Redesign your life

Book ‘Redesign your life in modern age,’ by Balvinder Kumar was launched recently at Universal Booksellers, Gomti Nagar. The event was a part of the interactive book sessions held at the store that has been hosting such events for two decades.

During the launch, Kumar was in conversation with Chander Prakash, former chief warden at Civil Defence, Lucknow. Kumar has written two books previously, ‘Man’s Spiritual Journey’ and ‘Awakening the Thinking Mind’ which explore spiritual life, inherent features and, functioning of the mind. Currently, he is working in a regulatory body of real estate in the state of Uttar Pradesh (RERA).

The book is about the mind and its workings. “In all three books, the mind is in the centre. This book includes the features of the mind, how to manage our thoughts, and how to focus,” said Kumar.

During the conversation, Kumar revealed how he began meditation, which inspired him to write this book. He said, “I was always under stress. I couldn’t sleep. Then, someone told me that I should practice meditation to help with my insomnia. There was a centre for meditation in Gomti Nagar and that was the time I learnt how to meditate and practiced it daily. I saw a change in my stress levels, and I could sleep better. Unfortunately, these problems are common among bureaucrats.”

In the book, Kumar explains that chasing happiness is the cause of unhappiness. Elaborating on the same, he said “we live in a materialistic world. Everyone wants a house, a car, and other material things…Everyone is always running behind success. What is it? It is usually defined as a position in a company, money and, material items. Even parents’ and teachers’ whole focus is on being successful. However, we fail to distinguish between happiness and success. It is not necessary that successful people are happy. People run after success believing it will lead to happiness, but when people get a bigger car, a bigger house, and more money, they get unhappier.”

He added, “More than half of the time, our mind is not focused. It always wanders. The more our mind wanders, the more we are prone to unhappiness.”