یہ داغ داغ اُجالا , یہ شب گزیدہ (رات سے زخمی) سحر (صبح)
وہ انتظار تھا جس کا، یہ وہ سحر تو نہیں
Ye daaġh daaġh ujālā, ye shab-gazīda sahar
Vo intizār thā jis kā, ye vo sahar to nahīñ
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
I am only penning down a thought I had about the relationship between personal motivation to do something/anything and impact of the surrounding environment.
I would like you to imagine the environment as an onion. At its core lies the individual’s own personality — the subtle patterns of temperament, curiosity, drive & so many other things. Around it, the next layer forms through the people closest to us, the ones who mirror and shape who we become. Beyond them stretch the layers of resources, location, and opportunities. Each layer exerts its own pull, drawing out certain parts of us while keeping others dormant. The same person can be calm or chaotic, creative or withdrawn, depending on which layer they find themselves in. The environment does not change who we are; it simply reveals different versions of us waiting to emerge.
Every human being carries within them the potential to thrive just like a plant seed — the ability to grow, create, and become something remarkable. Yet, just as two seeds from the same tree grow differently depending on the soil and sunlight they receive, we too rise or wither according to our surroundings. What we often label as indiscipline is not a flaw of character, but a sign of undeveloped passion. Simply put passion is that natural inner calling that every person has, it could be anything. In my opinion one does not even have discover it, it just come about naturally in the right environment. If you have not been in such a environment, for me, the first step is just awareness and acceptance, acceptance with kindness and patience both for yourself and your environment around. There is a old Chinese saying that really helped me, it goes like this.
“He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived.”
When passion emerges, discipline follows naturally. No one has to remind a seed to grow roots; it does so instinctively when the soil is rich. In the same way, a person who feels connected to their purpose does not need to be pushed. The drive to act comes from within. The absence of discipline, then, is not weakness — it is a mismatch between the person and the place they are planted in.
Humans are wonderfully adaptive. The same individual can seem unmotivated in one environment and unstoppable in another. When motivation feels distant, it is rarely the person that is broken, but the environment. Perhaps there is too little encouragement, too much noise, or a system that does not recognize what truly matters. When the soil is wrong, even the strongest seed struggles to sprout.
Among the environment, the first and second are perhaps I can touch upon in this essay. First is working on yourself, this is important, it requires you train yourself regardless of the situation, so when the right opportunity comes you are ready. They say fortunes favors the prepared. Second is layer is people, is often the hardest to navigate from sometime.
This idea also tie back to commune’s core pillar connecting with the right people. One of my mentor used to say that your real family is one that supports and respects you. Overtime, again & again I have seen how true this is. I found another quotation which speaks about a similar sentiment.
“At some point, the family you create is more important than the one you were born into.”
In my experience a-lot of conversation I have had with people in despair, have sited this as their immediate problem. As human we all face this, however, I found that women usually have an elevated struggle when navigating people in their environment.
When those around us carry doubt, fear, bitterness, or constant criticism, their energy seeps into us. Their voices begin to echo inside our own heads, shaping how we see ourselves and what we believe we can become. Over time, that echo becomes a quiet resignation: “Nothing can change. It’s impossible.” This is not the truth; it is conditioning. It happens when the environment shapes belief more than belief shapes the environment.
If you are in this phase where you experience a harsh & challenging environment, don’t be hard on yourself, being in this phase is very common, it happens with almost everyone as part of their journey in life, what is important here is become aware at of your predicament & use patience, grace and acceptance to overcome this. Accepting the fact that as humans we have little control over outcome of our efforts & while we have ability to strive, we still do not control the outcome.
Also, remember that even those who drain us are acting from their own hunger and hurt. We don’t need to absorb their energy, but we can understand that their pain, too, is a kind of soil — teaching us where not to root ourselves. That also serve to teach us important lessons.
Based on my personal experience, I feel it is far more important that, before any think strategy shift our situation, one idea must take root — change is possible. We do not need to know how, just as we do not fully understand how a seed becomes a tree. Growth is guided by invisible forces: time, nature, and faith. Our task is not to map the journey, but to protect the core — the part of us that still believes. Fear, anxiety, and pessimism are like toxins in the soil; they don’t only slow growth, they poison it. Even in the darkest soil, life finds its way toward light. The same unseen principles that guide nature forward are working within us too. We must simply not destroy the seed before it has the chance to bloom.
Every human has an environment where they can flourish. Indiscipline is not a defect; it is passion waiting for the right conditions. When you feel unmotivated or lost, do not question your worth — question your surroundings. The most important shift is inward: to believe that growth is still possible. Protect your core, and everything else will follow.
However, between leaving what drains you and finding what feeds you, there is a stretch of emptiness. Don’t mistake it for failure; it’s the ground clearing itself for new roots. In Sufi literature, especially within Rumi, the idea of rebirth is a continuous theme. Our self goes through a cycle of rebirths until that we reach our final destination and each cycle of birth brings some important teaching to us that enable us for next chapter in our life. As per Rumi, wounds are where light enters us.
Following is the ending verse of Faiz’s poem I had start my essay with. Perhaps, in Faiz’s way, Faiz is suggesting to keeping moving until we rebirth into our real self.
نجاتِ دیدہ و دل (آنکھ اور دل کی آزادی، سکون، نجات) کی گھڑی نہیں آئی
چلے چلو کہ وہ منزل ابھی نہیں آئی
najāt-e-dīda-o-dil kī ghaḌī nahīñ aa.ī
chale-chalo ki vo manzil abhī nahīñ aa.ī
Faiz Ahmed Faiz
Credits
Full Poem by Faiz : https://www.rekhta.org/nazms/subh-e-aazaadii-august-47-ye-daag-daag-ujaalaa-ye-shab-gaziida-sahar-faiz-ahmad-faiz-nazms
Gowda, Shilpi Somaya. Secret Daughter. HarperCollins, 2010. Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/7129188-secret-daughter. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025.
Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9993888-he-who-blames-others-has-a-long-way-to-go. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025.
Help with translation & crafting the content : Open AI Language Model
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