As the year 2008 moves to its end, a familiar ritual will make its annual appearance in our lives – the ritual of making New Year resolutions…the most popular resolutions range from breaking of flawed habits to the pledge to inculcate desirable habits, from putting the bulge in to bringing the biceps out, from vows of self improvement to socio-centric commitments, from pledges to become more economically or environmentally responsible to charity towards the disadvantaged…
Though born of innocent intent, most resolutions remain unfulfilled or abandoned by the very minds that conjure them. Hence, for many of us, the process is just moving through a mechanical ritual. Therefore it is prudent to give up the meaningless practice or we need to re-invent our attitude and approach to what is essentially a well meaning exercise.
It is pertinent for our resolution to have “RESOLVE” which must translate into an action plan. It is not enough to know where one wants to go… we must also chalk out the path to get there. The larger destination needs to be seen as a link of lesser goals. Only then we would be able to recognize partial successes at every step along the way. Just as a resolution isn't realised the day it's made, neither is it realised the day we reach our goal. It is accomplished in small wins along the way.
The execution of the action plan to realise the resolution that we make defines ground-zero. Simply put, New Year is not the only time to make resolutions… rather, every moment that flags off the journey to fulfil a worthy resolve, heralds the beginning of a New Year in our lives. Anais Nin said it so well, “I make no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and moulding my life, is too much of a DAILY event for me!”
New Year is the moment when we choose to walk the path of transformation,
to BE BETTER at fulfilling every resolve we need dedication & determination…
- Pravin-da
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
INTROSPECTION
This Monday Muse is triggered by the recent statement of Goa’s Chief Minister that recommends introspection to his citizens. Clearly, he is distressed by the opposition to projects by increasingly vigilant and vocal villagers. If the Government were to introspect itself, it would be unambiguous that rather than blind opposition to development, the voices are of concern for the land, lives and livelihoods – all under attack by a planning process fuelled by greed rather than the need of the people
One of the most effective lessons is that “lessons are not meant to be taught, they are meant to be learnt.” Introspection is one knowledge process that stipulates personal initiative rather than be a diagnosis for somebody else. The results of introspection are liberating in terms of the widened perspective of understanding the situation and our role-connection to that very situation.
The word itself is derived from the Latin term of introspicere which literally means to look inside. It is the self-observation of our own reasoning and behaviour. It involves reflection on the impact of our thoughts and actions on others as well as ourselves. However, introspection that only remains inward looking tends to be selfish. We must utilise its value as a valid tool for the development of scientific hypotheses and options and find effective results in practice for goal-oriented functional challenges
Imagine a traveller on a journey. Introspection would include looking at the path covered (past), the location as of now (the present) and the road ahead (the future). Introspection will involve looking at our original intentions, our actions and the impact of them on ourselves, our thinking and also on the situation that surrounds us.
The most important thing to remember is that introspection is a personal exercise as well as a personal initiative. And hence it involves taking ownership as well as responsibility of what we are and where we find ourselves. Rather than insist that others do it, it would be better if we involved in introspection ourselves!
It is so easy to indulge in sterile extrospection
To BE BETTER, we must involve in introspection…
- Pravin-da
One of the most effective lessons is that “lessons are not meant to be taught, they are meant to be learnt.” Introspection is one knowledge process that stipulates personal initiative rather than be a diagnosis for somebody else. The results of introspection are liberating in terms of the widened perspective of understanding the situation and our role-connection to that very situation.
The word itself is derived from the Latin term of introspicere which literally means to look inside. It is the self-observation of our own reasoning and behaviour. It involves reflection on the impact of our thoughts and actions on others as well as ourselves. However, introspection that only remains inward looking tends to be selfish. We must utilise its value as a valid tool for the development of scientific hypotheses and options and find effective results in practice for goal-oriented functional challenges
Imagine a traveller on a journey. Introspection would include looking at the path covered (past), the location as of now (the present) and the road ahead (the future). Introspection will involve looking at our original intentions, our actions and the impact of them on ourselves, our thinking and also on the situation that surrounds us.
The most important thing to remember is that introspection is a personal exercise as well as a personal initiative. And hence it involves taking ownership as well as responsibility of what we are and where we find ourselves. Rather than insist that others do it, it would be better if we involved in introspection ourselves!
