Stand Still...

           

    This week passed in a wink. Before I realized it, the whole week just got over. I was fumbling to look for inspiration for my blog this Sunday but it felt like it just passed away in a blink and I had nothing at all to write about. It was a very stressful week. I had no time to think or my mind had no material to process and probably that’s why I feel the lack of inspiration.

'Chaos of the Urban mind' by Pedro Julian

              So when I actually sat down to write, I started looking for an answer to the question, what is it in life that inspires us? Is it our work, is it some person,or is it some incident? For me it is the time when your mind is actually at a rest mode and in the capability to think. Our lives are so full of things to do these days, so many responsibilities to attend to, so many distractions, so many other expectations to fulfill and so many societal pressures. Its like our life is full of chaos and we are constantly trying to race against time. The moment that we wake up in the morning we start planning our day, rush to work, travel on traffic laden streets, work entire day, come back home from a heavy traffic, attend to our duties as a family member and  finally doing some duty towards your body, we go off to sleep. Work these days is like a pressure cooker too. There are so many levels at which you may just keep dragging yourself to keep proving your worth. The temperament of the people working with you and around you also affects your work. I know, that at my work place if the boss is grumpy and for some reason is angry at the employee(including me sometimes), the whole day of the person goes wrong and he/she keeps making mistakes. Its not that the person is incompetent or doesn't know their jobs, its just that the stress or the pressure of performing is making them falter at each and every step of theirs. Its like getting caught in a whirlpool of stress. So as a consequence, admist all this, it is the mind that keeps paying the taxes and fails to get its due and thus the efficacy and the capability to produce good thoughts and draw inspiration from things, doing effective work and being productive keeps getting compromised. 

Finding Peace- by Jessica Joy

             I had read in a magazine a very long time back which made an impression on my mind that the real secret of living is to find peace within the chaos. One may find peace in any way that helps them do it. Some people meditate (although I am not too great at meditating) some may choose to paint, or go for a walk or just sit by the window with a cup of tea and relax or sometimes just breathe. It is important for us to just stand still, take a breath, and look at the situation from above without getting involved in it. It is important for each one of us to just have a different perspective. And doing that will actually give you some inspiration, to think better and to do good. It gives you some insight into yourself and the world around you. It unclutters your mind and shows it a path that it may be looking for since a long time. 
          Chaos (stress) makes you work at a spinal level which means that you are actually not making any use of your intellectual abilities to deal with a situation. Well if we are doing that then there is no real difference between us and the primates, is there? We as humans have been evolved to have the capability of using our brains and our minds to our advantage. I had seen an episode of a famous cooking show on TV where the contestant was very flustered and was almost about to fail in the pressure test and the guest judge who was actually the one who presented the challenge, saw her, he went upto her and held her hand and just said, “Take a minute, and just breathe. Now look at your bench and visualize the process and breathe again. Now start working. And you will realize that the only thing that was wrong was that you forgot to breathe.” And the lady actually did get through the competition in the end. (Show: Masterchef Australia, Season 7, Episode 35- Pressure test by Vikas Khanna)

Depth of stillness vs stormy turmoil

             Life is unpredictable and will bring about many different emotions and mind states that can be challenging and difficult, even unbearable at times. But beneath all the dramas, distractions and problems there is a still and calm place you can rest in. If, amidst the turmoil, you can find just one moment of peace in each day, then your whole life will become more joyful. Like the water in a lake, when your mind is calm you can see the depths below, but when your mind is disturbed it is easy to get caught up in the waves. If circumstances cannot be changed then you can change your attitude toward them. You may not be able to control the wind but you can adjust your sails.

    Thus I realized a very important lesson in life. Whenever in chaos just Stand Still, breathe, and see the situation that you are in from above, and look at a bigger perspective and I m sure you will definitely find a way.