Declutter

Einstein was once asked what his phone number was. He went to the phone book to look it up. He said he never cluttered his mind with information he could find elsewhere.

 

Most people would think of people who went to the phone book to look up their number as a being less competent. But you would miss someone like Einstein. For most of us who cannot avoid the clutter, we must choose to declutter.

 

Whether you tackle it as part of downsizing effort or simply to simplify your life, decluttering is often difficult. The clutter is a careless pile created by holding on to the unnecessary. Over a period of time, the mess keeps piling up and starts looming large.

 

The best way to make decluttering easier is doing it in stages: focus on one area, one space, or even one zone within an area, completing the job fully before moving on to the next space. This will also build confidence as you experience visible success at each step. 

 

one thing at a time, ensure are cleared

the shackles fall only when decluttered

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Poetry

Held every year on 21 March, World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of expression and identity. In every culture, poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and expression.

UNESCO first adopted World Poetry Day during its General Conference in Paris in 1999. It is the occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals and foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting.

 

From sonnets to haikus, from elegy to epic, from rhyme to free form… poetry has been luring us to multiple perspectives. And it is these varied visions that invoke insight, inspiration and even action. Revolutions as well as reformations have been triggered by the power of poetry.

 

Poetry has always been a great teacher. In the kindergarten, we learn easily with rhyme. In higher education, the relegation of poetry leads to difficulties in learning. However, lyrics of ‘we didn’t start the fire’ helped us remember historical sequences.

 

When we choose to indulge in poetry, it leads us to interesting perspectives. It transports us into a world of insights and possibilities. It takes us back to being child-like, open-minded and eager to embrace the new.

 

Indulge in the poetic brew

Explore perspectives new!

 

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Giving

A Zen master’s school was in urgent need of repairs. A rich man generously donated five hundred ryo (gold pieces). However, after handing over the sack of gold, he was disappointed with the attitude of the teacher who did not thank him.

Slyly he hinted, ‘There are five hundred ryo in the sack’. The master remained silent. ‘Even if I am wealthy, five hundred ryo is a lot of money,’ the rich man persisted. The master calmly asked, ‘Do you want me to thank you for it?’

 ‘Shouldn’t you?’ queried the donor. ‘Why should I?’ retorted the master, ‘The giver should be thankful.’

So often, when we give or share our riches, we hold on to the expectation of being thanked. Appreciation as a prerequisite offsets the most sincere of intentions and actions. It is the reason for grief and hurt for the giver when not thanked.

We must break the fetters of expectation. Otherwise our otherwise noble action will turn into a bartered transaction. Generosity should not be combined with commerce-like hope of appreciation.

The inner joy that should naturally follow a good deed is stifled by an unfilled expectation of reciprocal thanks-giving. Let’s instead be grateful at the joy that comes out of unconditional giving.

Let go of the expectation of thanking

Choose the joy of unqualified giving!

- Pravin K Sabnis

Script

 In a bizarre moment, an Indian TV host berated the wrong guest during a live debate about the Russia-Ukraine war. TV host Rahul Shivshankar scolded international policy expert Daniel McAdams, asking him to shut up when he had not spoken a word. He had picked up his script but had got the characters mixed up.

 In psychology, behavioral scripts are a sequence of expected behaviors for a given situation. Scripts include default standards for the actors, props, setting, and sequence of events that are expected to occur in a particular situation.

 People continually follow scripts acquired through habit, practice and repeated routine. A script can be useful as it helps save the time and mental effort of deciding on appropriate behaviour each time a situation is met, but only if it is with the right intent.

 In Rahul Shivshankar’s case, his script was to berate and blame, scold and shout at the other persons on the debate. His script was of him as the valiant hero and the other as the pathetic villain. But, he ended up looking the clueless comic.

 So often, so many of us have a tendency to habituate scripts to negatively affect perceptions, judgments, cognition and behaviour. Such scripts combined with social norms encourage us to use them to stereotype and develop prejudice toward others.

