It’s not always about getting it Right!
In my last article, you must have read about how planning is a crucial key to ascending in life. This article is going to talk about the little steps you can take to help yourself become better and more conscious. Building consciousness helps one analyze situations and people better, evaluate one’s own strengths, and weakness, and become more reasonable about everything one does. However, consciousness does not come easy; it comes with a lot of patience, observance and practise. If you are conscious of the things you do as well as things that happen to you, you will be able to build, gauge and alter your plans in a more effective manner.
So, once again, welcome to my page “Life inside a box”. I have travelled far and wide, spoken to a lot of people from different countries and backgrounds. The insights, from lives and experiences of these people including my own, have lead me to start this hobby so that I can share my observations and opinions with you all and if you can resonate even slightly, my heart will be content.
For the longest time, I rated my life like my junior school report-card- “Can do better”- this feedback, from a teacher, sounds reasonable, right? But it is so astonishing that no one notices how little information this statement gives. I mean, of course, I can always do better at every point in my life but what was my teacher really trying to convey? “Can I do better in writing, science, language, numbers, what?’’ I still don’t know. Few students and parents care to ask the teacher to be more precise, to tell what that student should do to be better at X-Y-Z subject.
This habit of accepting whatever is said or written might have made our lives convenient but has certainly made our brains lazy. Most of us accept what is vague and very smartly assume the conclusion or build our own story-line around it. If you do this, you should get rid of this “assuming” habit as soon as possible. Let us see what are the other things one can do to become better.
1. You can start by asking questions. Utilize your freedom of speech and the power of your brain! Question, debate, and be as inquisitive as you were when you were a child. If you are not comfortable about shooting questions at the other person’s logic then you can start by questioning yourself. Figure out if what you just said made sense, or whether you really had a reason to say what you said, Or if the argument, you planned in your head, have good reasoning, Did your language make sense? Ask everything you can. Remember, your intellect as a child grew only because you questioned everything even though you may not have reasoned everything out by yourself, but now, you can. So why not? Never hold yourself back! Be polite but don’t shy away or shut your thoughts.
2. In addition, you can do things that give you a sense of accomplishment or make you feel all grown up and mature. I know, this one sounds particularly odd, but it’s way beyond effective. It boosts your confidence, makes you active, and helps you think better about yourself and in situations. These “things’’ may be different for everyone, for me, it is going for a jog (morning or evening), cooking lunch/dinner, reaching out to the younger ones (siblings/juniors) and helping them out with anything, a project, a contract, buying a dress etc. Doing things for others gives an immense sense of satisfaction and scientifically speaking, helping others or volunteering can reduce stress, help stay mentally stimulated, and the most important of all, give a sense of purpose. So, unless you’re extremely busy and so occupied that sleeping is the only break you get, please take time for yourself and try being there for your family, if not people in general.
3. Practise the above and make a habit out of it. This experiment will help you understand how being persistent and turning something into a good habit will ease your life.
In the early 1990s, MIT researchers conducted an experiment where they placed pieces of chocolate at the end of a maze and released mice to find them. The scientists put devices into the brains of the mice to measure their activity. They made two important discoveries:
1. The first discovery was one they expected–that the mice complete the maze more rapidly after each successive run. They got better each time they ran through the maze and reached their chocolate more quickly.
2. The second pattern was that as the mice got better at the maze, their brain activity decreased. They began developing a habit so that their brains needed less energy to engage in what they were doing.
Habits have that effect: running on autopilot for numerous acts that you participate in while freeing up brain power to take part in making other important decisions. So, practice, even if it messes up your mind for the first few days and I can tell you from experience, it will make you cry if it’s something very new to you and you will even face obstacles but keep going at it. Nothing can stop you from taking your life into your own hands and succeeding.
Sometimes people say that “reading a lot” can make you think but not materialize things into actions. So I urge you, take one of these actions today, or tomorrow (if it’s already midnight). But promise to yourself that you will do it and then do it! Let me know how did it go and how it made you feel, especially, if you take up the second advice. Good vibrations and wishes for you and your success. My next article/podcast will be about exploring new boundaries and where should one draw the line with experiments. Au Revoir!!
