Category: Perspective (Page 20 of 20)

Learning to Unlearn

March 14, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

‘Don’t strain your body, let it loose’ commanded my swimming instructor.
I gasped for a breath after another failed attempt at floating in water. The sun shone brightly on the disappointed trainer’s face.
‘Try again’ he said in anguish.

Swimming is one of the life skills I did not get an opportunity to learn as a kid. Battling my phobia of water, I finally convinced myself to learn to swim. It was the third day at class and my instructor couldn’t believe how stiff my body was under water.
‘ Why are you so stiff? And why can’t you hold your breath for longer? Even a ten year old kid can do this!’ he said.
I didn’t have much to explain. I kept trying for the rest of the session.

Once I got out of the water, I started thinking about what happened during the training. I kept wondering about the comment he made about how even a ten year old kid could do what he was asking me to.
While I was a bit worked up after hearing that, over time a sense of calm dawned on me. I realised that accidentally the trainer had given me a great sermon.

We always associate progress with growing up. We always envision to be the best version of ourselves in future. But I realised that it is a partial perspective. Progress should be associated as much with growing up to maturity as with preserving the childlike elasticity of thought and action. The innate wisdom of body and mind programmed in kids is often unlearned as we age. Our body and mind grow up to an ‘acquired stiffness.’
The pursuit of true growth should be aimed in both directions, as much in ‘unlearning’ as in learning.
As a 27 year old, I aspire to have the maturity of 45 old man as I age while preserving the elasticity of being in a 10 year old boy.
That combination would make for a complete human in my opinion.
So now as I prepare myself for my next attempt at floating, I will focus on unlearning, to grow past my acquired stiffness.
In sincere pursuit of having a nimble body and mind of a ten year old boy.

On being…

March 12, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Today morning, with a gentle winter breeze came along an idea that got me thinking.

We call ourselves human beings. Even in the way we address ourself there is a hint to action, a verb, of ‘being’.
That speaks a lot about the nature of our existence.
With each passing moment we are becoming something. It does not matter if one is aware of this transition or not. He still becomes something with the passage of time. He keeps on evolving.
Our involuntary functions of the body keep on going. Cells are born, cells die, regenerate, mutate and evolve. Our hair, nail, skin keep growing. All the processes of body keep on going.
On an involuntary level we are are always ‘being’ and becoming. It is a natural function of the highest efficiency.

However, on a conscious, voluntary level, are we becoming what we want to?
We have control of our mind, don’t we?
Are we doing the best we can with our mind?
The body is always ‘being’ as efficient in its processes.
How about the mind?

If we attempt to emulate the ‘being’ of our body in the ‘being’ of our mind,
Our evolution as a human being will undoubtedly be supreme.

Think about it!

Balloons

March 11, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Tonight I saw two boys on a crossroad. One in a car, One on the street.
The boy on the street had many colorful balloons yet he wore a gloomy look on his face. While the boy in the car had just one balloon and was happy, momentarily.

The balloon seller boy has seen life from much closer. The weight of these light, polka dotted helium balloons crushed his childhood. While it buoys the childhood of a privileged kid.

But the privileged kid is not happy with one balloon anymore. He wants all the balloons!

Only if he knew, how heavy the burden of having all these unsold balloons at night was.

The bird of your choice

March 10, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

The morning was made mellifluous by the enchanting birdsong. We have more and more birds in the forest these days and the airwaves are brim with their curious chatter.
Since it was morning I couldn’t help but think about the rooster. We always think of a chicken waking us up with its cock-a-doodle-doo singing. But we don’t like this bird so much. It mostly ends up on our plates after all ! Also it has a bad metaphoric reputation. When someone is being cowardly, we called them to be ‘Chickening out’.

Then there is another bird. One that most of us would never see with our own eyes. The penguin. We associate them with a friendly and sociable demeanor. They’re seen as cool headed, relaxed and calm creatures.
I recollected an interesting metaphor about penguins.
When the water is cold and there is fear of predators lurking in the ocean, there’s always that first penguin who dives in the water braving all these fears. Once he jumps, everyone else follows.
Being the first penguin,
taking initiative ,
a leap of faith in the face of uncertainty.

In life we face challenges all the time. And it is then that we choose what we want to do. Do we ‘chicken out?’
Or do we become ‘the first penguin?’

It is our choice,
To choose the right bird.

Mirrors

March 9, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

I have been living in a community for the past 18 months. I still remember that when I was new here, I noticed that there weren’t many mirrors around.
Over time I got used to their absence. And I got used to looking around more rather than looking at myself in a mirror.
In the process, I started noticing things I could change.

All of a sudden, I would find sweeping the alleys worthwhile. I’d find fixes for the tiny problems around the community. Because of the absence of mirrors , the sense of my ‘self’ extended much beyond my physical existence. I felt that the place around me was also a representation of myself. And I started doing things I could to better my surroundings.

