Category Archives: Philosophy

Data: Mera Cell Tera Cell!

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On one hand where data is a fantastic thing to have for anything and everything in the world,

Be it looking at the gender diversity ratio in a company/parliament etc.,

Be it the percentage of people for whom a certain drug might have worked in terms of the cure it offered, and in turn the effectiveness of the very drug,

Be it evaluating the state of economy, and the possibilities of getting returns on prospective investments,

Be it deriving insights from the experiments, scientists perform day-in-day out, concerning matters which we tend to deal with; with or without the realization of the same,

On the other hand, data tends to divide people, putting them into different groups and attributing the same with certain characteristics, in turn resulting in the biases that we all have, and in turn questioning the very fundamentals of a being, the very cells that make us all who we call as oneself.

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Many a times, I have had heard phrases like vasudhaiva kutumbakam, which means world is one family, unity in diversity etc. all suggesting that all are supposed to be treated equally,

No matter what our colour of the skin is,

No matter what religion we were bound to follow because we choose to be born in a particular family residing in a particular place in time,

No matter what gender we got associated to and were categorized in, based upon the reproductive credentials that we possess,

Yet, for the want of it, and at times for the need of it, the who’s who of the society, tends to divide and rule on the basis of the power of this very data, which surprisingly tends to find some kind of an acceptance, knowingly or unknowingly across all variety of people.

After all, if mera cell=tera cell (my cell=your cell), would there be a need to refer to people as being part of a group or a religion?

The reality is more often than not stranger than the fiction, and that’s why it’s easy to accept and adapt to the fictitious ways in which we have all got accustomed to living our lives.

The fact is that we are going to be bombarded with plethora of data along with its interpretation, day-in-day-out,

The question all need to ask themselves is whether they are prepared to make that all important choice of not succumbing to the fiction and rise above to realize reality.

Source for the Image: http://www.3dprinter.in/we-may-soon-have-3d-cell-printed-tissues/

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Figure out the GOOGLE in you!

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One day, a philosopher was sitting beneath a tree, thinking about the usual, what is life, what is my purpose etc. etc. 

All of a sudden, he felt a cool breeze embracing his hair and face with love and warmth. Don’t know why, that experience made him believe very strongly in, life is about the little experiences that touch our being every moment. 

So many guys have tried, some have taken the path of a sanyasi , few have tread the middle path proposed by Gautam Buddha, few have committed suicide, few have become hippies but no one has been able to figure out the existence of the almighty.

The question is not whether God exists or not, but whether one should actually be wasting his/her time in figuring out the same.

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For what we are, a physical mass which tends to interact with whatever is around us, if it were not because of the experience per say, what is it to live.

In sweet and simple terms, if you are not experiencing, if you are not making yourself open to the little pleasures of life, you are not living. For life was meant to be experienced.

So, instead of trying to find who built Google, why not figure out the Google in you and get on an exploration spree.

Source for the Image: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/744685614862958594

Does it really matter?

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It’s not that often that I get into philosophy of things, though at times, while you are kayaking in the wonderful waters, after having a couple of beers, you cannot blame me for getting into the same.

Such moments, where you can barely listen to sounds made by any kind of in habitation around leave alone the honking, are really few considering the kind of lifestyles that we all have become so accustomed to living.

And then you tend to remember the last words of the ever so famous, Steve Jobs, or the spiritual thoughts being propagated by the likes of Robin Sharma who in turn took it from the greats such as Rabindra Nath Tagore, all emphasizing upon the eventuality.

At the end of the day, or for that matter, the last hour of our lives, we will have the chance to think about kya khoya, kya paaya (what you gained, what you lost), which will in itself be evident by the fact how many people are beside you when you take that last breath, how many people would actually feel your absence or you not being around, how many souls would actually shed a tear for who you were.

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How many lives you would have an impact on in your lifetime, how many souls would be there to bless you for the kindness and wonderful things that you might have done for them, how many people would appreciate and talk about you in good regard, how many folks would remember you for your deeds?

Some would say, does it really matter, for after we are gone, no one knows where we will be, no one cares what we will be doing and whether of all things, we would be thinking of the above.