It is so easy to indulge in sterile extrospection
To BE BETTER, we must involve in introspection…
- Pravin-da
Monday, December 15, 2008
WANDERING
The National Trekking Expedition – Goa (NTE-Goa) begins today. 16 teams of trekkers will travel the waters, beaches and forests of Goa over a trekking expedition that lasts eight days. At the same time five sets of 20 bikers will pedal their way across Goa’s marvellous terrain on a 5-day biking expedition. 5 sets of family campers will set base at the Base Camp at the Sports Authority Grounds.
Over the next 25 days, over 1200 persons will connect with the unique experience of the NTE-Goa, wandering across shell strewn beaches and forests full of flora and fauna. So many others have done it before to realise the motto of the Youth Hostels Association of India – “Wandering one gathers honey”. The wanderers are seized by a desire to connect with the unknown through an expedition of adventure.
The industrious bee has to travel many distances to collect honey. So must we, if we wish to be enriched by the lessons that our planet holds for us. Not just as environment enthusiasts, but also as responsive human beings we need to wander around our world to understand it better. However, just aimless wandering cannot suffice. We need to involve a sense of purpose as well.
M. K. Gandhi turned Mahatma by embarking on a year-long wandering trail across India to understand his motherland better. Four years before he led the Cuban Revolution, a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend covered 5,000 miles, on a rickety old motorcycle. These are just two lives that were transformed by the lessons picked up on the way while wandering. And both underline the need to render wandering into a trail.
Wandering is not just an inspiration to set sail
To BE BETTER, wanderers must leave a trail…
- Pravin-da
Over the next 25 days, over 1200 persons will connect with the unique experience of the NTE-Goa, wandering across shell strewn beaches and forests full of flora and fauna. So many others have done it before to realise the motto of the Youth Hostels Association of India – “Wandering one gathers honey”. The wanderers are seized by a desire to connect with the unknown through an expedition of adventure.
The industrious bee has to travel many distances to collect honey. So must we, if we wish to be enriched by the lessons that our planet holds for us. Not just as environment enthusiasts, but also as responsive human beings we need to wander around our world to understand it better. However, just aimless wandering cannot suffice. We need to involve a sense of purpose as well.
M. K. Gandhi turned Mahatma by embarking on a year-long wandering trail across India to understand his motherland better. Four years before he led the Cuban Revolution, a young Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his friend covered 5,000 miles, on a rickety old motorcycle. These are just two lives that were transformed by the lessons picked up on the way while wandering. And both underline the need to render wandering into a trail.
Wandering is not just an inspiration to set sail
To BE BETTER, wanderers must leave a trail…
- Pravin-da
Monday, December 1, 2008
A WEDNESDAY
My link up with this year's IFFI (International Film Festival of India) was restricted due to personal constraints. The conventional priority is to see rare foreign films. Yet in my reduced number of films-to-view, I chose to see a local Hindi film involving my favourite actor, Naseeruddin Shah.
The film "A Wednesday" shows the plight of the aam-aadmi (common man) who finds himself cornered by the uncertainty of life threatened by terror. One such aam-aadmi turns plight into power by manipulating the media, playing puppeteer with the police and using the same method as the terrorist to counter the agents of terror.
The aam-aadmi's outburst in the end received deafening applause from an audience anguished by the terror attacks at Mumbai of 26 November 2008. Incidentally, it was a Wednesday! We found ourselves collectively thinking, 'this is precisely the way to counter terror'. And that would be ignoring the real lessons of the film.
We need to understand that while the agents of terror have to be crushed, we cannot lose focus that terrorism is facilitated by a corrupt political and administrative system. It cannot be ignored that the same Government machinery which pre-empts peaceful, democratic protests is found to be in numbed slumber while responding to all types of terror attacks on innocent citizens.
A J Muste said it so well, "We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life." The war on terror has to be a battle to cleanse our Government and its systems of corruption and inefficiency. And the change, as the Mahatma put it, has to start with us!
