Maxim # 31: அனந்த லாடேல் -- Never indulge in sloth.

ஆத்திச்சூடி # 31: அனந்த லாடேல் (an-uhn-dhal AA-dEl)

Translation: Never indulge in sloth.

Rumination: "அனந்தல்" means "sleep" and "ஆடேல்" means "never indulge." So this maxim means that one must never indulge in oversleeping or slothfulness. Our bodies need rest, certainly not slothfulness. It is funny to run into people whose only goal is to secure a sinecure for their career. Once smitten by this bug of sloth, a person's productivity plummets down so rapidly that it will be very difficult to restore it back. There are families, which have been torn apart because of one of the partners indulging in excessive sloth. It is a kind of latent addiction too. Rust formed on iron, if unremoved will ultimately eat into it completely. One has to consistently look in retrospection over one's life to see if sloth has crept into the inner annals. Procrastination is the harbinger of the setting in of slothfulness. Therefore, the only way to cut back on sloth is to sense and nix procrastination from all spheres of one's activities. Attempts must be made to keep one's mind healthy with more activities, if one finds extra time to spare each day. Research has proven that those who are consistently challenging themselves with mental exercises during and well beyond mid-age slash down the risks of being afflicted with Alzheimer's Disease or dementia.

Quotes:

• "You must avoid sloth, that wicked siren." -- Horace, 65-8 B.C., Ancient Greek Poet.


• "Thou seest how sloth wastes the sluggish body, as water is corrupted, until it moves." -- Ovid, 43-17 B.C., Ancient Roman Poet.