The Doers Mantra

There is a heat within all of us that cannot be denied. Some of us use it as our undoing (the fire of temptation) and others of us use it to push our purpose forward (the light of hope). I believe that whichever side you belong to, there is a formidable satisfaction to be had by living a purposeful life. It’s the reason that I do most of what I do — to honour myself, humanity and, ultimately, the Divine. (And the rest of the time, I just veg.) But don’t get me wrong, I have been on the side of the undoing as well as the purposeful, and I believe that experiencing both has led me to my truth and the life that I strive to live today. I call it “The Doers Mantra” and I’ve discovered that its foundational force is passion.

For those of you who are not subscribers to this ideology that an abstract emotion like passion can be the central driving force that pulsates through the main artery that feeds the human condition, I get it. It’s difficult to plan life around a mutable entity rather than a fixed framework, but isn’t that the point of human existence — to experience it all and then make a decision about our path to fulfillment? Why else then, has it all been made available to us? Isn’t the point to figure that out?

Well, let’s get some clarity around this ambiguity, shall we? Let’s take a peek into some of history’s passion addicts. Passion . . .

. . . drove Einstein to revolutionize physics.

. . . motivated Gandhi to free a nation.

. . . encouraged Mozart to write Symphony No. 40.

. . . compelled Job to trust.

. . . even drove Hitler to raise the Third Reich.

The moral? Although irresistibly debatable, the notion of passion, with all of its unpredictability, is assured in one, undeniable way — in its ability to push the human psyche beyond the conceivable norm, where it can do great (good and bad) things. And if that’s not palpable, then I don’t know what is.

This leads me to the point of my letter this year, in keeping with November being the ANOKHI month, when along with becoming another year older, 16 to be exact, we celebrate another year of service to the global South Asian community. This year, after a micro re-brand from ANOKHI MEDIA to ANOKHI LIFE, we have mandated ourselves to go deeper than ever before, to uncover the reason why people do what they do. To get to the bottom of this, we decided to dedicate this year’s list to people who go deep — the passion addicts who follow “The Doers Mantra” and create movements that span regionally, nationally and internationally.

I invite you to delve deep yourself as you join us daily through the 30 days of November, when we reveal one person a day who exemplifies the term “passion” and has made The ANOKHI PASSION List 2019.

Enjoy!              

RAJ GIRN

Founder, President & CEO, ANOKHI LIFE

Creator, The ANOKHI PASSION List 2019 

Photo Credit: Pure Studios/Agnes Keisz, Stylist: Allia Qureshi/Monika Bhondy, Hair & Makeup: The Beauty Concept/Shirley Wu, Jewelry: Banglez & Hello.Gorgeous.Girl