May be not, but certainly, for those who we will leave behind us, for those who would have interacted with us during our lifetime, for those whose life we would have made a difference to, would certainly remember us for who we were.

After all, it’s about not being too selfish and greedy, instead being giving and spreading the happiness around you. Wonder if each one of us decided to spread the joy, how wonderful a place this planet would become.

Choice is ours, “To be or not to be!”

Source for Image: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/choice

The Influence!

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In our lives, we come across various kinds of people who tend to affect us in some way or the other, some in a positive manner and some whom we would rather want to forget about.

Both these tend to change our perceptions, attitudes and persona. Not only people but our experiences with lets say, nature, also tend to change our views and opinions on things. This very morning, I heard a very interesting thing from a lady.

Without getting into the nomenclature and taking the liberty to quote the wonderful lady: ” One feels so tiny and insignificant yet totally humble, vulnerable and surprised about ones presence… I hope you’re getting my point. It’s complex but surprisingly relaxing and exhilarating”.

If you are wondering what this was all about, it was about her experience of having managed to climb to one of the highest peaks in her state and feeling really philosophical about practically everything that she could possibly think of.images

As we went on treading the path of philosophy, it was but a natural thing to mention, “you know we keep finding our happiness through others….its inside us and most of us don’t realize the same….and yes we are indeed very insignificant and inconsequential…..the sooner one understands the happier one gets”.

Coming to the happiness quotient that one tends to create for oneself, the question is, “how many people in this world are really satisfied with what they are doing? If they are not, then how many are really trying to do something about it?”

I believe not many. Might be because they have run out of options or have given in to the fact that things are not going to change. There are very few who try and indeed succeed (though not in the materialistic sense of the word).

However the world don’t consider them successful and try to label them as “losers” or “bhagodas”. Whatever names they tend to be referred to by, trust me, the happiness quotients for such folks is real high.

And take my word for it, these folks have started influencing many a people in this contemporary entrepreneurial world. More and more, if not already treading, are beginning to think about jumping into this arena, where they could meaningfully derive their own happiness.

And the day is not far, when these same folks are going to redefine the concept of happiness and will become the real influence in lives of those who are still struggling to find their feet.

Source for Image: https://metricsman.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/bringing-some-clarity-to-social-media-influence/

Patte Mat Kholiyo!

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There is this guy who is trying to get married these days. Believing that he doesn’t have a copyright over his so called philosophy of sorts for things ranging from getting married to behaving in a certain manner in his professional life, I am taking this liberty of borrowing his philosophy and concepts to explain, at the same time understand what he really means when he says “main apne patte kabhi bhi nahi kholta” ;).

To understand what he really means by this, let me cite a few situations, along with the actions taken by him:

Situation No. 1: A friend calls and asks him: “are you going home this weekend?” to which he neither replies in the affirmative or negative but just says that he might go the week after. On being asked, why he didn’t give a straight answer in a yes or a no, he is more than happy to reveal the strategy behind his answer. He says that if he tells his friend that he would go this weekend and if he doesn’t happen to go, then the friend would think that he had lied. And if he goes after having told his friend that he won’t go, then if the friend comes to know about the same, his friend would again feel upset about the same. So, instead of giving a straightforward answer, he choses not to and he refers to this strategy as patte nahi kholna.conversation

Situation No. 2: The girl’s father, who had come to meet him, asks him whether he drinks, to which he replies that he is a vegetarian. By answering in such a manner, he ensures two things. One is that he is able to change the topic of conversation. Secondly, the girl’s father having heard that the guy is a vegetarian perceives him to be a person who doesn’t drink. By this he ensures that the girl’s father doesn’t come to know about his drinking habits, in case he drinks, and in turn considers him a good guy (which makes me wonder how our society is good at stereotyping people and putting them into good and bad categories based on their so called good and bad habits). Once again, he manages to keep himself in good regard at the same time ensures that he doesn’t open his cards (patte).11118567

From the couple of situations that I have cited above, it is clear that he is thinking about a lot of permutations and combinations before saying anything. His brain must be really efficient considering the fact that it does so many computations and is able to take care of the numerous thought processes that seem to be going on in his mind at one point of time (which makes me wonder that he might be using at least 10% of his brains that he has, more than what Mr. Einstein might have used during his times).

