Tentative

Pedro invited three friends out for lunch to a popular restaurant. He asked each one, ‘what would you like to drink?’ The replies were tentative: ‘Anything will do’... ‘Whatever you order will be fine with me’... Pedro ordered karela (bitter gourd) juice for them and lime juice for himself!

So often, so many of us suffer the end result, at the dining table, of the choice of being tentative. Sometimes, we are just avoiding being branded as gluttons. However, most of the time, we are playing slaves to the habit of ‘being unsure’ or avoiding the decision of making a choice.

The word – tentative – is derived from the Latin tentātīvus. It refers to ‘testing’, ‘trying’ and describes uncertainty. Feeling hesitant or unsure about something is the opposite of being confident. Confident persons may take some time to decide... they may seek information on options before they choose, but they will not rush to choose being tentative.

Take the time... scan every alternative
Never rush the choice to be tentative!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Cosmic View

When she was in middle school, my daughter told me that they were learning a very complicated concept in Mathematics – factors! She just did not seem to comprehend the theory. I showed her a ten-minute film on my computer and she could easily understand the idea of base and exponents.

The film begins with the camera 1 meter (10⁰) above a man. The camera zooms out to a view ten meters (10¹) to a view of the man in a park. It further pans to a view of 100 meters (10²) to Chicago's lakefront. Further on we see on the way the views of Lake Michigan, our earth, our solar system, the Milky Way… the zoom continuing to a view of 10²⁴ - the size of the observable universe.

The camera then zooms back to the man's hand and moves on to zoom into views of negative powers of ten: 10⁻¹ (10 centimeters), and so forth. The zoom moves the range from the surface of the skin to the inside right up to the proton in a carbon atom at 10⁻¹⁶ meter.

The 1977 short film ‘Powers of Ten’ depicts the relative scale of things in the Universe using factors of ten. The film, made by Ray and Charles Eames, is an adaptation of the 1957 book Cosmic View by Kees Boeke. The film thus travels two extreme extents of our universe. However, the lessons from the film go beyond the attempt to understand the universe

The cosmic view guides us on the journey between the larger-picture and the smaller-picture. We need to see ourselves and our situation from a perspective that moves from a wide-angle outlook to a deeper insight. It is only such perspectives that will help us comprehend the larger vision and the minute intricacies of the situation that surrounds us.

Larger and smaller picture holds details new
we must zoom and pan to the cosmic view!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Puzzle

This is incident took place over 22 years ago. When I reached the home of my friend Nishta Desai, the maid informed that she had gone out. I sat in the verandah reading the newspapers lying there. When they came back, Nishta went into the living room and promptly rushed out, ‘How did you solve it?’ Seeing my quizzical expression, she pointed out to a jigsaw puzzle.

The jigsaw puzzle was one of pieces of different sizes which had to be joined to form a rectangle that could fit in the box that contained the puzzle. Nishta could not put it together and she thought that I was able to solve the puzzle. Realising that I had not even seen the puzzle, she called out to the maid to enquire whether somebody else had come visiting while she was away.

When the maid replied in the negative, a puzzled Nishta asked, ‘Then who did this?’ and pointed to the box in her hand. The maid was immediately apologetic, ‘Didi, the pieces were lying around. I just put them in the box while cleaning up the room.’ She had cracked the puzzle without even knowing it!

The lesson is simple. Puzzles are often solved without trying to solve them. Most of the complications are just blocks in our own minds. We must avoid getting too competitive such that we focus on every challenge as a race to be won. Stress-free approaches can liberate us.

Too often we look at life’s puzzles and are overwhelmed by their imagined magnitude. To be better at solving life’s puzzles, we must take on challenges as normal interventions and not be overawed by them.

The pieces of the puzzle will fall in place…
if we see every challenge not as a race!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

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.