Sreenath Sreenivasan

Thriving Mindfully

Tag: perspective (Page 17 of 17)

Episode or Advertisement?

March 29, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Quite often we postpone what could be done right now to a point in near future. It’s not that we cannot do what needs to be done right now. We just give ourselves the leisure to indulge in something that could rather wait.
Relate this to how a TV serial is telecast. There’s the episode and then there’s the ads. If it were upto us, we would surely do away with the ads. They merely fill up time in between the slots we really want to watch.
If our life were a TV serial telecast, we quite often choose to live in the ‘ad space’ and not the ‘episode phase’.
If we choose to live like that then our life would carry no message at all, would it?
In the age of Netflix, when TV programming has moved past the old paradigm of ads, we should follow suit in the way we lead our lives.
We should always be mindful,
That a meaningful episode is much more memorable than a passing ad.

It’s best to do what truly matters,
what really needs to be done,
now !

What do you think ?

Beautiful Inside.

March 28, 2018 / / 0 Comments

On my Bicycle ride from Auroville to Chennai I stopped at a coconut shop I used to frequent years ago. The shop looked a bit run down as compared to how it looked like earlier. I approached the unmanned coconut stand and called out the owner’s name.
‘Saviraj?’ I enquired.
Slowly, an elderly man made his way from his house.
‘Saviraj, do you remember me? I used to come to drink coconuts 5 years ago.’
He nodded smilingly.
In an adorable mix of Tamil and pidgin English he started talking to me.
‘Now enge(where)?’
‘I am cycling from Auroville to Chennai Saviraj’
Meanwhile his wife Sarada came out hearing her husband speak in English.
They both offered me a place to sit. I had a big coconut proffered to me instantly.
They saw my Bicycle loaded up with my luggage and gasped in surprise.
I asked them if I could rest for sometime in the temple across te street.
‘Sleeping here’ said Saviraj pointing to his house.
I laid out my Yoga mat and had a nice nap. In half an hour I awoke to the smell of homemade Dosas. Sarada brought me four thick dosas with the most unique coconut chutney I’ve tasted in my life.

I smiled and accepted the food. It was a delicious feast.
I felt humbled by their spirit of caring. As I was leaving I asked if I could click a Polaroid picture with her.
She blushed and said, ‘Shower no, not look good!’
‘But you’re beautiful. Sooper(Tamil-English slang for remarkable) I said.

Reluctantly she posed and we took a picture.
As the polaroid film developed we waited anxiously. The picture came out great.
‘ Sooper no?’ I asked.
‘Aama(yes)’ she blushed.
I left her with the picture and loaded up my Bicycle to head onward. I was bid goodbye lovingly.

On the way I wondered,
‘She took care of fact that I’d been cycling for 4 hours in the sun and did the best she could to support me. To have such compassion and empathy is the most beautiful asset. It shines through in her eyes. And even if she looked a bit disheveled in the picture because of her household chores, the camera captured the beauty in her spirit.
We often fail to cultivate and realize our own inner beauty. While we are born with the fate of a fixed physical appearance, we also have the opportunity to foster a thriving inner world full of love and compassion. And it is the latter that makes for our true identity.

I hope the picture I left Sarada with keeps reminding her what a caring heart she has. And she realizes the beauty in herself beyond the physical.

Choosing you age

March 26, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Both my mother and father have two birth dates. One is the official birth date in their school certificate and the other is their actual birth date. They have used their official birth date all their life and now they only faintly remember their real birth day. It is common for people in their generation to have such a situation.

But whenever I see them I am not bothered about how old they are on paper. My mother retired last month from service. Officially she is 60 years old. Yet, she has the energy and outlook of someone much younger. My father is officially 62 years old and still works with the energy of a young man in his twenties.

It got me wondering about the concept of age. We have an official , biological age. That’s a fact. Most official work takes that age into consideration. But another age is the one you represent from your attitude, from your being. I’ve had the fortune of meeting people 60 years of age who have the energy of three 20year olds!

We can choose how old we wish to feel. We can aid our bodies to vitality and impeccable physical health. In the process the mind also becomes nimble and agile. It is a matter of choice.

Cosmetics and treatments will never change how old you feel inside. It only makes one more insecure. True health borne out of a youthful soul and an active body is always secure in itself.
It only inspires good energy around itself. An energy that transpires to people around.

So, no matter how many trips you have made around the sun,
You can still choose,
How youthful you wish to be !
It takes some effort,
But it seems totally worth it !

Scaling up kindness

March 23, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Most of the time we secretly seek acknowledgement for our work.
It is a deeply human quality to expect to be recognized.
The downside of this though is that we do not find it meaningful to do something that might not get us recognition.

But imagine this. When you visit a clean neighborhood, a well tended garden or have a delicious meal at a restaurant, you do not know the person who made this experience worthwhile. But you still acknowledge the deed as done by someone kind.

If we could all scale this up and work for the sake of goodness,
Then we could applaud whole of humanity for its conduct.

On Reassurance

March 16, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Today was a busy workday. As I drew close to the end of working hours in our community, I rested myself under the shade of a mango tree for a break. I looked to the left to see who the chef in the kitchen was. I saw my sister cooking and I couldn’t help but smile. I knew deep inside that I will get a delicious meal for lunch. And I found more energy to finish the rest of my work.
Just her presence reassured me that everything will be all right.

It got me wondering about how we too have the opportunity to be reassuring. Throughout our existence we shoulder some kind of a responsibility. If we build a formidable reputation , so that people can count on us, then our existence magnifies in value.

One can always judge the worth of his contribution by how much reassurance he can give to his team, just by his presence.

The lunch was amazing by the way. And all the hard work was truly worth it.

Learning to Unlearn

March 14, 2018 / / 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 / / 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!

On Falling…

March 3, 2018 / / 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.

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SREENATH SREENIVASAN

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