On one hand where he manages to keep all the problems at an arm’s length, on the other hand he is able to emerge a successful person in our so called practical society. But one thing that I keep wondering about and am quite perplexed about is how difficult it might be for a person to keep applying his mind to things that, if you chose to behave in a straightforward manner, you might not have to do the same.

On second thoughts, when I look at things happening around myself, I sometimes wonder whether what he does might be the right way of leading one’s life and the most appropriate manner in which one can handle situations arising in one’s life.

I just wonder whether patte mat kholo philosophy should be adopted by all. What say? I guess the answer to this should be customized according to one’s own sweet will and the happiness that comes along as a part and parcel of being attached to this free will.

As long as you are not inflicting any harm on any other person and as long as it is not adopted with any bad intention in mind, it might be ok for those who chose to lead their life going by the doctrines of this philosophy.

As far as I am concerned, I find it easier to be straight forward, which at times, can and does have bad consequences for me. After all it is a trade-off. With any thing and any decision that you make, comes along the pros and cons.

At the end of the day, the onus lies upon you to decide for yourself, as to what’s best for you.

 

The Ubiquitous Concept!

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It is extremely fascinating to witness how our mind transforms at a pace which is incomprehensible and truly admirable. Mind, which consists of unlimited memories, seems to drive us crazy by keeping us hooked on to something in an era in one instant and then, in the next, take us to a totally different era, where we might find ourselves reminiscing and reliving the very same moments which once upon a time, seemed so significant to us and might not seem to have much significance now, considering that we have evolved and have managed to move on.

It is not that everytime, we tend to remember good things. There are times, when the bad ones do come to haunt us and we feel wanting seeing us not being able to cope up with the same. Even if we manage to come out of it, more often than not, we are left with bad taste and are left with no option but to indulge in activities which help us come out of the impact that such remembrance might have had on our psyche.OpenYourMind1

It is also not that everytime, we tend to remember our own experiences. It might be a story that had been told to us by someone, holding much significance in our lives or it might be a movie scene that tend to have a lasting imprint on our minds, which no matter how much we want, we are unable to get rid of the same, in case it is a bad one. The good ones, are ofcourse, savoured and well kept in our memories.

This brings us to the question: Is it in our hands to enable a good or a bad memory to surface in what I call the reality horizon? Can we prevent the bad ones and allow only the good ones to enter our consciousness? Can we indeed develop a mechanism and hence a device which will enable us to do just the above?

The answers to the above can be well discovered and found in many of the sci-fi movies being made mostly in Hollywood. I haven’t come across anything like that in reality which can control our minds more than what we can. May be sometime in the future, with the pace of evolution of artificial intelligence, we might end up seeing such a feat being achieved during my life time.

Some would answer the same saying that it depends on whether we have a positive or a negative mindset. In case of the latter, the bad memories have a higher probability of finding their way out into our consciousness. Does it mean that we should try to avoid thinking negatively and try to maintain a positive frame of mind at all times? And if it does, then how, on earth, are we supposed to ignore all the bad things that might be happening to us.

Some tend to take the help of a concept that we all are so familiar with and which is the concept of destiny and rebirth. All the things that do not tend to find resonance with good things in life, they attribute it to their destiny which seems to be playing games with them, at all times, irrespecitve of our liking or disliking for the same.

What is more ironical are the claims put forth by this concept of destiny. It tells us that everything had been fixed the very moment we all took birth on this planet, based on what we might have done in our previous births. The things that are supposed to happen and have been preplanned will happen. The only thing that one can do is to decrease the severity of a bad thing and increase the joy that a good thing might bring to us by behaving in a manner, as suggested by the proponents of this science, which they all call Astrology.destiny

For me, it is very difficult to accept that everything had been written for me, and I am just living a life like a robot over which I don’t have any control what so ever. So, I choose not to accept the concept as it is. But that doesn’t mean that I reject the concept totally as well.

