The Unchanged You — The Unmatched You
WHEN WE ASK GOD FOR ABUNDANCE, LET’S ALSO ASK FOR MATURITY TO HANDLE IT WITH GRACE
Now this is something very close to me. This is my craving and belonging both. Since my infancy days of blog writing, I intended to touch upon this emotion and share it with you. The rationale behind my inclination for this is its natural way of being unseen and unheard. If we scout around mindfully, not just people, but even a few emotions have this organic nature of overpowering. Not that this is wrong, but those equally good, unseen, and unheard emotions and people should be given the recognition they deserve.
I came across a story of two kids living in two different monasteries. The monks of these, did not enjoy a friendly relationship though being neighbors. They did not allow kids to talk to the kids of another monastery. It happened one day that two kids of these monasteries had an encounter. Out of curiosity and innocence, one of the kids asked another, “Where are you going?”. The other replied, “Where the wind blows”. The kid did not understand his reply and went to his guru. His Guru was angry with this boy and said, “No one from our monastery has even been defeated by them. How can you not answer him? Next time when you meet him, ask him what if there is no wind. But do not come defeated”. This boy prepared a response so well that he did not think of anything else. After a few days, when the accident repeated, he asked, “Where are you going?”. The other replied, “Where my feet will lead me”. He stumbled again as he did not expect this. He prepared the answer for this with his Guru and on the third encounter as well, he was disappointed with the other boy’s response.
The boy treated the other boy and the incident with predictability. He did not anticipate the change; he did not think or answer impromptu and hence felt disappointed. The importance of change or unpredictability (to face what may come) is something we must take head-on when the time comes.
These days, I am holidaying with a book called “MINDSET” written by Carol S. Dweck. The writer attempts to draw a thin line between people with a fixed mindset Vs growth mindset. It clearly distinguishes the two mindsets with anecdotes, experiences, situations against our response which helps to categorize our sight of looking at things. In essence, the book convinces us that we are not our skills, but we are our rawness, attitude, and adaptability towards the odds.
What I want to express with above incident and the book reference is, we will not be able to face, fight or win anything unless we add our originality into the change we must embrace. Skills alone will never result in growth, but adding our taste in it will. And this is something extremely difficult to work on.
We have enough motivational and inspirational things written and spoken about how important change in life is, even personally. I want to step up a level to believe that the toughest part in life is not the change, but the perseverance to keep our character and values intact while advancing with the change. We have enough distractions around, to dilute our values and character. Fighting with all these to be able to remain and respect who we are, requires mental strength. Change takes courage, but remaining grounded with our values demands a strong head and heart. The beauty of this attribute, unlike change, is that this is not a one-time investment. At every point in our life, we must HOLD strongly on what we are and what we want to remain. The fight gets deeper and intense with each route and turn of life.
If we are loved by genuine people, it is solely because of the way we are emotionally built, our behavior, care, and warmth we have bestowed upon them. They gravitate towards us because of our values, and this is our real superpower.
What they love in us is our constant attempt to remain where we belong :)
