வானத்தில் ஒரு முழு நிலவு
அதைப் பார்த்ததும் எனக்கு அவள் நினைவு
அவள் இரவில் மட்டும் வருகின்றாள் என் கனவில் மட்டும் தெரிகின்றாள்
விடிந்ததும் மறைகின்றாள்
அவளும் நிலவும் ஒன்றோ ?
இஸ்ரோவின் துணைகொண்டு
இப் புதிருக்கு விடை காண்பேன்
” சார் விமானம் கிளம்பியாச்சு இன்னும் ஒரு மணி நேரத்தில் வந்திடும்” என்னக் கூறி மாவட்ட காவல்துறை எஸ்பி தனது தொலைப்பேசி இணைப்பைத் துண்டித்தார்.
அந்த மாநிலத் தலைநகர விமான நிலையத்தில் ஒரே பரபரப்பு. உயிருக்குப் போராடிக் கொண்டிருக்கும் அந்த மாநில முதல்வருக்கு மாற்றுச் சிகிச்சைக்கான இதயம் அந்த விமானத்தில் வந்து கொண்டிருந்தது.
” நான் இறக்கும் வரை என் மக்களை விழித்திருக்க விழிப்புடன் இருக்க என்னாலான சேவையைத் தொடர்ந்து செய்வேன்” என்று பொது மேடையில் முழக்கமிட்டு விட்டு தன் கட்சித் தொண்டர்களுடன் காரில் சென்று கொண்டிருந்த அந்த மாநிலத்தின் எதிர்க்கட்சித்தலைவர் எதிர்பாராமல் ஏற்பட்ட விபத்தில் படுகாயமடைந்து ஒரு தனியார் மருத்துவமனையில் சிகிச்சைக்காக அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டார். அவருக்கு மூளைச்சாவு ஏற்பட்டதால் அவரது குடும்பம் அவரது உடல் உறுப்புகளைத் தானமாக வழங்க முன்வந்தனர். ஆகையால் எதிர்க்கட்சித் தலைவரின் இதயம் அந்த மாநிலத்தின் முதல்வர் உடம்பில் பொருத்த ஒரு வாய்ப்பு உருவாகியது.
காவல்துறையினர் உதவியுடன் எந்த சிரமமும் இல்லாமல் ஒரு மணி நேரத்தில் கொண்டுவரப்பட்ட இதயம் கை தேர்ந்த மருத்துவ வல்லுநர்களால் இருதய மாற்றுச் சிகிச்சையின் மூலம் முதலமைச்சருக்குப் பொருத்தப்பட்டது. அவர் மறுவாழ்வு பெற்றார்.
சிறிது காலம் ஓய்வு பெற்ற பிறகு செய்தியாளர்களைச் சந்தித்த முதல்வர் முதலில் கூறியது ” உடல் எனது, இருதயம் அவருடையது இரண்டுமே மக்கள் நலத்துக்கு, வாருங்கள் ஒன்றுபடுவோம் வென்று விடுவோம்”.
அவள் வீட்டு ஜன்னல் கதவு கண்ணாடியில் தெரிகிறது முழுநிலவு
ஓரிடத்தில் எப்படி இரு நிலவு ?
“Why they don’t understand and act as the situation requires?” Gaurav kept asking himself repeatedly. He was very upset with his team. He closed his laptop and walked out of his office. He was desperate to have a short break. He stepped out of his office, crossed the lane and went to that only tea shop. There he chose to sit on a road facing seat and ordered for a cup of tea.
The lane was less crowded as there were only two office complex and a few residential houses. As the hot tea was served, he sipped it and started to think asking himself a question – ‘‘Why do people do what they do?’’
As Gaurav was thinking hard, he saw a snake charmer coming and as his attention got diverted, he started observing him. The snake charmer found a place very close to the tea shop , sat there all set to entertain a small crowd by making his snakes dance by playing music. The show started and there were two snakes performing the dance to the music played by the snake charmer.
