All the facts or figures that I ll quote, if any, will be purely figments of imagination. Similarly all that I call as instincts, may just be (for you) mere tendencies or inclinations. Whatever it is, I feel like rambling on this topic of instincts – which has been swirling in my head since yesterday afternoon.
Lets start with a few questions,
• Have you often wanted to avoid an unsolicited phone call?.....as irritated and disdainful as you could be
• Do you more than a few times, judge a person by the looks and surroundings?….and put across too confidently your point of view, more strongly than you normally would…
• Don’t you have a set of traits, convictions?…that you think they define you and which are the pillars of all the positive things of yours
Then the answers:
• Guess 4 out of the 5 unsolicited calls [and the wanted ones] were very much worth the miss
• Probably 9 out of 10 times, the took a call on whose views to ignore was right
• Similarly, am dead sure, what you call are your strengths must be yours. Again and again, they must have come to your rescue.
But hold, on!!!....and ponder for a few minutes:
• 1 out 5 calls, which you didn’t pick or picked with a grimace – would ended in giving you either solace or a ray of hope somewhere. Just think, recollect. And if we wouldn’t have got irritated in the first place, 4 out of 5 calls would have at worst been innocuous and the other one – we could have warded off with a smile.
• 1 out 10 views, which you didn’t listen or crushed – might have been a gem which would have changed the way you think about life and approach a particular issue. I can think of more than a dozen occasions, when I got some awesomely humbling tidbits of wisdom from the most unexpected of situations. The power of listening and letting powerful ideas filter into our psyche from the most unexpected of sources
• Again and again, I tell – our strengths are our weaknesses and our acknowledged weaknesses are our strengths. In the sense – we can tend to over-leverage our strengths and don’t grow holistically or get restrictive. Often times, our strengths can also be a self fulfilling prophecy [which may not hold the test of facts, if we look for testimonials]. On the other hand acknowledged weaknesses – can make us cautious and make us ponder. I can remember of some many occasions – when I did well [in a presentation, examination or a situation] when I was a tentative at the beginning but ended in a flourish [because I prepared well and was alert].
The way it pans out, is that obviously our instincts would be largely right – that’s the reason we would end up doing things acceptably well to give us the necessary self esteem to keep chugging along or feeling to be at the top of the world [this self esteem story, can be one full blog in itself – my hypothesis being. Every human every moment, behaves in a manner to maximize ones self esteem at that point. All our efficiencies or eccentricities – as the case maybe – can be explained by this.]. The more our instincts seem ‘right’, the more we fall in their trap – as a self fulfilling prophecy. The better our instincts, the more we are likely to depend upon it – and in the process – develop some deeply ingrained blind spots without realizing.
The more I have ventured into yoga [say, self awareness] and meditation, the more I realize – the self ignorance I was besotted with. A sense of gloating was actually a result of inability that deserved humility, a strong hallowed conviction was clearly a defense mechanism to not try ones best or deeply manifested/over-used skill was nothing but a stubbornness to not learn something else new….the list can run a few pages I am sure. The beauty being, every time I sort out [till then] a hitherto unknown blind spot and emerge delightedly emancipated – in no time, I am confronted with two dark spots – seem to justify all the ills that I was ever confronted with. Yah that’s my story.
Essentially, what I am trying to tell in this bulleted, prosaic form is human conditioning is a pre-requisite for survival and acceptable living. But probably continued selective de-conditioning is a pre-requisite [though not sufficient] for soaring high up in the sky.
Five years back, I had sms-ed to a friend, [paraphrasing]
“That human beings have survived so long is testimony to the fact that most of human instincts must be correct; but the strife that humans live in is testimony to the fact that there is rampant mediocrity and some of our strongest instincts are misplaced”
Now, five years later – I believe in it more than before. I am more convinced that I am as much afflicted by this disease by anyone else. I am sure there will be people who will have spotless instincts – if not congenitally, by systematically right conditioning ones mind – by aligning ones thoughts actions continuously alongside reality [which mind you keeps changing]. But I guess, such [nirvanic] people would be far and few in between – at any point in time, maybe not even in thousands in this world.
Now - the prayer. Probably I am not lucky enough for you to be one of those thousands or hundreds – in which case – you can try to pick out your instincts which you were convinced were true but in hindsight seem unnecessary. Some fear, some overconfidence, some dislike, some excessive delight….which in hindsight was uncalled for…...c’mon this can be a nice starting point to play as a game…without any sense of winning or losing…not taking sides, just playing for the fun of self knowledge……..and Lo! Behold….enjoy the whole new world of your own..
Lets trust our instincts!! Absolutely. But lets not become their slave.:) Can we step out of our comfort zones and consciously and continuously contest and challenge our instincts. Without any over eagerness to either protect or jettison a particular trait. But eager to look for a window of opportunity to fine tune or realign a perspective or two. And of course, till we prove otherwise, stick to our gut - because thats how we have survived this long.
