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I feel quite excited while writing this article mainly because this article is going to be motivating and would aid you in making your dreams come to reality by practicing a few steps. I recently watched a TED talk which inspired me to write it.

We often talk about our dreams and passions with our family and friends, and how much we want them to be real, right? There is no doubt in the fact that everything we want or desire is right there in front of us. Now in order to achieve a life that we desire to live, we have to set priorities! Take charge! And train our brain to execute our vision so that we end up celebrating success. But how do we see our vision? We see it through pictures! A picture can create movements; a picture can unite nations; a picture can touch your heart and make you want to do something for humanity.

The impact of a vision in form of a picture does not only help individuals in having a clear direction of what they want in life but it also helps organizations in giving direction to their employees of how they can achieve the desired goals.

To have a better direction of what you want to do the most in life or to make your dreams turn into reality it is important that you draw.

Look at the illustration below and try understanding it.

 

 

What do you understand by looking at it? Are any of the problems similar to the ones that you are facing? And look at the 3 arrows that lead to the Desired New Reality. The three bold steps are seen to have made it easy to reach the desired new reality. I have also drawn a visual road map of how I want my future to be like. And I always keep that piece of paper with me all the time, just to remind myself of all the things that I want to accomplish in life. Also, I have filled in the image with lots of colors representing happiness, creativity, freedom and emotions. Make your own road map as it would not just help you in having a better direction of your future but would also guide in figuring out the problems being currently faced by you and finding the possible solutions for them.

Now when you pick up the pen to build your desired new reality make sure that you trick your mind. The right side of our brain always acts as a critic and is forever trying to keep us safe from harm. This part discourages us to move out of our comfort zone. However, when we start imagining things, the right side of our brain gets activated making us creative and showers us with a million positive possibilities and opportunities.

Don’t worry about the things that are bothering you no matter how big and scary they are. Just grab a pen and piece of paper and draw how you want your next day to be like or how you want your future to be like. Once you are done with drawing the most compelling picture of your life start acting upon it!

Become that one person out of ten to make change happen!

 

 

Maya Angelo once said, “A solitary fantasy can transform a million realities”. Just three bold steps can transform one reality AND THAT IS YOURS!

 

 

 

I wrote this note for my beloved homeland two years back.

Dear Pakistan,

I know you are tired and I can see you crying. I can see the pain that you have taken to protect your children. And you have borne this pain so patiently for 67 years. You have become so weak and fragile and it’s hard for me to see you this way but you stand all firm as if nothing wrong ever happened.

We your children are lifeless, dull and staring into oblivion. We have hurt you so much and now you stand empty handed, robbed of everything but still your love for us never ends. This is the story of my mother, your mother PAKISTAN!

A land whose soil is damp with the blood of the Shuhada and yet it somehow still manages to survive,

A country where corruption, lies, deceit and hypocrisy exists ; a country that is the reason for both holding our heads up high with pride, and hanging them down with shame; a land where hope and vision are so closely twined together with doubt and fear and uncertainty that sometimes it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins; where the heroism of Edhi , Syed Hussain Abbas Shaheed and all the other brave soldiers is tainted by the likes of corrupt leaders and target killers and suicide bombers.

A mother whose only hope lies in the belief that for every criminal and terrorist and Ghaddaar, there is a hero, a Shaheed, a scientist, a philanthropist out there.

Pakistan you have given us so much so silently and I don’t even think we would ever be able to thank you or pay you back for all that you have done for us in the past 67 years. You have breathed in us freedom, given us protection, identity and most importantly a home where we can live.

I am young and not strong enough to change things the way they are but I promise that I will never let you down and you should know that I think about you all the time and about all the sacrifices you have made for us. I know that you are proud of your few brave sons who see giving you protection as their ultimate goal in life, soldiers who make a conscious decision to love their mother every single day.

So I promise that I will always be there with you! I will never leave you and will try my best to make you proud by uniting your children who are now divided on petty and trivial issues.