As active citizens, let's strive to BE BETTER
And replace the systems that facilitate terror…
- Pravin-da
The film "A Wednesday" shows the plight of the aam-aadmi (common man) who finds himself cornered by the uncertainty of life threatened by terror. One such aam-aadmi turns plight into power by manipulating the media, playing puppeteer with the police and using the same method as the terrorist to counter the agents of terror.
The aam-aadmi's outburst in the end received deafening applause from an audience anguished by the terror attacks at Mumbai of 26 November 2008. Incidentally, it was a Wednesday! We found ourselves collectively thinking, 'this is precisely the way to counter terror'. And that would be ignoring the real lessons of the film.
We need to understand that while the agents of terror have to be crushed, we cannot lose focus that terrorism is facilitated by a corrupt political and administrative system. It cannot be ignored that the same Government machinery which pre-empts peaceful, democratic protests is found to be in numbed slumber while responding to all types of terror attacks on innocent citizens.
A J Muste said it so well, "We cannot have peace if we are only concerned with peace. War is not an accident. It is the logical outcome of a certain way of life. If we want to attack war, we have to attack that way of life." The war on terror has to be a battle to cleanse our Government and its systems of corruption and inefficiency. And the change, as the Mahatma put it, has to start with us!
As active citizens, let's strive to BE BETTER
And replace the systems that facilitate terror…
- Pravin-da
Monday, November 24, 2008
THE COLD WITHIN
James Patrick Kinney wrote the allegory "The Cold Within" in the 1960s. Though the Saturday Evening Post rejected it as "too controversial for the times”, it remains as meaningful today as the day it was written.
The verse sketches the attitude of six persons trapped in a bitter cold… Each has a stick of wood as they surround a dying fire… But each holds it back so that the other does not benefit… Their motives are varied… the stubborn stance is born of chauvinism against skin color, religion, race, class or just plain selfishness. All of them eventually succumb to the cold, that they refuse to fend lest the other benefits.
The poem captures the lesson so well when it confirms that “They didn't die from the cold without, they died from the cold within.” So often we find fault with others to the extent of considering them as undeserving of any human rights. We are consumed by a devastating hatred that does destroy our sense of logic and values. For the hatred that kills without, first devours us from within.
And it is not just negative actions that lead to ruin… intentional indifference does wreck as well. It is important for us to realize that our prejudices not only harm others, they incinerate us as well. Hence it is for own sake that we need to unlearn prejudices that instigate us to being inhuman in our response to other human beings.
To BE BETTER at fighting the killing cold without…
The cold within must be contested… have no doubt!
- Pravin-da
The verse sketches the attitude of six persons trapped in a bitter cold… Each has a stick of wood as they surround a dying fire… But each holds it back so that the other does not benefit… Their motives are varied… the stubborn stance is born of chauvinism against skin color, religion, race, class or just plain selfishness. All of them eventually succumb to the cold, that they refuse to fend lest the other benefits.
The poem captures the lesson so well when it confirms that “They didn't die from the cold without, they died from the cold within.” So often we find fault with others to the extent of considering them as undeserving of any human rights. We are consumed by a devastating hatred that does destroy our sense of logic and values. For the hatred that kills without, first devours us from within.
And it is not just negative actions that lead to ruin… intentional indifference does wreck as well. It is important for us to realize that our prejudices not only harm others, they incinerate us as well. Hence it is for own sake that we need to unlearn prejudices that instigate us to being inhuman in our response to other human beings.
To BE BETTER at fighting the killing cold without…
The cold within must be contested… have no doubt!
- Pravin-da
Monday, November 17, 2008
LIBRE KNOWLEDGE
Yours truly conducted two training workshops at the JCI World Congress held in Delhi from 4 to 9 November. Participants tend to be lavish in their praise if they like the workshop and we, as trainers, endeavour to sift the grain from the chaff so that we can connect to real feedback. The maximum appreciation is reserved for my action of giving away my entire presentation to the participants for free.
However, some question the wisdom of sharing knowledge so freely. In fact a couple of trainer friends advised me to stop the “professional hara-kiri” I was committing by sharing training anecdotes in my Monday Muse series. My response is to quote Rabindranath Tagore who wished for a land “where knowledge is free.”
It is ironic that in today’s internet driven knowledge world, some people insist on claiming ownership of learning which itself is based on an understanding based on the learning shared by others. Knowledge flourishes only when shared freely. In fact, knowledge is threatened by efforts to confine or control its sharing.
