Don't be a slave of your Life__of this
lifetime. Be a Master.
Last week I met a senior manager at a large company,
who had given 38 years of his Life to the company, and is serving a
post-retirement contract extension presently. He said, “I have been consumed
and cooked by my professional focus. It was a journey I did not regret so far.
But, suddenly, at 64, I wonder how many more active years I have for me to go
see and explore the world; to just stop being a manager and just be myself.”
His “awakening” perspective delivers a big lesson to
all of us. This Life has been gifted to us for us to lead it, to live it! Not
for us to be enslaved by it. Yet, don't we run this Life as if it were some
kind of a race? Some even call it a rat race. When you reach a point, like the
manager here has, you will wonder why did you run the race in the first place?
What did you race for or against? Liberate yourself. The biggest freedom movement
must be taking place within you, not just in some dictatorial regime in the
world. So stop running. Pause, introspect and initiate immediate action.
One way to set yourself free is to break away from
your routine and look beyond the predictable. This morning, even though it was
a Monday, we took a bunch of managers, who we are coaching, through a
Life-changing experience called “Dialogue in the Dark”. It is a personalized
exhibition tour in which you experience Life for about an hour in total
darkness. The experience humbles you, wanting you to count your blessings. It
makes you realize that your other senses are as strong as your ability to see,
which you believe naively to be your most indispensable sense. It teaches you
that you can and will survive when you are put in a situation. And most
importantly, doing it on a Monday morning, helps you to break away from the monotony
of your pressure-cooker schedule. Mondays need not be manic, need not mean bad traffic
and need not end up leaving you imprisoned in meaningless meetings. They can
mean something magical and liberating – if you step off the beaten path! Our
guide through the entire “Dialogue in the Dark” experience, Nithyanand, a
visually special (I hate to say impaired) person, had this to say, “I can’t
see. And I manage pretty well using my other senses.” The way he said this,
with total acceptance and with ease, made me wonder if we are indeed living our
lives to our fullest. With one sense down, he is. But are we? I came away
realizing, yet again, that when you know you can be your own Master, you can
and will make your Life count!
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