Love,

F.k

 

Before discussing my own behavior in today’s consumer culture it is pertinent to explain how our society reached the point where we stand now. Consumerism is a phenomenon or a concept where the economy is aggressively directed at selling and spending of consumer goods. The idea is to extract as much revenues from the consumer money as possible. With this agenda in mind, business companies focus on all the segments of the society, especially the middle and upper class, and devise new spells that would attract a common individual to something that is normally not a need but becomes a want for him. This typical behavior is attributed to the capitalistic organizations that were criticized by Karl Marx and were said to hold immense collection of ‘commodities’. Marx rightly criticized this culture on the grounds that these companies when they hold the power of controlling a society’s psyche, give rise to a capitalistic environment that is solely based on greed and selfishness. For launching “wants”, the manufacturers and their marketers devised an environment where each product was assigned a brand name and this name became more appealing than the actual specifications of the product. This new atmosphere came to be known as a consumer culture, where great emphasis was put on lifestyle and where availability of materials and these branded products became the determinants of happiness and satisfaction. As argued by the theory’s proponents, consumer culture no doubt increased people’s spending and thus contributed to the economy’s well-being to some extent, but then it also had horrifying implications as well. The very core of the agenda in favor of consumerism highlighted products and materials as the most important must haves, sidelining the importance of morals or values or even other human beings. When happiness got tied to material possessions, it also encouraged people to spend more than their capability. It was this environment that also led to wide usage of consumer credit cards, and in the end completely handicapped the common individual.

So where do I stand on this timeline of consumer culture? Today when I look around me I see an environment where every other person is struggling to have more. This craving for more is majorly directed at products that are represented by ‘impressive’ brands. This has made one element supersede all other reasons that lead to purchasing. I.e. to stay in trend. By saying this I do not completely negate the existence of brands. I believe that brands should only be followed on the basis of the promise they make and the need they fulfill. They should be followed on rational patterns of decision-making, and products should be the center of focus rather than the brands. Such a practice would result in vigilant consumption by minimizing unnecessary purchasing and thus would completely eliminate the evils of impulse buying. In my case, if ‘Sufi’ promises to provide me with clear and hygienic water, on the grounds that I have my faith in the brand, I would never specify nestle just for the sake of setting up an impression. 

Our society today stands at such a miserable stage where peoples’ personalities are being judged on the basis of brands that they consume. The situation has become so pitiable that personality tests have started analyzing people on their preference for either Pepsi or Coca-Cola. This is alarming for a person like me, who never cares about the brand as long as the quality and purpose are fulfilled. My attitude is not completely indifferent to brands around me; I believe that brands, if marketed ethically, portray a picture of the products that they represent. This can give us an idea about the specifications and thus can assist us in making sensible decisions.

Every purchasing decision that we make usually involves external influencing factors that either encourage the product buying process or restrict it. The most widely involved factors, in our society, normally include family, culture and morals. Societies having weak links to their own cultures tend to easily adapt to new behavior patterns introduced by brands. Such societies can easily be manipulated to spend more on unnecessary purchasing. In my situation if the “trendy” ripped and faded jeans are not acceptable in my cultural norms and if my family holds a negative view of them I would not be spending money on these. Likewise, same factors also play their roles in encouraging purchases of specific brands or products. My preference for environment friendly cosmetic products leads me to ‘body shop’ and its product offerings. Body shop uses organic ingredients in all of its products, ensuring product purity. The thing that I like the most about the brand and the reason that I always prefer it over others, is that it strongly condemns animal testing. 

I also believe that in a world where marketers are doing whatever they can to manipulate consumers there are pressure groups and organizations that are revealing the unethical marketing practices done by many businesses. A very good example in this context is that of Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) organization that is revealing the darker side of many well-known clothing and cosmetic brands that are exploiting animal rights by using them for their own purposes. I recently watched a video that was uploaded on Peta’s official page showing how the wool industry savagely sheered sheep skin and then distributed it among many clothing brands. Also, in the year 2014 L’Oreal and Victoria’s secret were charged guilty of testing their products on animals. This awareness made me realize that its not just the brand name that one has to look at when it comes to buying a product but the product itself along with many other things. 

Being a student of marketing I have to keep myself updated regarding the different market trends, marketing campaigns, brand activations etc. Although there are certain brand advertisements that I like but that does not necessarily mean that I would buy from those specific brands. Before purchasing any product or service there are a lot of things that I have to take into account like its price, quality, convenience, acceptance by my family and society etc. So at the end of the day my purchasing decisions would be different from others as all consumers have their own perceptions, which are directed by a large number of internal as well as external factors.

I am watching this Pakistani drama which I find a little interesting as it is not, like typical dramas, full of romance. However, suddenly a commercial break erupts, which is kind of long. And believe it or not, I get to see around six different advertisements in the fifteen minute gap which are all on fairness creams and the wonders that they do. My complexion is not fair but that is something that I have never cared about. I mean does our skin color really matter? My parents have never mocked my pale-whitish complexion and the truth is that in my house, nobody ever talks of such a thing. I thought it was the same all around for quite a long time but now I see it as one major issue which has started to affect the lives of many. I know it sounds funny but there are people who think that having a good complexion is the key to success, as if a fairer skin would help you in finding a good spouse and a good job. Funny?I  know it is.

