Rhythms of Life

By Waqi Munim

Rhythms of life represent the courage to live life fully by striking the right balance between the physical, social, spiritual, material and emotional well-being. The entire universe is built on a delicate balance. Every night is followed by a day, every fall makes way for spring, every life is followed by death and every action has a reaction. There is perfect rhythm everywhere.
In an orchestra, when all the instruments are playing in harmony, the sound is pleasing to the ears. However if any instrument is out of tune, the same pleasing symphony can become displeasing. Likewise, if life is in rhythm it is pleasing and fun. However when its balance is affected, the pleasure of living fades into anxiety, stress and negativity.
This book will help you to develop self awareness, to understand what gives you happiness, and how best to maintain your rhythms of life. It will help uncover where the everlasting secret of happiness lies-it lies inside each one of us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 23, 2009
• ISBN: 9781477162309

Waqi Munim

Waqi Munim is an executive of a leading multinational company. He is well traveled and has lived in 8 countries. He is passionate about living a full life balanced on the continuum of physical, emotional, material, social and spiritual well-being.

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Copyright © 2009 by Waqi Munim.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2009900037

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4363-9952-4

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4363-9951-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-6230-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

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www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Preface

Foreword

Tanya Reflects

The First Story: Fifteen Days

Tanya’s Journey of Self-Improvement

The Second Story:

Rediscovering the Love in Life

Empathy—A Way to Connect

with People

The Third Story: Samuel and Abdul

The Power of Communication

The Fourth Story:

Haunting or Hallucination

Deep Personal Understanding—

Seeing beyond the Visible

The Fifth Story: Selfless Love

Achieve Lasting Happiness

through Enriching Lives

The Road to Enlightenment

Concluding Remarks

Acknowlegements

Review

In loving memory of my father, M. A. Munim

I miss you Abu (Dad)

Preface

Rhythms of Life is not just a book but also a realization that life is beautiful, and it has to be lived fully.

Life has many rhythms, and the music of life is pleasing when we have different rhythms playing in sync with each other, to produce a perfect symphony. Each rhythm offers a unique experience, and the attitudes with which we face these experiences determine the impact of the rhythm (negative or positive) on our overall life. To be happy we should try to increase the volume of the pleasant melodies in our lives and should use the positive energy created by them to address the challenges that come our way.

The concept of Rhythms of Life is best explained by an analogy. In a professional orchestra when all the instruments are playing in harmony, the sound is pleasing to the ears. However, if any instrument is out of tune, then the same pleasing symphony can turn into a shrill and complete displeasure, which after a while is unbearable. Likewise, if life is in rhythm, it is pleasing and fun. However, when its balance is affected, the pleasures of living fade into anxiety, stress, and negativity.

The importance of individual instruments in the orchestra is different depending on the symphony. Likewise, in life not all relationships, priorities, and activities are of equal importance. They differ from individual to individual and evolve through the various phases of life. It is important to introspect in order to understand which rhythms (physical wellness, relationships, interests, spirituality, activities, etc) are most important to us and how we can make these the integral part of our lives. At any moment, when our rhythms are out of tune, we should take corrective actions to get them back in tune with our values, principles, priorities, and goals.

Rhythms of Life is a business fable that is a confluence of short stories that will encourage the readers to reflect on their lives and make choices to improve their rhythms by striking a right balance between their social, spiritual, material, emotional, and physical well-being.

I hope the readers will enjoy and benefit from my humble effort.

Waqi Munim

Foreword

Rhythms of Life is an excellent book written by the inspirational writer Waqi Munim. It walks us through a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment that brings inner peace and fulfilment for Tanya, a gifted mother, who has found herself to be obsessed by the pressures of work and off-balance in the pleasures of life. Yearning for better rhythms of life, she finds herself inspired to change through a series of thought-provoking short stories that have been provided to her by an old man in a park. As introspection and change takes foot—the rhythms in her life become more and more melodious.

All readers can relate to Tanya in some form or fashion, and the gift of introspection on past experiences (or experiences of others) can be gleaned by all. As such, this book is inspirational fodder for all to consume, and one that I would encourage all readers to think about and reread time and again to ensure that your own life never moves out of rhythm or if it has to quickly find the path back to balance and harmony through the morals embedded in the short stories.

With this book, Waqi Munim has delivered a truly perfect innings. Through careful selection of a series of thought-provoking short stories, a masterfully crafted ensemble has been created that portrays the individual spirit as a collection of rhythms that must be in balance for the end music to sound truly divine. It is the crescendo of understanding that is the journey of life with enlightenment waiting at the end of the journey.

This book captures the essence perfectly and should be an inspiration for people of all backgrounds, cultures, and races for years to come.

Dipak Golechha

Director, Procter & Gamble

You don’t get harmony when everybody sings the same note.

