they had left putting efforts in their work and as a result of which they failed. Like many other people, they too had put all the blame on the psychic but never realised that universe only backs us when we put in the efforts and if we just let it go then nothing can make us succeed. Thoughts are so powerful that the moment we decide to think differently, our life changes. At the end of the day, our thoughts decide the course of our lives.

What Mahatma Gandhi did was next to impossible but see it happened. It happened because he thought it was possible or he was capable of bringing about a change. There is a famous story that goes around Edison, for making bulb he tried approximately 500 elements that could be used as its filament and then failed. Once he was asked by a reporter that how bad he felt that he had spent so many useful hours for nothing. Many would have agreed to what the reporter had said and think it to be absolutely true and many of us would have felt disappointed but you know what Edison said, he said that he was fortunate that he tried 500 elements, identified them and now he knows that these 500 elements cannot be used as a filament.

Just a change in perspective, and our lives shall change many folds. I have seen people crying over their fate and doing nothing about it, it is purely pathetic. Life only provides us with raw materials but what we make out of it is totally our call! Suppose some injustice happens with a stranger and you did'nt like it and it pissed you off then what would you do? Would you raise your voice or just leave the situation, most of us would choose option B. Who are we to them and what can we do? Such questions we ask ourselves almost each day of our life and how we react to it makes all the difference. If I think I can make a difference, then surely I can. People differ not because what they do or what life does with them but because what they think. If we take the drivers seat, we are not sure what kind of roads we may encounter but when we are driving, we will be able to cross them successfully. We will surely become less fearful because we are holding the steering wheel and we can turn it in any direction and we can decide the speed. But if we are on the passenger's seat, we would be more anxious because we don't know how to drive and the outside conditions are driving us nuts, then we shall only cry for “help, help and help"..

There are 2 kinds of people which I already mentioned , one who think that they are the drivers ,who take control of their lives and consider themselves responsible for what happens with them in life. (Internal locus of control) Such people are capable of bringing about change in life and take an active role in life. They are less affected by outside circumstances. On the other hand there are those who love passengers seat and think that external forces control them , they believe that life is driving them and they are just passengers. (External locus of Control), Such people are passive in their approach and are strong believers of fate. They think of themselves as incapable of bringing about a change.

In order to provide a clear picture of the concept, lets jump into an elaborate comparison. Lets consider 2 persons namely A and B.

A Have high external locus of control Strong believer of fate Dislike taking responsibility for their actions Lose morale easily Fear of dreaming big Fear of exploring new paths Lack confidence Never take risks and initiatives Never think out of box Go with the flow approach

B

Have high internal locus of control

Believe in themselves

Take responsibility for their actions

Are self motivated

Love dreaming big

Often walk on unexplored paths

Have high self confidence

Take risks and initiatives

Nurture new and unique ideas

Creative approach