There is so much to do. There are deadlines, assignments, projects, presentations, workshops, part-time jobs, friends and more. In reality the world is pulling and pushing us. There is stress, anxiety, confusion and imbalance in abundance in our daily lives. Somewhere, it affects our work and there is lack of clarity and focus. Sadly, education has not taught us to understand ourselves. This reminds me of Albert Einstein saying, “Any fool can know. What is important is to understand.”
How are we going to deal with this? More than any sermon or workshop the best solution is within us.
Know yourselfCatch a few moments of silence everyday. One needs to turn inwards and introspect. Focus on your thought and slowly bring silence to the constant chattering of the mind. When you are reading these lines, the idea may sound philosophical or spiritual. Well, why not try this as a hypothesis and explore it?
You run the slides in your presentation. Similarly, visualise the slides of thoughts running through your mind. Pause. Study, observe and understand your own thought process and the pattern of its flow, in segments. Then slowly divide them and try to de-clutter them. As you de-clutter your home, you find a space to keep something. Likewise, you are creating a space within yourself. It’s a way to stretch a little. A way to grow beyond, become multidimensional, understand yourself.
As you discover the space within yourself, listen. From that will arise clarity and intelligence. This space is very much needed to be proactive. With this space comes creativity and self-expression. When unnecessary thoughts slow down it helps you to channelise your thinking with focussed energy that will drive you to carry on the day forward with keen alertness. This will give you clarity to approach the problem and enable you to find sensible, clear solutions. Fresh and right decisions emerge. You will grow in strength with your inner stability and balance. This is a way to develop patience to resolve conflicts in an intelligent way with sound decisions. Try this out like an experiment.
This is something that is not going to happen in one day. But just begin your new journey. Be gentle with yourself. You would be surprised with the changes. You will be able to face people and situations with tact and learn the art of seeing life clearly with a balanced mind. To recall a quote of Aristotle, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
Gift yourself introspection this year and begin this unique inner journey. Life becomes beautiful. Experiences become exciting. Discover your new you!
The writer is a Research Scholar, Bharathiar University ,Coimbatore.