Gaurav was keenly observing the happenings with the hot cup of tea in his hand. He made the following observations!
This made Gaurav think;
All the subjects were watching the same snake show but their actions/reactions differed. Seeing this, he was able to draw some parallels to what had happened in his office some minutes ago.
He and his team were discussing the same sales figures, and he noticed how indifferent his team members were, it made him upset hence his visit to the tea shop.
While he was very serious and sincere trying to understand why the sales performance was low , some of his team members were very silent and keeping a safe distance from the discussion and while others were like those two young boys remained casual without any seriousness.
Gaurav was expecting every member of his team to see the situation as he saw, but it didn’t happen that way. What he thought about the situation made complete sense to him but not for others. He was wondering why it is so ?
He got the answer while watching the snake show. In the world of those young boys’ snakes aren’t dangerous so they were just enjoying and touching it without any fear. In the case of the second set of people, the snakes are dangerous, so they were maintaining a safe distance. And for the rest after confirming that those snakes weren’t poisonous, they were comfortable touching and holding it.
The problem is, in a given situation a person assumes that the situation appears in the same way for others as it appears for him, but in reality, the same situation appears different for different people hence their action / reaction to a given situation differs. If we want to alter the action of others first, we need to understand how the given situation occurs to them or how they see a given situation and alter it.
He smiled and with a satisfaction of finding something profound Gaurav finished his cup of tea and started walking back to his office energized.
தினம் தினம் இவன் குடிக்கிறான்
இரவில் தன்னைத்தானே மறக்கிறான்
மதுவை அருந்தி
மதியை இழந்து
தன் துன்பம் கரைய
மதுவே மருந்து
அதுவே இன்பம்
என நினைக்கிறான்
பின் பொழுது விடிந்து
போதை கலைந்து
முன் இரவு தன் நடத்தை
நினைத்துத் துன்புற்று
கூனிக்குறுகி நிற்கிறான்
அச்சோகம் அவனைத்தழுவ
மாலை அவன் மதி கொஞ்சம் நழுவ
திரும்பவும் மதுவைக் குடிக்கிறான்
மதுக் கோப்பை அது அவன் கையில்.
இன்பதுன்பம்
யார் கையில் ?
Staying Positive in Uncertain Times
During uncertain times things aren’t working, the way we want – this is very much true for the organisations we work as well as in our personal lives. We all have experienced this. There are multitudes of problems, and we struggle to decide on which one to act first. We try to pick one and put our best efforts to resolve it only to find an emergence of another new problem, but as we look back into the history there are clear sherds of evidence to substantiate the fact that there is an equal element of uncertainty to uncertain times as well, they also don’t last forever.
Uncertainty to certainty to certainty to uncertainty is a cycle which the world goes through. The key to success during uncertain times is how we manage to adapt ourselves to sail through the rough seas during the cycle of change.
“The bigger issue is, how do we deal with the status quo vs change paradox in life? The mistake we make when it comes to change is this – we compare the best-case scenario of the current situation against the worst-case scenario of the new change.”
The above is an extract of a recent article written by Chetan Bhagat. This struck me very hard as it answered a question I had inside me for long – “ Why change is scary? “
If we have to grow in life, we need to embrace change. Everyone knows it but when it’s time most of us resist change. Why so? It is because in those times, fear is always near to us, and it is a big impediment in our path to progress.
Why do we fear? As human beings our survival instincts are tuned to scan the environment for threats and when we find one, we experience fear as our first response. Fear is contagious and it spreads very fast taking control of us. Also, we are negatively biased. Negativity bias is a physiological phenomenon by which humans pay more attention to and give more weight to negative rather than to positive experiences. Bad is stronger than good, if we are aware of this and consciously focus towards the good, we can emerge as the Strongest. To put it in simple terms Be Positive and embrace Positivity.
