Worldly pleasures and pressures usually make us forget about ourselves. We reminisce about ourselves only when we get into a fix, or find ourselves completely lost. But our life can become much better, and far simpler if we imbibe a few ideals diligently in all aspects.
Obviously, ideals are extremely personal, and one requires very strong convictions to stand by them despite several temptations and troubles. For instance, Khaiyyam saheb, the famous music composer always stood by his values of not compromising on the quality of the music he composed. He went to great lengths to know what type of music he should compose. He understood the background of the film (including the historical background), learnt the story, found out who was acting in the film, on whom the song was picturized, read the lyrics, etc. He never worked with film makers who felt that making a music composer understand all this was a waste. He did far fewer films than many other music composers, but each song that he composed is a gem. He frequently turned down offers of films that didn't match his convictions. There is an obvious trade-off vis-a-vis money, popularity, pressures from family etc. that he undoubtedly must have faced. But such was his conviction about his beliefs that he turned a blind eye to all of these.
Even in business, some business houses still uphold a few ideals that they believe in. Its the same for individuals. Some of us have ideals and stand by them, but most of us either don't have ideals, or cannot stick to them. Frequently, our reason for faltering is that this one occasion is an exception. But we all know the end of this line of thought.
Therefore, the prerequisite is that the belief in our ideals must be strong, and unshakeable. Then, one can easily decide a course of action, knowing well its consequences and trade-offs involved.
What is so important about having ideals is that it makes our ability to take decisions so simple and straightforward. We know immediately and instictively what the decision should be. And that decision will set us free.