This concept of destiny helps me to overcome my setbacks, if and when I face in my life. After having done all the hard work, if still I don’t get what I desired, in order to overcome the disappointment I tend to use this concept to my advantage. After all, it is extremely convenient to get rid of our failure and the disappointment arising out of the same by saying: it was God who didn’t want this for us, for He had conceptualised a life very different from what we might have been contemplating and after all whatever happens is for good.

Why I tend to fall back on such an irrational concept is because there are so many things which tend to be irrational in this World, and for which we are not able to find any logical and rational explanation, and we are left with no other option but to leave things as it is with our hands folded in front of the Almighty.

Until the truth is discovered, we cannot tell for sure, as to what it is. In the current scenario with the amount of information at our disposal, we are left with little option but to fall back once again on our beliefs, which we all tend to label as our Destiny.

Moreover, if it is helping one to get out of depression mode, then what can be better than taking refuge in the same. As long as it is not making you a lethargic person, it has beneficial effects. The moment one starts to use it as an excuse for all our failures and lack of hard work, it loses its essence.

For all those who believe in the same, you must not use it as an excuse for not being able to achieve something in life. It should only help you get over your disappointments and rejuvenate you to work harder. For those who don’t believe in the concept, instead of feeling low and lost, it might not be such a bad option to fall back on this ubiquitous concept of DESTINY.

Source for Image: http://worldpulse.com/node/60540, http://www.indiedb.com/groups/unity-devs/features/6-steps-to-play-with-players-mind

The Search Continues!

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Today, I was watching this hockey final of Hockey India League (HIL) being played between the Delhi Warriors and Ranchi Rhinos. And suddenly came in my mother who wanted to see this stardust movie awards being telecasted on the Set Max.

What other option did I have but to let my mom take charge of the remote and in turn the television channels and suddenly I was found wanting to continue watching my hockey match.

Somehow, the curiosity in me didn’t let me sit at ease. I had to see who won the match and who took the honours. So, I requested my mother to allow me to have a look.

After having had a look at the final results, I came back to my room. As I entered the room, I wondered about why I was so curious about knowing it there and then. I could have waited for another hour, say, or for the next day, when the results would have appeared in the newspapers.search

Why was it that I wanted to get rid of my curiosity on an immediate basis? Is it inherent in our curious nature to seek immediate gratification? It might be true for it tends to haunt our minds till we are able to satisfy it by discovering the answers for questions that we had been looking for.

What is more amazing is that the curiosity immediately tends to die down once the unknown beocomes known. The good thing or the bad thing though is that you are hit again by another curiosity and end up searching for new answers in life, which propels us to move ahead and explore new things in life.

Source for Image: http://www.epilepsymatters.com/english/search.html

The Dreamer!

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One thing that the majority used to lack, say a couple of decades, was the ability to venture out and take risks. Not many dreamt about becoming Tatas and Birlas. The one, who did venture out, ended up being the same.

But today, we are seeing more and more people wanting to have their own businesses. They want to take control of their lives. The thought behind wanting to have their own business is to remain independent and work for themselves rather than working for someone else.

Not only is there a scope of earning much more money, but also the indendence and the leverage to work on one’s own terms is beyond any materialistic thing that you might get by working in a big shot company.

It is not only that they think of only themselves. but they also try to create opportunities for those who wouldn’t have the resources or the risk taking ability to venture out into this arena of entrepreneurship.

So, basically, there are two kinds of people. One, who want to take risk and set up their own venture and the one who would want to become a part of the venture and work for the same.

Outsiders, who don’t belong to the former category, think that the people in the former category have got lucky enough to be enjoying the lifestyle that they are. But I must tell you that it is only after hours, months and years of hard work that an entrepreneur is able to achieve what looks to the outsiders like a rosy picture.

And that too, not many in the field are able to achieve the same kind of success as say Flipkart or even Healthkart. Irrespective of the fact, that an entrepreneur emerges out as successful or not, one needs to have immense amount of patience and a motivation to put in hard work day-in-day-out.

