The Pathology behind a criminal mind.

How do criminals and saints evolve?If you cannot blame a person  for his misdeeds  or praise a person for his accomplishments what is the point in living a life?These were some of the questions which perplexed my mind for quite a long time.“No one is born as a criminal or as a saint”,this is a proverb which has been repeated over ages. Does this  have any meaning, if it has a meaning how can we deduce the outcome from this sentence?

Now I have got the answer to this question, and it is really interesting.To understand more of this complex phenomenon we have to go through some simple reasoning.

Difference between a smoker and non smoker

Do you know the difference between a smoker and a non smoker? The difference between them started from the common dilemma they had. The common point connecting them is that at some point in their life, they faced the same dilemma, Should I smoke?.Those who decided to go with their desire became smokers and others non smokers.Non smokers can be of two types, either they  had a very strong will or they were having a really indecisive mind.Their indecisive mind would have prolonged their desire to smoke from time to time, and they could never muster the courage to indulge in smoking, for the fear of being caught red handed.The decisions of smokers would have been affected by a lot of external factors like friend circle and state of mind.Many chain smokers would have been smoke haters if they had escaped that fateful moment, the day of first puff! Once they took the first puff, the big wall which separated them from the wretched smokers had crumbled. Now the greatest barrier which held this man from smoking had been broken,his inhibition has blown away.Once the barrier has been overcome there is no looking back.The first few days would be filled with fear and guilt but soon it will disappear.

The story of the smoker holds true for every other vice in life.If you ask a chronic alcoholic, he will talk about his first drink.Ask a person who indulges in multiple sexual relationships, he will talk about his first encounter and represent it as his stepping stone to success.

If you ask a smoker who quit,”How did you manage to quit smoking?” He will say that his courage to withhold his first puff held him for so long.Had he taken the first puff, his motivating factor would have disappeared and he would have fell into his old vice again.

The Principle of reward and punishment

The principle of all this lies in the reward -punishment system which controls  of our actions.When your actions are rewarded you are most likely to do it again,whereas if you are punished, you are less likely to perform this act.

How one becomes a criminal.

When you are about to indulge in an act which is widely perceived to be a taboo,conversation within your mind goes like this:

” This is a very bad act, I shouldn’t perform it.”

” Why shouldn’t I, most of my friends and a lot of others do it.”

“I shouldn’t do this because I have some moral values.”

This inner conversation may go on for a few hours or may stretch  even to several days.Suddenly you gather all your courage to beat your conscience and do the act.You fell guilty and miserable for a few hours.Eventually the guilt wanes, and when your next chance to perform the forbidden act comes, the inhibition will be much less.After a few days you will be performing this activity daily and can feel normal.This is how criminal minds work, they all faced the dilemma, their inhibition is now gone, they live the life which is  normal in their own perspective.When they see blood or when they rape, they see it as a system which rewards them for their act.

Now consider a scenario, when you were caught red handed in your first act itself.The chances of you performing the act again will be much less, unless you are a very stubborn person.If this punishment happens the earlier, the better.As time goes by the role of punishment in reversing the act declines.Like a child who fears the cane of his teacher,every man fears the long arm of the law. As the child grows up his fear for the cane declines and eventually disappear,same in the case of a criminal facing the law for the first time and the tenth time!This is the role punishment has in our day today lives.

How to live a successful life in your own standards.

So if you are a person having clear ideals,you can lead a life you wanted to live by holding back your desire, don’t break the barrier you set for yourself.Remember this a person who is having a bad habit for quite a long time, he may not have any guilt. He or she  sees the act as quite normal,just like a prostitute who lost her inhibition after quite a long time of indulgence, they may invite you.So keep your virginity in matters you consider as a taboo. This is how you can lead a successful life in your own standards!

P.S Indeed there are born criminals, having defects in their chromosomes, highly aggressive people. But those anomalies are only a few in millions.This post is all about choices we made in our life.

How events Happen in our lives-Part II

I have thought this over and over many times.How does incidents occur in our lives? Are they just accidental, or are they brought upon us by ourselves?

