10 things I like the most in my "new" life

After 4 years of engineering and over 3 years of working, I am back to student life, and this time it's bigger and definitely better :)

Here are the things I like the most in this new phase of my life:

1. This is my first trip outside my country, and I am obviously excited about the fact that I am not a tourist for just a week or so!

2. Being in one of most beautiful cities of the world - Edinburgh is a dream land (can't refrain from mentioning the Harry Potter feel of the city)!

3. Studying in a great university having a super prestigious Alumni list including Charles Darwin, Alexander Graham Bell, James Clerk Maxwell, David Hume, Arthur Conan Doyle, and the like!

4. Mingling around with people from so many different nationalities and getting a chance to learn about their culture, values, beliefs, and outlook.

5. Having great fun in learning a few common phrases in different languages - Greek, Russian, Chinese, and Italian so far.

6. Experimenting in kitchen - Missing mom for sure, but she'll be proud to see that I learned kitchen management along with my masters degree!

7. Going to a supermarket every other day and saying everytime that I won't be coming here until next week (worth mentioning looking for cheap and discounted products).

8. Walking all the way in the city - Do I miss my car? Not really, every walk is a pleasure walk in this city. And yes, I'll surely loose some extra lbs :)

9. Flocking to a fancy cafe or restaurant and suddenly realizing that I am no longer a well paid professional in India, but a "not so rich" student in a "very rich" country.

10. Experiencing the wonderful mix of emotions - excitement, anxiety, joy, fear, freedom, loneliness, fun, pressure, so on and so forth.

Destiny or Self-creation?

These days I am quite intrigued by two different schools of thought on the flow of life. One says that everything is destined beforehand, while the other avers that you create your own destiny as you go along. Now, these two concepts are mutually exclusive and both seem valid when fit into different situations in life.

Recently, me and my friend were caught in this discussion. Where I fend for the theory of self-creation, my friend argued in support of the theory of destiny. I believe that your choices and decisions frame up your life and your inner frequency dictates the flow of your life. On the other hand, my friend believes that even your choices and decisions are destined and no matter what, life will flow in its destined way.  Well, does that mean we are not meant to choose by our free will? If that is so, then there is no purpose of life as such. Life is all about discovering our potential, nurturing our desires, and materializing our dreams! God has given us complete freedom to choose the life we desire. To this, one may argue that then why do certain undesirable things happen? Here again, I say that you bring those things in existence by your own choice! If you ever feel that inspite of your efforts and faith, things are not going your way, then be patient and give time for things to happen. Wisely said, patience always yields sweet fruit; practice it and you'll realize on your own.

And if you still feel that you have no control over your destiny, then stop making choices and avoid doing things that you like. Sounds almost impossible right? If you are living, you will always make choices based on your likes and dislikes. You can never live without exercising your will, and by simply surrendering yourself to so-called destiny. That rules out the concept of destiny deciding the flow of your life. You are the master of your life, good or bad, joy or sorrow, wealth or misery, you choose and you create it all!