I realized that our surroundings mirror our spirit. If we have a clear, compassionate soul, our surroundings both animate and inanimate will bear a reflection of it.

And it is important to realize that the only person looking at us in the mirror is our self. But our surroundings, a reflection of our inner beauty, is open for all to witness.

So, I choose to brush the pavement before I brush my hair.

The mirror can wait.

Roots

March 8, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

Morning. 6 am.
My sleepy 5 year old friend Adva is rubbing her eyes to wakefulness. She dangles out of her mother’s comforting shoulder as sun warms up the air with its promising ascent. She basked in the warmth of mother’s love and sunlight.

After breakfast I saw another friend Lior, 24. She was feeling a bit sick in the morning. The sport she is, she shook her head like a toddler and whined jokingly, ‘I want my mommy!’
She files back home to Israel soon and she will meet her mom in not too long a time.

At night I happened to speak to an elderly American-Indian lady, Dami, 63.
She shared how she comes to India only to see her mother. Life in the US can sometimes get lonely. The prospect of meeting her mother keeps her going. Although the chance of meeting an 86 year old mother in good health gets bleak with every passing day.

It got me wondering how regardless of age, one wishes to turn back to her very source, the Mother.

It’s tragic however that as we age, our proximity to our mother decreases. Even though we have the technology that enables us to talk to anyone anywhere in the world, we still long for a motherly touch, her comforting lap, her nourishing food.

Then I looked around to see my fellow freinds in the flora.
Trees.
As they age, their roots only go deeper into mother earth. Ageing only strengthens the bond between mother and child in this instance.

It might be the deepest human longing ,
To emulate this strengthening of bond with our mother as we age.
We only have to look around and find a tree for inspiration…

The chief ingredient

March 7, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

I had the opportunity to cook lunch today at my community. I was a bit drained out because of a bout of cold. Thankfully I had a great kitchen team that helped in the best possible way. We prepared a great meal and left a clean kitchen behind.
Once everyone started eating their meal I could sense that people enjoyed the food. I was happy. After finishing my meal , as I was heading out to wash the dishes , someone patted on my shoulder.

He smilingly told, ‘Thank you for bringing me close to my mother. I ate the food and thought my mother had cooked it.’ I was quite surprised by this compliment considering that he was from Israel and nothing we’d prepared was from the Israeli cuisine.

Then I realized that even though the spices were different the chief ingredient in the meal was the same.

Love.

On Falling…

March 3, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

As kids, when we were learning to walk, we fell down almost at every other step. It was certain that we will fail within moments. That did not deter our innate wisdom. We got up to face another failure. Because deep inside we realized that success can only stand strong on the bedrock of multiple failures.
Every child knows this law of nature.

But at some point in our childhood, we become myopic about how we look at failure. We fail to reassure ourselves about impending success along a road rife with failures.
We lose the big picture.
In fact, we’re embarrassed about our failures!

And alas, as we deliberately avoid failure, we inevitably lose prospects of any success.
We fear falling,
Failing.

But, falling is beautiful!
It indeed is.
Why else do we have the phrase ‘to fall in love?’ One has to fall without inhibition to experience this glorious emotion. There’s much to learn as we fall and rise up in life.

If we preserve the faith in falling,
In failing
and
Resolve to stand up every time we fall,
Then, there’s only success,
Only emancipation.

On friendship and meaning

March 1, 2018 / Sreenath Sreenivasan / 0 Comments

I had the fortune of spending time with my mother last week. And as it happens most of the time, she started telling me stories about my childhood.

She told me when I was a child, I would address every acquaintance as a friend. Be it a 5 year old boy or a 50 year old uncle. If I spent time with them they were my friends. It was interesting for them to see me call someone a friend in such short time.

This got me thinking about how I used to see a friend as a child.

My heart was open, like any other child’s. I was ready to give and receive energy and love without inhibition.

In my late teens I witnessed the advent of social media. I had hundreds of friends but with none did I share the same innocent, impromptu friendship as I did with a kind 50 year old uncle who’d help me get my kite stuck in a tree when I was little.

What has changed? And why, despite so many virtual friends, I am not deeply in touch with them.?

As I grew up, I learned to be more cautious and guarded, something that happens to everyone as they age.

Nicety was seen as naivety.
I had this outlook until not too long ago.

But lately I realized I can choose to have an open heart as a child. If I, in every interaction I have from now on, be open , sincere and loving to everyone I meet, I would make many friends. Friends who’d help just how the 50 year old uncle did.
I , in the process will find opportunities to help them. We might see each other only for a brief period, momentarily glance each other’s lives. But the open exchange of energy will make sure we meet the deepest existential need of man.

Of being remembered well.