Random Thought 1

By now you must have realized that this bog is different from most of the other blogs out there. Some blogs relate to the personal life or personal daily schedules of the writers while others discuss the various current domestic or world affairs. After visiting such blogs and reading all that the authors have got to write, I decided to make my blog different.

As mentioned in the introduction of my blog, I have already mentioned that I think and that thinking needs an outlet, since most of it is creative and I need more space which can only be made for the new thinking patterns when I get rid of the old ones. Now, this is the primary purpose of creating this blog. The thinking and the ideas and the necessary elaboration of the issues are indispensable.

So I find myself here again and again trying to give myself an outlet to the creative thoughts that creep into my mind and grow there. Though innumerable thoughts come to my mind every day I am able to relate to a few of them when I start writing. So this is the possible reason for my writing to be restricted to a few topics. I am working on my shortcomings and hope to improve upon them in the short term. I believe that identifying a shortcoming plays an important role in one's improvement plan. This, also, is the first step which a person can take in the positive direction i.e. towards improving. As you might already be aware that improvement need change.

I have already written about how change is the only constant factor in life. Now, change as described earlier is a change in the current situation or a relative difference between the current and previous situation. The change can be in any direction, but when we talk in the two dimensions and that too along the straight line; it could be a positive change or negative change. The nature of the change is dependent upon the how you view it. Broadly, any change which is for the betterment of the present situation can be termed as a positive change and any change which leads to the worsening of the present condition can be termed as a negative change. It takes time for an individual fin realizing whether the steps he has taken have taken him towards positive change or negative change.

As per a popular adage - the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step and also well begun is half done, tends to highlight the importance of the first step that needs to be taken towards changing . Before this first step can be taken towards change comes the resolve to change and even before that comes the identification of the need for change and the specific areas where change needs to be brought about. Now, we may be able to see that the willingness to change comes after we identify the shortcoming, which is one of our weaknesses.

The identification of one's weakness and acknowledging it is a huge task which required confidence, self-esteem, and objective outlook. The reason why I have included objective outlook as one of the ingredients is because one cannot identify a shortcoming if he thinks of it as "his" shortcoming". The Subjectivism need to be set aside. You are less likely to see problems if you look at them as "your problems", whereas, the problems can be easily be identified if you look at them as merely problems which need to be solved by looking for a solution irrespective of the how’s and whys of it. If you are unable to inculcate this objectivism in yourself then a third person needs to be roped in to do it on your behalf. But let me warn you, he will not be as successful in identifying your deficiencies as you yourself are. His observations are solely dependent on your ability to express your observations.

It is just like hiring an external agent to do the work les efficiently as compared to the efficiency and the utilization of the time when you do it yourself. Nonetheless, do add this as one of your shortcomings in case you need to get an external agent to do it ob your behalf. I relate a quote of the famous industrialist Mr. Anil Ambani of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) “do not hire a consultant to tell you the time form your own watch". Also, one you have taken upon the task of improvement, make a strong resolve to abide by the plan that you are going to make. It will be a test of your resolve. If you cannot resolve to improve yourself, you may not be able to resolve to do anything, since most of the thinks need a steel resolve to take up tasks and achieve the goals.

One way of thinking that I read about was the reverse process of our conventional way of thinking. Instead of moving towards our goal from our present position, we identify the goal and trace our path backwards to our current position. Though this way of thinking has its own advantages, I feel that if we use a combination of both the strategies we will be able to plan our line of action and the path towards our goal in a timely and more efficient manner. Add to it the flexibility that we get out of it. At any time if we feel that there is lack of clarity, we can switch strategies. It also boosts are confidence to see that we have alternate courses to work on.

What comes to my mind is a question that I would like to ask you. You must be aware about the electrical earthing that is given to the electrical circuits to make them safer from short circuits and the resulting fires. The wire is connected from the main board and left to the ground. If you catch hold of that wire while the current is passing thru it, you don’t receive an electric shock. But if you touch another wire while the current is passing thru it ad it is connected to something other than the ground then you will definitely get a shock.

Why the difference when the situations are similar - the wires are made of copper, both the wires are carrying current, the person touching the wires in succession is same. The only difference is that one of the wires is connected to the ground and the other is connected to some particular appliance. The reason is that the resistance of the copper wire is less than the resistance offered to the current by your body. In other words, copper is a better conductor of current than your body and electric current takes the path of least cu resistance.

Same is the case is with water. Have you ever observed flowing water or even spilled water for that case? The water will start flowing towards the comparative lower point in the plane. In the case of a stream it always flows down from the mountains or the hills - why? Because it has the force of gravity acting on it which forces it to take any path possible to reach the lowest possible place in its course. What does this mean- this means that there is inherently something that pulls us downwards and prevents us from rising? I remember one of the interviews of Bruce LEE - the famous martial arts expert, quotes “one should be like water and inculcate the habit of taking the shape of whatever vessel one is put in". Simple put this means that one needs to be formless and should adjust oneself in accordance with the situation that one has to face. You put water in a jug- it takes the shape of the jug, you put water in a tumbler- it becomes a tumbler, and it goes this way for any container that might be used to store water in. Can there be any other element as versatile in character as water.

We need to have an attitude and that too a positive on. This is not a difficulty task, maintaining one in the face of adversity is.

We as humans lay our arms in front of nature- our own innate human nature. Let me tell you frankly, we are taming the wrong nature. We must utilize our time on earth to find out new, novel and effective ways of taming the human nature, but instead we are trying to tame Mother Nature. This will prove to be the most fatal mistake that humankind would ever have made, and believe me it is going to but a question mark on the existence of the human race itself. The humans consider themselves to be at the top of the pyramid of living beings due to their ability to think and communicate. But how effectively do we think and what about communication.

We have, in the name of our progress, carried out activities that have led to the extinction of so many species. According to he latest reports available from the WWF, we are losing out; one species is becoming extinct with each passing day. It will not be long before this intelligent species will create conditions when there would be no other species left. The human race will itself be responsible for their own extinction, since Mother Nature will strike back, and with all her fury. Then it will be too late for the humans to realize the extent of damage that has been done, and that they were trying to tame the wrong nature.

The damage caused is irreparable, and the bygones cannot be allowed to be forgotten, but there is still time and the future can be secured by bringing about a huge shift in paradigm of human thinking. It is really a pressing need for us to change the nature that we are trying to tame. Currently we are being myopic in our vision of our future, we are thinking about food for all, housing for all, medical facilities for all. Do u see that the word "all" in common in all the sentences. If we reduce the number in “all" we can reduce the amount of development that is needed, that would lead to a faster pace of the development.

I do not think that we will take his path, as we do to our inherent nature innate to us will be bogged down by the forces of nature. We have a destiny to wards which we are moving thinking that we are progressing, but maybe we are oblivious of the fact that we are crafting our own end which will be the fresh beginning to a new world. In a nutshell, we are going back to the future.