Learning needs to be freed of fetters to enhance collaboration and cooperation. The scope for development of knowledge is enhanced when it is allowed to be acquired, interpreted and applied freely. A choice to walk the path of libre-knowledge is very liberating. An individual who shares knowledge freely is considered worthy of not only affection, respect, trust; but also as deserving of greater sharing by others, too.
To BE BETTER at walking the way of the wise…
Choose to share knowledge freely to rise!
- Pravin-da
However, some question the wisdom of sharing knowledge so freely. In fact a couple of trainer friends advised me to stop the “professional hara-kiri” I was committing by sharing training anecdotes in my Monday Muse series. My response is to quote Rabindranath Tagore who wished for a land “where knowledge is free.”
It is ironic that in today’s internet driven knowledge world, some people insist on claiming ownership of learning which itself is based on an understanding based on the learning shared by others. Knowledge flourishes only when shared freely. In fact, knowledge is threatened by efforts to confine or control its sharing.
Learning needs to be freed of fetters to enhance collaboration and cooperation. The scope for development of knowledge is enhanced when it is allowed to be acquired, interpreted and applied freely. A choice to walk the path of libre-knowledge is very liberating. An individual who shares knowledge freely is considered worthy of not only affection, respect, trust; but also as deserving of greater sharing by others, too.
To BE BETTER at walking the way of the wise…
Choose to share knowledge freely to rise!
- Pravin-da
Monday, October 27, 2008
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
Today we celebrate the Festival of Lights where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.
Diwali or Deepavali has many legends associated with it. In North India, it is associated with the story in Ramayana where people of Ayodhya welcomed Rama (after a 14-year exile) by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa). In South India, it is celebrated as the day Lord Krishna defeated Narakasura.
Founder of Jainism, Mahaveer is said to have attained Nirvana on this very day. Additionally as the day, chief disciple of Mahaveer, Gautam Swami attained complete knowledge, makes Diwali an important Jain festival. Sikhs celebrate Diwali as the day of the release from prison of their sixth Guru, Hargobind along with 52 other princes with him, from detention in the Gwalior Fort in 1619.
For the Hindus, the festival marks the triumph of good over evil and the homecoming of goodwill and faith. For the Jains it is a celebration of complete knowledge. For the Sikhs, it is a struggle for freedom. And it is a confluence of all these reasons that will add meaning and purpose to our lives.
Hence when we seek to banish the darkness, it is not enough to light lamps only during the Festival of Lights. We must join the fight of the “right” against “might”. We have to connect with our faith in human values of equality, justice and peace for all. We need to connect to knowledge and a better understanding with what’s happening around us. And of course, let’s embark on the struggle for freedom from darkness, both, within and without.
To BE BETTER at banishing the bleak shade…
Stop cursing, and light the lamp within instead!
- Pravin-da
Diwali or Deepavali has many legends associated with it. In North India, it is associated with the story in Ramayana where people of Ayodhya welcomed Rama (after a 14-year exile) by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa). In South India, it is celebrated as the day Lord Krishna defeated Narakasura.
Founder of Jainism, Mahaveer is said to have attained Nirvana on this very day. Additionally as the day, chief disciple of Mahaveer, Gautam Swami attained complete knowledge, makes Diwali an important Jain festival. Sikhs celebrate Diwali as the day of the release from prison of their sixth Guru, Hargobind along with 52 other princes with him, from detention in the Gwalior Fort in 1619.
For the Hindus, the festival marks the triumph of good over evil and the homecoming of goodwill and faith. For the Jains it is a celebration of complete knowledge. For the Sikhs, it is a struggle for freedom. And it is a confluence of all these reasons that will add meaning and purpose to our lives.
Hence when we seek to banish the darkness, it is not enough to light lamps only during the Festival of Lights. We must join the fight of the “right” against “might”. We have to connect with our faith in human values of equality, justice and peace for all. We need to connect to knowledge and a better understanding with what’s happening around us. And of course, let’s embark on the struggle for freedom from darkness, both, within and without.
To BE BETTER at banishing the bleak shade…
Stop cursing, and light the lamp within instead!
- Pravin-da
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