Dr Prabhu Dev
4 min readOct 7, 2024

Don’t fail to fail! It is how you learn to succeed. Live and not just survive!

Survive first! Live and thrive next! Fail faster, succeed sooner.

FAIL is the First Attempt in Learning.

Many live as if we will never die and die as if we never lived.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas Edison! If Thomas Edison had believed in failure, we may still be living in darkness! If Henry Ford had given up we would be riding on the horseback or in the bullock cart! Failure is feedback; it’s simply showing you what is not working and finding out what will work! The glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time you fail.

I crave the fullness of life, not merely the endurance of it. In a world that spins with problems, where each day feels like a battle won or lost, many struggle just to stay afloat. People carry their burdens, hidden behind smiles, tucked away in conversations about the weather, masked by the facade of “I’m fine.” We are all survivors, hardened by the storms we have weathered, shaped by the battles we have fought!

Break free from the chains of mere existence, from the relentless grind that turns days into blurred memories. Feel the pulse of life, and connect with others through shared struggles, shared joys, shared dreams and shared hopes! Living is finding the strength to smile! Never fake a smile! To live, not just survive, is to refuse to let the weight of problems define you! It is choosing to see the beauty that still exists, the love that persists and the light that shines!

To live is to laugh even when tears are close, to dance even when the music seems faint, and to love even when the heart could break. Wake up with a hunger for life, with a thirst for meaning, and a desire to live fully, deeply and truly. Down the road, you may lose your way! All alone in a world that may seem too wide. Regret is that which nobody wants to have in life! Life is what you make of it. Life is learning about things that did not go as planned.

Suffer, learn, and grow.

Life is beautiful! It is up to you to make it that way. Take a look at your own life. How would you describe it? Contented, Rushed, Exciting, Stressful, moving forward or holding back? For many of us, it’s all of the above. The purpose of life is not merely to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate and to make some difference that you lived and lived well.

Don’t let your Fear defeat your ability for success. The fear of success is an often unrecognized and covert impediment- When winning is not everything! Fear of winning plagues even the best in the world! the fear of failure-is widely recognized!

Some aspects of life are under our control. But much of it is not. In the grand arc of our lives, we are all largely at the mercy of random, unknowable, and mostly uncontrollable forces and events. Accept That You’ll Never Be Fully in Control!

Happiness is much simpler than we think. Happiness is when your thoughts are in harmony. Bank accounts full of money, fancy cars and luxury homes — yes, Money is important, but not the most important! Money is tangible. At heart, we always crave for the intangibles — God, Grace, Devotion, Blessings, love, satisfaction, praise, liberation, pleasure, fragrance. Things desired but difficult to get are precious.

It is good to have money and the things that it can buy. Make sure you haven’t lost out on the things money can’t buy. When you have Money, you forget who you are! When you do not have money, others forget who you are! Money by itself is neither good nor bad. The way you use money makes it good or bad. Money is just a tool. To go after money is greed. To have money and flaunt it is vulgar! To spend everything is reckless! Giving it to others in need is dharma — Takes you straight to god! There is a grudging but overwhelming admiration for those who make lot of money. Society envies you! If you have, In addition, good qualities it adores you.

Life without purpose is meaningless! I acknowledge that life is full of obstacles, curveballs, and unplanned disruptions! You may choose to accept things as they are. Happiness can neither be demanded nor earned. It is a conscious choice that we make. We create our happiness when we commit ourselves to live a meaningful life doing things we want and enjoy doing.

Things always change! You’ll always get older. You’ll lose people- your loved ones, parents, friends and relatives! Tell them how much you love them loud and clear when they are around! Appreciate friends and be Vocal! People are both good and bad! Often Good ones do bad things and bad ones do good things — accept!

While you live an eventful life, you will always be short one of these things: money, time, youth and your health. You can still live a great life.

Dr Prabhu Dev
Dr Prabhu Dev

Written by Dr Prabhu Dev

Former director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, Former VC of Bangalore University and former chairman of the Karnataka State Health Commission