What is positivity? It is defined as the practice of being or tendency to be positive or optimistic in attitude.
How does it help?
Lao Tzu said
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
Ultimately it says, “We are what we think” hence it is logical to always think of the good things. When our mind is filled with happy, positive and joyful thoughts, the result is positive actions making others happy and us. It is always the opposite with the negative thoughts – This doesn’t need any proof as we all have experienced it many times in our life.
The research has also shown that apart from aiding us to grow being positive also helps us in many other ways – to list a few
Currently, the world is battling with the Corona pandemic, and it is fall outs mainly the disruptions in the economy, has already impacted all of us in one way or the other. No doubt we are now in a VUCA environment, where one decision impacts the other in multiple ways, where there is absolute lack of clarity, where the present is uncertain, the future impossible to predict, the changes happening so fast, and it’s difficult to catch up. Under these circumstances the need to be positive is more pressing than before.
I can clearly hear your mind voice and the question it poses – “Does being positive solve all the problems? “No definitely not. It is like having an umbrella in our hand, though it cannot stop the rain, still it allows us to stand and/or walk in the rain. It is like faith in god. It may not remove our trials but gives us strength to overcome them. Being Positive gives us the strength and vigour to face the challenges head on and sail through the difficult times.
How to be positive ? Do the thing, most of us like to do – GO TO BAR
GO TO BAR – Please don’t read and understand this in the literal sense. It is an acronym coined to describe the different attributes of being positive based on what I have read, learned and experienced in my life till date. The intention is to keep the acronym catchy so that it sinks well into your mind.
Now let us GO TO BAR
G – Good ( Keeping a good Company)
O – Observation ( Power of Observation)
T – Thoughts ( Makes or breaks us )
O – Optimism
B – Breath
A – Awareness
R – Real ( Accepting the reality )
Good : The people with whom we spend our time, have a huge impact on our life. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” says American entrepreneur and motivational speaker – Jim Rohin. More the time we spend with Positive people more positive we become, so we should mind our company.
Observation: The power of observation is the ability to notice and pay close attention to things happening around us. We need to have a belief ( a positive belief) that, there are many things we can learn from all that are around us. Every day learning through the power of observation equips us to handle the challenges better.
Thoughts : We are what we think, our thoughts either makes or breaks us. Our thoughts to a very large extent navigate us thorough life . They are immensely powerful. How we feel , act and decide is determined by our thoughts. For changing our lives for better, positive thoughts are the most powerful tool we have.
Optimism : It is the hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something. Optimists always view hardships as a temporary setback and treat them as a learning experience. They always choose to see the brightest side of things. If we choose to have Optimism as our dominant trait, we will be less affected however bad the events may be.
Breath : The breath of life it is called. It not only supplies the fuel oxygen to our body, but the effective breathing provides us with a greater sense of mental clarity. Practicing deep breathing techniques helps us to slow down and relax our otherwise cluttered mind and sets it in a positive frame.
Awareness : Are we adding years to our life, or value to our lives depends on the level of awareness we acquire. When we are aware of the happenings in our life, we can change our inner state of being which is very much in our control rather than fretting and reacting to the things happening outside, external to us wherein we have no control. This gives us a positive control over the things in life.
Real ( Accepting the Reality): By giving up the fictional version of our lives and learning to accept that is real and acknowledging, what it is helps. In the fight with reality it always wins. To keep it short, if we are in terms with reality, we are in a much better position to handle it.
Now, GO TO BAR often and raise your bar.
Every one of us is tuned to think in certain ways based on our past learning and experience so don’t expect to become an overnight optimist just stepping into GO TO BAR once.
Aristotle said ,“ We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then , is not an act, but a habit.” Hence, with constant practice, we will start to think and be positive in our life’s circumstances and eventually Positivity will become our dominant trait. Then we will handle the life’s challenges in a more constructive way however bad the situations be.
Come let us GO TO BAR.
Experiences & Experiments 