Monday, November 25, 2013

Potential within

Poet-saint Kabir wrote profound philosophy employing easily identifiable idioms and simple vocabulary. My favourite verse written by him (in Hindi) is…
‘Jo til mein hai tel, jo jagmag mein hai aag,
tera Sai hai tere andar, jaag sake tho jaag’
(like sesame seeds hold oil, like flint stones hold fire,
Your potential lies within, wake up to this fact)
Sesame seeds need to be crushed to be release the oil that lies within. Two stones when struck against each other create the spark that can kindle a fire. The capacity in both cases is inherent and suitable action creates the desired result. Kabir says that similarly every man’s potential lies within and it is important to accept that potential lies within.
However, unlike sesame seeds, humans do not need external pressure to unleash their inner potential nor do they need to be struck against (compared with) another person to kindle the spark. So often, we do things only because we are externally forced to do so by others or to measure up to be compared to another’s capacity.
We are owners of prospective possibilities to do great things. We need to awaken and look inwards. We need to see what we are and what we can be. Potential needs to be first discovered by the one who possess it. Too often, we put ourselves down, because we fail to remove our blinkers of self-doubt while looking inwards and within. To be better at performing we must first recognise those facets to our personalities that lie unexplored.
Awake to BE BETTER at true recognition...
To convert inherent potential into action!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Goa, India.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Be Nervous

Over an amazing run of 24 years, Sachin Tendulkar was able to sustain success in the game of cricket. The reasons are many: focussed dedication, consistent discipline, well grounded humility, strong emotional support from his family... but it is pertinent to consider one more factor, spelled out by the little master himself: nervousness never left him.
Even after grabbing most world records for batting, Tendulkar was always edgy every time he walked up to bat. He has shared often about being anxious by saying, ‘I believe feeling nervous enables one to give his best. You can get nervous only when you care about something and I care about cricket!’
We tend to believe that those who are nervous are not prepared or are not confident enough. But we find even confident, well-prepared persons to be nervous. On the other hand, there are ones who are care-free even when ill-prepared. This is so because things don’t matter to them. When they will be working on things which really matter to them, they will be found nervous.
Nervousness is the indication of concern and care. Like Tendulkar was always nervous about playing well for his country, seasoned actors feel the shivers before their performance. Senior scientists are uneasy when the space satellite they developed is to be launched. Flourishing businessmen lose their sleep before the launch of a new product or service.
It is wrong to look down upon nervous people (including ourselves) and judge them (or us) just by it. It is part of our emotions to be nervous. While it is good to be confident, it would be better to be nervous such that we never turn complacent or lose exciting emotions. When we start off on something new, it is natural to be nervous. The query is whether we can hold on it, like Tendulkar did to the very end of his glorious career.
Tendulkar never let go of nervousness born out of care...
Let’s emulate him to BE BETTER with everything we dare!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Goa, India.

Monday, November 11, 2013

Sing often

Last weekend, the Samraat Club Panaji organised its annual fellowship event – Deep Sandhya – the festival of lights being celebrated by the families of the members of the club. Glamour photographer and make-up artist, Sanjeev Salvi was orchestrated the entertainment using Karoake - a system of pre-recorded music accompaniment to songs whose words appear on a video screen.
Sanjeev was comfortable due to his competency to sing to the pre-recorded music. But the rest of us had inhibitions. We were not very comfortable syncing the words with the music that played. But as the evening progressed, the singing seemed liberated. Those who were scratchy during their first attempt seemed at ease while belting out a second song.
Very few children, who sing well in their childhood, retain their skill to sing, when they grow older. They stop singing for various reasons. Some lose the belief. Some lose the interest to develop the skill. Some sing in their minds. Some do not sing at all.
Many wrongly believe that singing is talent, when eventually it is a well honed skill that gets better by doing it again. Eventually it is to be seen whether all of us who discovered the potential of singing can develop it further by doing it often... After all, to be better at anything, we have to do it again and again!
There is an artist, a singer, a dancer, a story teller in all of us. But often our potential is unfairly condemned under our own expectation of its worthiness before an audience. It is foolish to compare ourselves with professionals. More importantly, the best of singers do not get better by comparing themselves with the singing greats. Rather they get inspired by their icons to keep singing.
to BE BETTER at the ability to sing…
doing it often is the right thing!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Goa, India.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Beyond Sympathy

In 1993, just before Diwali, the Latur earthquake uprooted lives, families and homes. Many felt pity and sympathy for the affected people. Some joined the emotional response of donating money and material. But the most valuable lesson came from the families who chose to scale down Diwali celebrations to the bare minimum… as they would have if tragedy were to strike their own home. The money was instead spent for relief work.
Our ability to connect with another’s predicament can vary from insensitive indifference to sensitive sympathy. While sympathy is good, empathy is better! It is beyond sympathy. Pity is ‘feeling sorry’ for someone in trouble and in need of help. Sympathy is feeling compassion or concern for another, the wish to see them better off or happier. We may instinctively 'catch' the emotions that others are showing without necessarily recognizing this is happening.
Andre Gide queried aptly, ‘Are you then unable to recognize unless it has the same sound as yours?’ Empathy is about recognizing the ‘sound’ of another’s experience even if it is unlike any of ours. It is about putting oneself into the psychological frame of reference of another, so that the other person’s feelings, thinking and actions are understood.
However, empathy should not be an occasional emotion… unravelled only in times of great tragedy. We cuddle contradictions if we practise empathy as a response to ecological calamities while ignoring the fact that they are a result of man-made decisions that trigger the disaster. Hence, we must be better at hearing the ‘sound’ before the ‘noise’ happens. Real empathy is about consistency in our actions to be responsible and responsive human beings.
To BE BETTER at the response of empathy…
Let’s move beyond situational sympathy!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Goa, India.