What Will It Take To Light Up Your Life?

Understanding what makes us tick

My neighbourhood cat in Bombay whom I loved most in the world. She died at an old age some months after I painted this.

I am currently on a break, and will resume writing from the last week of June. In the mean time, I’m reposting something I wrote earlier. This one was written 4th April 2016 :)

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

There’s a writer called Gretchen Rubin who’s written many books, including biographies as well as self-help-type bestsellers such as The Happiness Project. I find her a little irritating as she’s sort of bossy, but I do admit she’s smart and insightful. I heard an interview where Rubin explained the premise of her book, Better Than Before.

I haven’t read the book, but this is what I gathered from hearing her speak*. All of us have internal and external commitments and obligations. How we approach each of them can be broken down into four categories of people:

One she calls Upholders. They respond to both external and internal expectations equally well. That is, they’ll deliver what they promise to other people, and they’ll do the same for their own resolutions and goals.