During my college years, I came across both girls and boys who were obsessed with having a fairer complexion and then in my family, I saw both my female and male cousins worrying so much about their complexion. I mean seriously? Is it something to worry about? While shopping, I would see girls frantically buying fairness creams. During many of my traveling trips, I came across multiple bill boards displaying fairness creams advertisements. In beauty parlors and clinics,I have seen various women undergoing fairness treatments. People in my society literally judge each other on how fair they are. God! So it’s like I live in a sick society where majority of the people, regardless of which background and class they belong to, just care about getting fair.

The other day I met this old friend of mine whom I used to find really pretty because of her clear and flawless skin. She had a chocolate brown complexion with a perfectly even skin tone and I would continually praise her a lot for it. However, now I was literally shocked to see her. She has become quite fair but she no longer has a flawless skin that she used to have. Her face was full of bright red pimples because of the different fairness creams that she had used. She told me that her classmates had made life hell for her by calling her a brownie and that was when she had decided to use these fairness creams. She told me that she even took sessions with a skin specialist but it was no use as so far, no medicine had  worked and her disastrous skin was the result of strong steroids present in those ‘so called’ fairness creams. She told me that the latest skin treatment which she was taking would most probably vanish away the pimples but would leave the marks. I felt sorry for her.

I won’t entirely blame her for using all those fairness creams, after all it was the peer pressure which made her do such a thing. My friend’s parents had very little time for their daughter as they were busy in pursuing their careers. Her experience was a lesson for me and that day I promised myself that I would not get deviated by all these fairness cream ads and would not even worry even if I have the darkest of complexion. To be honest at the end of the day it is not your complexion that matters but what you are from inside out. I was famous and people respected me in my school and college because of the kind of person I was. If having fair complexion was a way towards success then Hazrat Bilal who was a habshi would have never been so important for Holy prophet. If it was complexion that mattered then Barack Obama would never have been America’s president. If fair complexion was everything then Michelle Obama would have had gotten plastic surgery done. And if only fair people were recognized then there would have been no Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King.  So my point is that we need to stop worrying about our color because at the end of the day it is not our color that matters rather it is we as a person; our personality, character, education and actions which matters. We need to accept ourselves the way God has made us and we should be proud to be who we are because if we won’t treat ourselves as special beings, nobody else would. If we start hating ourselves for who we are or how we look then trust me the world would treat us the same way.

I ask people around me that do you love yourselves. Are you happy to be the way God has made you and the things that he has blessed you with? If your answer is a yes and if you are happy to be the way God has made you and if you are proud of who you are then stop using all those fairness creams if you have a dark complexion, stop getting hair transplant surgeries if you are naturally bald or have few hair, stop using supplements to grow your height if you are naturally small and stop taking steroids to make your body look more beautiful. Be proud of who you are, how you look and what you have. If you start believing in yourself only then would the world believe in you. If you hide or shy away from the world just because you are scared that what people might say about you, believe me the world would scare you more. So go out and prove yourself. Nobody is perfect! We all have our imperfections but what makes us strong or weak is what we do with them. Do we choose them to make us or break us? That is what makes you special. If you have a dark complexion and you go out to chase your dreams, you are special. However, if you shy or hide or blame your fate, you are weak and the world would scare you more. So try being a strong person because the world inspires those who regardless of what imperfections they have, go out and achieve their goals and targets.

This life is a journey and we all our moving on and for everything on this journey there is a right wing and a left wing. Like for the wing of love there is hate and anger; for the wing of destiny there is fear; for the wing of pain there is healing; for the wing of hurt there is forgiveness; for the wing of pride there is humility; for the wing of giving there is taking; for the wing of tears there is joy; for the wing of rejection there is acceptance; for the wing of judgment there is grace; for the wing of honor there is shame; for the wing of letting go there is the wing of keeping. We can only fly with two wings and two wings can only stay in the air if there is a balance. Two beautiful wings is perfection. There is a generation of people who idealize perfection as the existence of only one of these wings every time. But I see that a bird with one wing is imperfect. An angel with one wing is imperfect. A butterfly with one wing is dead. So this generation of people strive to always cut off the other wing in the hopes of embodying their ideal of perfection, and in doing so, have created a crippled race. So accept and respect the way you have been created by God.

So I want all those who get the chance to read this article, to know that you are beautiful the way you are and so stop getting influenced by what people tell you to do. Be strong and prove yourself; bring forth your hidden talent and skills!