 Check the script that you have chosen

Ensure your mind is open, not frozen!

 - Pravin K Sabnis

 

Scientific

 All persons of science may not be scientific - Pedro

 India celebrates National Science Day today. It marks the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian scientist C V Raman on 28 February 1928.For this discovery, he was awarded the Noble Prize for Physics in 1930

 A scientist is someone who systematically gathers and uses research and evidence, to make hypotheses and test them, to gain and share understanding and knowledge. In different fields, a scientist is agronomist, astronomer, botanist, chemist, geologist, ecologist, biologist, physicist, zoologist, so on and so forth.

 However all scientists are united by their relentless curiosity and systematic approach to assuaging it. The scientists in these fields ask different questions and perform different tests. However, they use the same core approach to find answers that are logical and supported by evidence.

 Sadly, some who describe themselves as men of science, may not be following the scientific method. They are unable to break the conditioning of their mind and their prejudices and biases. They forget to put things to the test of critical thinking. They end up supporting pseudo-sciences and fraudmen.

 Scientific temper is about being open-minded. We must welcome new light, new knowledge, new experiments, even when their results are unfavourable to preconceived opinions and long-cherished theories. Yet, so often, so many of us succumb to information without due examination.

 Developing a scientific temper is a fundamental duty under Constitution of India. Article 51-A-h speaks about it in alignment with humanism and a spirit of inquiry and reform. What Science confirms as truth as of now, may change tomorrow with new context and insights. And it is scientific temper that will lead us to that reality.

 Keep an open & questioning mind

Scientific is Terrific, you will find!

 - Pravin K Sabnis

 

Empty Boat

Ancient Chinese philosopher, Zhuang Zhou wrote about a boatman cruising on a river when he noticed a boat on a collision course. He began calling out to the boat’s owner to change course. As the boat closed in on him, he cursed and shouted louder.

As the two boats collided, he screamed out, threatening the other and calling him names. But he discovered that the other boat was empty. The man stopped yelling as there was no point in screaming at an empty boat.

The man’s rage reduced when he realized no one was at fault. When there is no one to blame for a mishap, we behave calmly. But when we perceive someone is at fault, we feel justified to angrily jump into the blame game.

Most of the time, we are screaming at an empty vessel. Even if the boat is not empty, rage is not a good. Actually, we punish ourselves when we allow our perceptions of others’ behaviour to affect us negatively. So we can scream at an empty boat or we can reach out, support and encourage others.

We have choices all the time. We can shout at an empty or occupied boat or we can choose to be kind and make our world a better place as we respond to people at work, at home and in the community. It is best to empty our boat of reactionary behaviour. After all, empty boats do not find fault with other boats, empty or otherwise.

Don’t treat every mishap as assault

Empty boats don’t fight to find fault!

- Pravin K Sabnis

Amor Vincit Omnia

Amor Vincit Omnia is a Latin phrase for ‘love conquers all things’. Shortly before the start of the first millennium, the Roman poet Virgil wrote ‘love conquers all things; let us too surrender to Love.’

The expression is self-explanatory being so clear within itself. It gained weight of a proverb. W. H. Auden, John Gower, Diane Wakoski, and many poets used it into their writing. A character in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written in the late 1300s, wore a brooch engraved ‘Amor Vincit Omnia.’ The phrase caught on…

The phrase is an apt compass in a world of growing prejudice and increasing distrust and hostility. Love can win. Hate can only defeat. We must choose to yield to love rather than hate. The victory of love is to connect to hearts. The triumph of hate is to subdue or slaughter the other.

Love actually is the beginning of a conversation. Conversation is about expressive speaking as well as responsive listening. And conversations end on a positive win-win note when aligned to the belief of ‘Amor Vincit Omnia.’

Amor Vincit Omnia is a great way

Love ensures win-win every day!

- Pravin K Sabnis