Don't be friendly, at times

 

Secretaries, police, judges, accountants and people in key positions should not be friendly! The disadvantages of being friendly are:

• You come under some sort of obligation. 
• You lose your freedom. 
• You become prone to picking up bad habits and negative moods. 
• Your perception cannot be free and fair. Your thoughts and actions may not be impartial. 
• Your focus, commitment, creativity and above all, your time will be wasted. 

It takes much wisdom to be free from the burden of obligation and not be influenced by your friends’ opinions and feelings. On many occasions, it is better to be unfriendly than friendly. 

Being unfriendly does not mean being aggressive and inimical. The best secretaries, personal assistants, security personnel and judges have to be unfriendly. Those who are aloof and indifferent get centered more quickly than those who are too friendly. A certain degree of aloofness in every relationship will strengthen your personality and connect you to your source. It is easy to be aloof or unfriendly. But to be friendly and aloof is sadhana. 

Why focus only on the important?

 

So many people are stuck with what is “important.” They are always caught up in thinking about what is important. Why must you only do what is important? When you say something is important, you are limiting your vastness. 

For something to be important, many things must be unimportant, so you cannot eliminate unimportant things. It is important to have unimportant things to make something else important. 

Things are either themselves important or they make other things important. So that means everything is important, and... everything is unimportant. When you realize this fact, you have no more choices to make. 

A journalist once asked me, “Why is it important to breathe?” “Why is it important to be happy?” “Why is it important to have peace?” These questions are not relevant at all. Why should you always look for what is important? Something that is unimportant can contribute to something that is important. And what is important and unimportant changes with time and space. Food is important when you are hungry and unimportant when you are full. 

When something is inevitable, you do not categorize it as important or unimportant. It is beyond choice. “Everything is important” is karma yoga. “Nothing is important” is deep meditation.