—Doug Floyd, Spokesman-Review

Tanya Reflects

It is late in the night, an hour when most people are fast asleep in their world of dreams. I am turning and twisting, changing positions in bed, and finding it hard to sleep. The more I try to rest, the more restless I feel. I envy the people who simply hit the bed and go into a deep slumber. The pressures of work and the organizational swirl that I am facing are making it difficult for me to relax. The thought of work and the future consequences continue to play like a broken record in my mind, numbing my ability to think about something else.

Finding it hard to sleep, I get up and walk to the kitchen, open the refrigerator, and have some cold water. The cold bottled water quenches my thirst and gives me a soothing and comforting feeling—a brief respite to my anxious, stressful self.

I lounge on the sofa of my living room that overlooks a small river that flows close to our apartment building. I look down at the meandering water and wonder how the river maintains its calm demeanour despite environmental abuse, changing weather and river traffic. It seems to have an imperturbable patience and character to absorb the pressures of life and to flow calmly in a purposeful way. I wish I could only learn from the river its secret of absorbing pressures in the depths of its soul while keeping a calm exterior on the surface.

Relaxing on the sofa, my thoughts took me back in time. How happy I was when I graduated from the business school with a record of three gold medals. My parents were so happy and proud of my accomplishment that they wore the medallions throughout the convocation dinner and kept introducing themselves to everyone as parents of Tanya, the girl who received gold medals for scholastic achievements.

A subtle smile adorns my face as I ramble through memory lane. Life has been bliss! Born to an educated, open-minded, and economically stable family, I received the right coaching at home and from the best schools and colleges to prepare myself well for the challenges of life.

My strengths have been my confidence, focus, discipline, positive outlook on life, and high energy. However, strengths pushed too far on the continuum can become weaknesses. For example, confidence taken to the extreme may seem like arrogance, and too much discipline can be misconstrued for rigidity. There has to be a delicate balance in projecting ourselves to others—image management is important. This is the world of make-believe. It is of significance how you are perceived as no one has the time to see and understand the individuals beyond their superficial image that we form based on our interactions, hearsay, background, and experiences. This is the era of marketing, time when you can make people see what you want them to see, believe what you want them to believe, and subtly influence their choices without them realizing it.

The world is getting smaller and is becoming a global hot pot of cultures, languages, and civilizations. Business, communication (internet, media, digital, etc.), trade, finance, and tourism are linking different markets and people to each other. Inclusiveness then is at the heart of modern world where everyone should embrace diversity. True inclusiveness requires an open mind and genuine appreciation of differences in operating styles and thinking. However, most of us want to see our values in others, we want to see our points of view accepted, and we want to have like-minded individuals around us. This human tendency is an antithesis of the principles of diversity and appreciation of the differences, and should be curbed. Inclusiveness then requires an open mind, tolerance, and genuine understanding of different styles and points of view.

I joined a reputed multinational financial institution that took me away from my home on a journey that continues to date. I have worked in several countries around the world. It’s been an exhilarating experience to work with some great individuals in different countries, learning from them, understanding and appreciating the local culture, adapting quickly to new environments and unique challenges, and delivering on the company expectations and then moving on to an even bigger new challenge in another country.

I met Plano during one of my assignments, fell in love with him, and got married. We have two adorable children around whom our life revolves.

Things could not be better as I had a dream life with a great family, good health, and a steady career. The problems that came my way were resolved by God’s blessings and the power of my positive thinking, courage, and family love. The support of my family in difficult times gave me the courage and resilience to absorb the bumps of life with a smile. Over time, I started to believe that I would easily overcome any challenge that came my way. Self-confidence is a key ingredient for success, but when it overshadows humility, the strength can become a weakness. Somewhere in the journey of life, I became so full of myself that I did not realize my impact on others and affected my relationship with some individuals.

I believe that there are positive and negative energies in the environment, and we attract them by our attitude. When we are happy, optimistic, and courageous, we attract positive energies while when we are sad, pessimistic, and fearful, we invite negative energies. It is an enigma for me that why in difficult times, we muster up courage to face the situation while in normal times, we allow small things to affect us so much that we create bigger problems. It is all in the mind, and that is why our attitude in life is so important.

As I started my new assignment, I faced some administrative challenges and pressure from my family for relocating in the middle of the school term. I allowed the small challenges to affect me, and most likely, this attracted inauspicious negative energies. The result was that a normal entry into the country took several hours. The experience was unpleasant. My husband, who was not happy with the move anyway, wanted to take the next flight out, but I convinced him otherwise. My point was that we will face these inconveniences in some form wherever we go, and these challenges will help us become strong—a learning experience to enrich our character. The world, with all its goodness, has become polarized, and there are invisible divisions that are etched deeply but subtly and surface every once in a while.

We settled well in the new city, and I started the work at a lightning speed coming up with some breakthrough ideas and working with relevant decision makers to set the corporate wheels in motion on these projects. Initially the appreciation was heartening as the management in