Only 1 in around 1000 companies is able to do what it initially had as aim in its mind. Then what about the rest and what about the employees, who had been working in those companies?dreamer

Yes, they end up losing jobs and are in turn made to look for employment opportunities. But one thing that they do gain is the experience and the learning which one can never get while working in a conventional job, because of the nature of being exposed to every aspect of a business.

They say, once an entrepreneur, always an entrepreneur. If you talk to these entrepreneurs, they will tell you that its like tasting blood for a tiger. Once it does it, it is not able to survive without it.

Talking to entrepreneurs can indeed be a very pleasurable experience. The kind of joy that you can see on their faces is much more than you would see, say even on the face of an IAS officer. They are people who go after their dreams and try to make them come true.

These people have been able to carve out a different world for themselves, which they cherish to the core. They are the master, they are the servants. They say that they are truly living their lives and doing what they want to do.

I, sometimes wonder, if this is not living life on one’s own terms than what is! Hats off to the dreamers!

Sourcr for Image: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/daydreaming/images/30420185/title/little-dreamer-wallpaper

The Conversation!

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A couple of days back, I happened to meet a very dear friend of mine from my school days. We coincidently not only went to the same school but also the same college. Here is an extract of the conversation that ensued amongst us thereafter:conversation

“Yaar, it is good to be meeting you after such a long time.” —Friend

“Same here buddy. So, how is it going?” —Me

“Yaar, I have got this job of Assistant Executive to the CEO of a company. I am glad that I have been able to get this one, for I had been waiting for so long to get this one opportunity, which I wanted to make it count.” —Friend

“Wow! That’s really nice. Congratulations.”–Me

“Thanks man. You know I always used to look at our batch mates, who have been able to do so well in their life. Some have gone on to become VPs in their own company. Some, on the other hand, have been able to excel in their own start ups. Some have gone on to become bureaucrats. It is amazing, how the same guys who used to study with us, once upon a time, have been able to achieve totally different lifestyles.”—Friend

“That’s so very true. When we were in college, we never used to think about what the future will be and even if we did we never imagined that the future will be so different for each one of us. We never thought that the status and the opportunties that we would get would be so different from one another.”—-Me

“I remember when Deutsche Bank was supposed to come to our college for placement. How naive we were not to understand the fact that the life of those who would start with companies like Deutsche or Schlumberger would be so different than those who would start with small companies. How fast the people joining the big shot companies would rise in their career leaving behind those who wouldn’t be able to make it through those companies.”—Friend

“Not only did we not realize the significance of what we would be missing, but also we would end up passing comments and making fun of those, who would put in their hard work and prepare themselves for these companies. We used to refer to them as Maggus. It is today that these Maggus have been able to leave a mark on this society.”—Me

“Indeed, they have been. Today when I got this job, I felt like I belong to the same league. I had been going through this complex seeing the others excel.”—Friend

“It happens, yaar. Once you start to compare yourself with others, you tend to develop this kind of feeling. On one hand, where you get to see a person from the same batch moving around in a Mercedes, on the other hand, you see people struggling to buy even a car. The contrast that you see, make you think, whether the decisions you had taken in your life were really worth it and you start questionning the logic behind taking such decisions, at the same time reminiscing about what could have been, in case you had taken different decisions in your life, at a time, when it really mattered.”—Me

“What about you? Don’t you ever feel frustrated? Don’t you ever feel left behind in this rat race? Don’t you feel that you should wear the best of clothes? Don’t you feel that you haven’t gone on to achieve what you could have?”—Friend

“These are indeed very tough questions to be answered. I, of course, feel that at times, if I start comparing myself with anyone who has been more successful than me, for instance if I compare myself with you 😉 . But, on second thoughts, I feel that life is a trade-off. Everyone needs to set priorities in their life and should do accordingly, because when they will be, say 60 years old, they would want to reflect on what had just gone by and would want to believe that overall they did well.”—Me

“So what is your priority in life? What do you want to be thinking when you reach that age? Why I am asking this is because I feel that you never seem to get too affected by lots of things in life.”—Friend