For instance, take the life of Johnny,when Johnny was a kid Johnny had this habit of urinating on his bed while in sleep(Nocturnal enuresis). Every time he wanted to stop his habit, all the time he woke up with the same thing occuring.Night after night he would wake up in the middle of night drenched in his own urine .He had to change his clothings and the bed sheets before going to sleep again.Not only Johnny his parents too were very sad about his plight.Parents tried everything they could do to help Johnny, they would feed johnny early, limit water intake.Every night his parents would wake him up at 12 in the night and took him to the toilet and drain him of the urine hoping to keep him dry.Then also Johnny would collect enough urine to wet his bed by the morning.Johnny was 10years Old by this time.

Atlast Johnny’s parents came to understand one fact, Johnny should understand that he has the power to control his mind. They gave him a small lecture on how he can control his urge by belief in himself. He wouldn’t understand at first, but his parents gave him enough confidence by reciting Bible verses . He gained self confidence and said to himself “I will never wet this bed again,I can control myself”.Slowly he began to regain his self, the thought of bed wetting went away from his mind, he began concentrating on other things in his life.

It was a miracle, after a few days (1 week) Johnny was dry.When he understood the power of his mind, little Johnny was a strong kid.He understood how to control himself,how to gain control over his life. This experience would guide Johnny through the rest of his life.The most important of all, trust in oneself than anything else.

NB:How events happen in lives is a series on how, we can transform our lives by just listening to ourselves and having belief in our self.

How events happen in our lives-Part I

After a long interval, when I write this post, I was just wondering how thoughts can change the outcome of every act we are performing. The story goes like this:

After finishing the MBBS course, qualified as a doctor, the first thing I wanted to do was run Amok! I really enjoyed life for a few months after my House surgeoncy.When I went to Kasargod from my native place(Kottayam) to do rural service, I never had an intention to prepare for PG entrance, my intention was just to complete the rural service and to get the hell out.

Meanwhile all my friends were attending PG coaching classes, I really enjoyed the landscape of the district where I was posted. Four months went by uneventfully, classes had begun, I didn’t even care to join.I was on regular contact with my friends, who were always talking about PG entrance and blah blah. Soon I too was interested, I didn’t know where the interest came from.Maybe I thought about future, but it began influencing me. I joined entrance classes at kottayam all of a sudden.An urge from within asked me to go that way, I obeyed it.

Thoughts influence our life, what we hear, what we see, what we say, everything has something to do with our future.Fortune tellers have a good time, because they follow this rule without knowledge.When a fortune teller predicts your future, what he does is sow some seeds of thought into your mind. The thoughts germinate and grow into big trees and bear fruits. If the seed sown is negative, the fruit will be poisonous, if the seed is a good one, the fruit will be delicious.

Take this another instance. I was planning to return from my workplace which is about 400km from my native place.My brother Justin booked the ticket for me, I got a ticket on the side upper of S4 compartment. Since I am about 6 feet, I knew I couldn’t sleep, with the unavailability of space interfering with positioning of my legs. When I called home, I told mother “Mom I am going to ask the person next to me to trade berths with me”. I forgot this incidence but the real surprise came when I boarded the train! When I came in put my luggage on the berth, the lady next to me asked , “can you please take my berth and give y
our berth to me”.I was baffled, I didn’t know how this happened. But now I know how!

Thoughts influence our life a lot, what we think of now materializes tomorrow.Thoughts shape up our world, they bring into our life whatever we want. I may be talking like all those preachers out there, but this fact is true. I have experienced this in my life many times, but didn’t know it was due to my thought on a past date.

Now what I am going to do is shape my future with my thoughts, by nurturing good thoughts, by weeding out negative thoughts.

Action is the real measure of intelligence!

               Are you an intelligent person?

I knew the answer, for that question even before asking! Guess how I knew?

Because you visited this blog!( A boost to my self esteem)

So you also think you are an intelligent person. But what does others, your friends, relatives think?

The only way to be intelligent is to act. Act on whatever you think, ought to be done.

Act first , think next.