Momentum and Crisis

As we continue to do things at our pace, we soon become trapped in its momentum. Let me explain through an example. Let us say that a person has a sedantary life and he never jogs or runs. Over a few years, he will loose his stamina to run for long. Now say there is a situation where he has to run a long distance. Say a thief has snatched his money and ran off. The person will not be able to chase the thief and will soon give up no matter how big the amount, the thief has taken away. Similar is the case with financial discipline. If a person with poor financial discsipline suffers a financial loss, he will not be able to change his habit soon and will continue to have little control on finances. He will not be prepared to take on the stress of financial discipline that the situation demands. The same is true for other habits like time management, eating habits or maintaining a good heath.

A crisis therefore is a result of the momentum we have built and at the same time an opportunity to break that momentum of habit. The balance between the ability to change the momentum and the severity of the crisis is very important. If you are able to come out of the crisis, it means you had the ability to arrest the momentum and adapt to the new demands of the situation. If you are not, then you are finished for ever. It is for every person to decide individually as to how much of a momentum he can afford to build so that he can adapt and change when crisis hits.

Break free from Time

Time is reflected in change. Something that never changes form has no relevance for time. We always focus on time to plan our schedules and meetings. Look at nature !. It focuses on bringing changes in forms. It focuses on the phenomenon, on changing the situation. It has no consideration for time. It has all the time! It defines time.

We will add a new dimension to out thought if we focus on the phenomenon and not time. We plan our schedules as per time. Like we get-up in the morning and say 9 am , let me have my breakfast, leave for office at 9.30 and so on.

Rather we should see how the situation around us is changing. How the phenomenon are being set into motion. So if instead of looking at the watch and saying, let me leave at 9.30 for office, we rather look at the situation, then the perspective changes. By focusing on the situation you might say “Oh there is a road that has been dug-up last night and there could be a traffic jam, so let me alter my time or my route or my conveyance”. While this is a small example, the habit of thinking in terms of situations has big impact as we practice it more. We start focusing on what we want to achieve and alternates, leading to creative ways of breaking free from time constraint.

Completeness

My friend remarked one day ‘ To know a situation completely, you should see it from the perspective being in the frame and also from being out of the frame”.

I started to realise the truth and apply it to life in general. Just like when we are driving a car, we are in the frame of car and the world looks one way to us. Step out of the car, the frame and the perspective of the situation changes. Often when we are in a jam for long, we step out of it, to get out of frame and get a fuller perspective. It helps !

But what about jams in our lives? Why don’t we step out of the frame, when our life gets jammed, when the happiness gets jammed, when peace, progress, creativity and joys get jammed!! Because we do not know how to… But what is the life- frame? If it is defined, we can step out of it. The frame is the world of our senses. No matter how hard we try, our five senses will keep us within the same frame. Go beyond…There is something more than the five senses. That is called the sixth sense, the intuition. Yes ! That is where the boundaries of our frame break.

The world beyond the senses is perceived by intuition and intuition is built by concentration. Practice concentration and you will intuitively know the completeness.

Process of Life

Today i remember my father’s elder brother. An year ago he passed away.  He was a Professor of English and had a very acute observation. In one of his notes on the process of life, he wrote  as below.

“The process of life is gradual imperceptible disintegration, if not degeneration, a process as imperceptible as that of ageing. Just as we do not see the minute changes in our physiognomy as we trample the years of life to march forward, so is this process.

Any coherent, harmonious view that you hold of the given constituents of your accidental life is specifically time- bound for those constituents human or non-human have their own self-centered objectivity or internal attitudes which disregard your view” – Prof. J. L Davessar.