“My priority has been and will always be my family. No materialistic thing in the World can take away this priority from my life. All my decisions would always be contigent on the same. I guess that’s the reason why I don’t get so upset about things, so easily.”—Me

“Hmm! Wish I clould think like you. I get really affected by things around me and the ambition in me motivates me to go after luxuries in life, at times ignoring even my family.” —Friend

“Dude, life seems always greener on the other side. There is this concept of opportunity cost which I always used to find extremely funny. It all depends on how one would want to interpret an opportunity. For me, the thing we ended up doing was the only opportunity that we had, for those we didn’t avail can be well interpreted as one which wasn’t meant to be availed and if it wasn’t meant to be availed then where does the concept of opportunity arise in this case.”—Me

“Hmm! You should start a new subject, the philosophy of Management ;).”—Friend

“I wish I could 🙂 .”—Me

And that was it. Life is certainly what you make of it. Though, some believe that the parameters or the range which has been provided to you might have already been decided by somewhere sitting up there. It is up to you to believe in this or not.satisfied_600

But what you should certainly try to do is to derive satisfaction from whatever you end up doing. For if you dont, then no matter how high you rise in your career or profession, you will always feel a void in and around you, which will never let you enjoy the possessions and luxuries, which you achieved via your hard work and efforts.

So, stay positive and stay satisfied :).

Source for Image: http://www.teenadvisors.org/conversation-starters, http://barefoottheology.blogspot.in/2010_05_01_archive.html

Make a Choice!

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This one is on demand. For the past couple of days, Saty (I hope you guys remember the guy) was asking me to write in Hindi, a couple of lines that would express my feeling towards a very special person in my life and here I am complying with the idea :).

मौसम तो खुशमिजाज़ है फिर दिल ये तनहा आज क्यूँ है,
कहती अलविदा तो तू हर रात है फिर आँखें नम आज क्यूँ है,
देते थे ख़ुशी जो पल तेरे साथ के यादें उनकी दे रही गम आज क्यूँ है,
असर तेरी मोहब्बत का है मेरे प्यार बिछड़ने का तुझसे हो रहा जो एहसास यूँ है.

A feeling that has come across so well! Whenever I read something, an image tends to form in my mind and I can feel as if the narration is happening right in front of my eyes.

Reading the above takes me to a place where a guy is sitting underneath a tree and is thinking about the moment when his girl friend decides to leave him and go away forever from his life. वो कहते हैं ना शायरी तभी दिल से निकलती है जब दर्द होता है.

No matter how much one deny, no matter how much one tries to act smart, this is one emotion that everyone wants to experience in his or her life. It is not only because of Shahrukh Khan that this emotion has been able to gain the mileage in the current century that we are living in, but also because it forms such an essential part of our emotional and social self.faces

It had been there since times immemorial and will always remain with us, for it is deeply imbibed in both our sub-conscious and the conscious. You might  succeed in eliminating the thoughts in your conscious but you certainly can’t do anything about the sub-conscious which not only makes you remember things from your past, but also enables you to derive pleasure from the same.

I wonder if there was no sub-conscious then what would have happened. But why the hell one should be thinking about what could have been. Instead we should always try to focus on what is and what could be.

How many hours we tend to waste in reminiscing about our past. How wonderful it would be if we spend that same time in thinking about what we would want to do right now or why thinking, just doing what we want to do.

It is said that life never gives us a second chance, for it is you, who need to grab that second chance. It is up to you to decide to do something rather than wait for something to happen for you. It is up to you to choose between sitting underneath a tree and say, moving on, thereby ensuring that you give yourself another opportunity to find love once again in life.choice

Life is indeed a roller coaster. You will get some and you will lose some. You will have to go through the ups and downs of the same, whether you like it or not. It is up to you, at the end of the day, to decide how happy you want to feel when you are on the up and how sad when you are on the down.

As far as I am concerned, if one doesn’t want to and doesn’t chose to be unhappy, then life sometimes gives up its stubborn ideas and let you be what you want to be.

Source for Image: http://www.thefitbee.com/2012/04/make-your-choice.html, http://researchsense.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/a-good-reminder-super-bowl-ads-and-emotion/