As we already know, the heart is anything but selfish.
“Certain people will tell you that you’re being unfaithful to your traditions or cultural norms or that you’re being selfish. Here’s what I want you to know. Some say, the heart is the most selfish organ in the human body because it keeps all the good blood for itself. The most oxygenated blood and distributes the rest to every other organ. So in a sense, maybe the heart is selfish. But if the heart didn’t keep the good blood for itself, the heart would die.”
“And if the heart died, it would take every other organ with it– the liver, the kidneys, the brain. The heart, in a way, has to be selfish for its own preservation, so, don’t let people tell you that you are selfish and wrong to follow your heart. I urge you. I give you permission to break the rules. To think outside the norms of traditional society. The rules of the father should not be passed onto the son.”
– The Code of the Extraordinary Mind, by Vishen Lakhani
Lakhani also reminds each of us, that “you must be prepared to stand firm in your own pursuit of your own happiness.”
We alone are responsible for ensuring our happiness. While external factors may impact our happiness, we have the power and capability to write ourselves our own story and thus, our own fairy tale ending. If we so desire. He urges us to be active in our lives and not passive bystanders, ones who let the world and all of its weather shape them. We must pick up the mold of our lives and shape a life we wish to live, regardless of whatever culture or traditions we have been born into. It would be a pity not to hold your parents’ cultural values. It would be a travesty to go about living a life where you uphold your parents’ cultural and religious views, but live that life unhappily, and full of resentment.
Sip of Ambition 