CAPABILITY

Yiannis was born in a poor family in Greece. At the age of 14, he broke the national record for the 50 meter freestyle swim. He did not have a coach but he beat swimmers that had coaches and trained for many days. He listed the reason: ‘I believed that anything was possible, or at least because I didn't put together everyone else's 'facts' and believe that winning was impossible.’

 At 18 years, Yiannis arrived in USA and worked part time as a dishwasher. In university, he struggled as he was unfamiliar with English. He wrote, ‘I'd never been so frustrated, but as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I studied with the book, a notebook, and a Greek/English dictionary’. Yiannis persevered to graduate in psychology.

But he then his passion for music took over. While he had his ups and downs, worked with different bands, he had a desire to create his own music. But it was a music that was unlike others. He faced many challenges but was able to move ahead due to his steadfast determination. We know him now as the amazing pianist, composer and music producer, Yanni!

Yanni puts it all on the line: ‘We are all capable if we have faith and passion.’ He showed how a person born in challenging circumstances can overcome obstacles by empowering his faith and passion. So often, so many of us await the acquisition of capability. We find our capability when we passionately belief in making possible all dreams.

Never let other peoples’ facts to overwhelm you
Capability forms when passion meets belief true!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

UNDER THE RAIN TREE!

(based on my childhood ordeal of being caught in a rain-storm under a rain tree… to divert the fear, I imagined the tree speaking to me and this is what it seemed to say )

Hey little one, trembling in the rain…

Rest the doubts… that rise in your brain.
Why does this rainstorm, overwhelm you?
This earth is yours… and this sky is too!

Look at me - the rain tree… that shelters you now

And the route of my roots, how they plough

They go deep down, so that my trunk may rise

But what matters more… is my canopy size!

So often we find trees… that grow very tall

But they have no shade, for the seeker’s call…

Now you are sheltered… under me - the rain tree

Can the truth of interdependence set you free?

Learn from the little birds… that rest and nest here

They too are drenched… but no longer by fear!

When they are born… they too shiver in the rain

But grow up to know… that it will happen again

It isn’t about the rain, fright storms within

Fear grows larger… if belief is lean
You got to believe… this fact to be true
That this earth is yours… and this sky is too!

Don't be submerged… in the intensity of the rain…
Don't fret and tire out, under an illusory pain
The skies will clear, seven colours will gather...
Diverging from the spectrum… but staying together

Together we can create: the rainbow way...
From Mother Nature, don’t ever stray away...

The cloud burst, the thunder… the scary storm

Are worse in the mind… when there they form.

Hey little one, dance in the rain…

Overcome fears that storm your brain.
The eco-logical truth includes me and you
This earth is ours… and this sky is too!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Learn Forgetting

Two monks, in a Zen parable, were walking in deep silence. They came across a spring on the way. A young lady was standing at the edge, seemingly worried about spoiling her clothes while crossing the stream. One of the monks lifted her in his arms and carried her over the stream.

His mate was shocked with his colleague’s act. But, he remained silent until the night halt, when he burst out, ‘As monks, we have sworn not to touch women... yet you carried her?’ The first monk replied calmly, ‘I left that girl on the other side of the stream. It is you who still carries her in your mind!’

So often, we hold on to views that are irrelevant in the larger scope of the situation. So often, we carry emotions turning them into a burden. So often, we chain ourselves to past experiences and fail allow them to hold us in a vice that chokes progressive thinking and clouds our perspective.

The phrase - ‘forget learning… learn forgetting’ – is very meaningful. We need to let go the unnecessary if we want to move on in life. For every harvested crop of experience, we need to sift the grain of understanding from the chaff of misinterpretation. We must learn to let go of the needless.

Forget learning… Learn forgetting
ignoring the needless is truly liberating!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Astray

My mentor, Frederick Tucker’s favourite anecdote was of a traveller who had wandered off his route. He had no clue as to where he had reached and how to get back to his original road. After going around in circles, he looked around to ask for help.

Upon sighting an old man, he confided, ‘I have gone astray. Please help me find my way.’ The old man queried, ‘do you know where you have come from?’ On receiving a reply in the affirmative, the elderly person prodded on, ‘Do you know where you want to go?’ The traveller nodded again.

The wise man calmly uttered a great truth, ‘if you know where you have come from and where you want to go, then you are not astray. You just need the connection to your way!’

Whenever astray, we can reconnect to our destination by recognizing the co-relation of the present location and possibilities of a newer and different approach rather than just trying to get back to the old path. It is pertinent to note that being astray is an opportunity for discovering new paradigms.

Never mind the turns in the maze... you will never be astray

If you know where you come from and where leads your way!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Unpacked Gift

There was an exceptionally talented jazz pianist who played in a bar. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a client told him to sing a song. The man said, ‘I don't sing.’ But the customer was persistent.

So he sang the song, ‘Sweet Lorraine’. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. The talented pianist discovered a new talent of singing. Nat King Cole went onto to become an iconic singer!

Nat King Cole had talent that he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a gifted piano player in a local bar, but because he discovered another gift of singing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.

We have skills and abilities. We may find our ‘talent’ to be a gift, but there may be other gifts that lie unpacked. With exposure and then persistence, most skills can be enhanced. A lot of possibilities go unnoticed as the owner continues to sit on them! We have to get off the comfort seat and discover new unpacked gifts that need to be opened.

Get off the comfort seat...
Open the unpacked gift!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Futile Pursuit

An old joke tells about a farmer’s dog that used to wait for vehicles to come around. As soon as one appeared he would run down the road, barking and trying to overtake it. One day a neighbour asked the farmer ‘Do you think your dog is ever going to catch a car?’ The farmer replied, ‘That is not what bothers me. What bothers me is what he would do if he ever caught one.’

The dogs are plain playful or taking on an imagined foe. But, we must ponder whether we are in futile pursuit of meaningless goals. We need to ask ourselves whether we will find the goal to be worth the pursuit if we were to attain it.

Daniel Gilbert and Loewenstein found through multiple experiments that humans can never be as happy as we think we will be with an outcome. The research goes into depth about human decision-making and the affects of our decisions.  What Gilbert has found is that we overestimate the intensity and the duration of our emotional reactions – our “affect” – to future events.

For instance, we might believe that a new car will make life perfect. But, surely, it will not be as exciting as we anticipated; nor will it excite us for as long as predicted. Aldous Huxley said it well: ‘Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.’

So often, we set out in futile pursuit...
when at hand lies the happiness fruit!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

True Sharing

During childhood, my brother and I would accompany our father on visits to homes during Zatras, Feasts or other special occasions. No sooner the plate, of sweets and spicy eats, was placed before us; our father would urge us to eat. We would feel self-conscious as he loudly kept saying, ‘go ahead, have it!’

After one such embarrassing evening, I asked him why he insisted that we polish off the plate instead of well mannered pecks at the offerings. He confided that being miserly in eating would send wrong signals to the hosts. He shared an invaluable insight: sharing is not just about gifting what we have... sharing is also about receiving with love!

Over the years, I see great happiness in the uninhibited receiving of somebody else’s gifts. For instance, when we visit an old age home or an orphanage rather than only sing our songs, we listen to their tunes, as well. Instead of only giving them our delicacies, we share the meal with them. Instead of giving, we choose to receive from them.

So often, so many of us share our riches with others. But love is about allowing others to share their treasures with us. While giving is good, it is greater to receive with dignity. When sharing is one sided, it is benevolence. But when sharing is a mutually two-way traffic, then it is beyond generosity and can be termed as pure love!

Gifting what we have is benevolent giving
Acceptance of other’s gifts is true sharing!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India