Bhubaneshwar
Jul 25, 2010
Lets start with a few questions,
• Have you often wanted to avoid an unsolicited phone call?.....as irritated and disdainful as you could be
• Do you more than a few times, judge a person by the looks and surroundings?….and put across too confidently your point of view, more strongly than you normally would…
• Don’t you have a set of traits, convictions?…that you think they define you and which are the pillars of all the positive things of yours
Then the answers:
• Guess 4 out of the 5 unsolicited calls [and the wanted ones] were very much worth the miss
• Probably 9 out of 10 times, the took a call on whose views to ignore was right
• Similarly, am dead sure, what you call are your strengths must be yours. Again and again, they must have come to your rescue.
But hold, on!!!....and ponder for a few minutes:
• 1 out 5 calls, which you didn’t pick or picked with a grimace – would ended in giving you either solace or a ray of hope somewhere. Just think, recollect. And if we wouldn’t have got irritated in the first place, 4 out of 5 calls would have at worst been innocuous and the other one – we could have warded off with a smile.
• 1 out 10 views, which you didn’t listen or crushed – might have been a gem which would have changed the way you think about life and approach a particular issue. I can think of more than a dozen occasions, when I got some awesomely humbling tidbits of wisdom from the most unexpected of situations. The power of listening and letting powerful ideas filter into our psyche from the most unexpected of sources
• Again and again, I tell – our strengths are our weaknesses and our acknowledged weaknesses are our strengths. In the sense – we can tend to over-leverage our strengths and don’t grow holistically or get restrictive. Often times, our strengths can also be a self fulfilling prophecy [which may not hold the test of facts, if we look for testimonials]. On the other hand acknowledged weaknesses – can make us cautious and make us ponder. I can remember of some many occasions – when I did well [in a presentation, examination or a situation] when I was a tentative at the beginning but ended in a flourish [because I prepared well and was alert].
The way it pans out, is that obviously our instincts would be largely right – that’s the reason we would end up doing things acceptably well to give us the necessary self esteem to keep chugging along or feeling to be at the top of the world [this self esteem story, can be one full blog in itself – my hypothesis being. Every human every moment, behaves in a manner to maximize ones self esteem at that point. All our efficiencies or eccentricities – as the case maybe – can be explained by this.]. The more our instincts seem ‘right’, the more we fall in their trap – as a self fulfilling prophecy. The better our instincts, the more we are likely to depend upon it – and in the process – develop some deeply ingrained blind spots without realizing.
The more I have ventured into yoga [say, self awareness] and meditation, the more I realize – the self ignorance I was besotted with. A sense of gloating was actually a result of inability that deserved humility, a strong hallowed conviction was clearly a defense mechanism to not try ones best or deeply manifested/over-used skill was nothing but a stubbornness to not learn something else new….the list can run a few pages I am sure. The beauty being, every time I sort out [till then] a hitherto unknown blind spot and emerge delightedly emancipated – in no time, I am confronted with two dark spots – seem to justify all the ills that I was ever confronted with. Yah that’s my story.
Essentially, what I am trying to tell in this bulleted, prosaic form is human conditioning is a pre-requisite for survival and acceptable living. But probably continued selective de-conditioning is a pre-requisite [though not sufficient] for soaring high up in the sky.
Five years back, I had sms-ed to a friend, [paraphrasing]
“That human beings have survived so long is testimony to the fact that most of human instincts must be correct; but the strife that humans live in is testimony to the fact that there is rampant mediocrity and some of our strongest instincts are misplaced”
Now, five years later – I believe in it more than before. I am more convinced that I am as much afflicted by this disease by anyone else. I am sure there will be people who will have spotless instincts – if not congenitally, by systematically right conditioning ones mind – by aligning ones thoughts actions continuously alongside reality [which mind you keeps changing]. But I guess, such [nirvanic] people would be far and few in between – at any point in time, maybe not even in thousands in this world.
Now - the prayer. Probably I am not lucky enough for you to be one of those thousands or hundreds – in which case – you can try to pick out your instincts which you were convinced were true but in hindsight seem unnecessary. Some fear, some overconfidence, some dislike, some excessive delight….which in hindsight was uncalled for…...c’mon this can be a nice starting point to play as a game…without any sense of winning or losing…not taking sides, just playing for the fun of self knowledge……..and Lo! Behold….enjoy the whole new world of your own..
Lets trust our instincts!! Absolutely. But lets not become their slave.:) Can we step out of our comfort zones and consciously and continuously contest and challenge our instincts. Without any over eagerness to either protect or jettison a particular trait. But eager to look for a window of opportunity to fine tune or realign a perspective or two. And of course, till we prove otherwise, stick to our gut - because thats how we have survived this long.
Bhubaneshwar
Jul 25, 2010
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