GET PRUDENT WITH YOUR TIME

If one compares the childhood three decades back with current times, memories  are still fresh and  fond to remember . We used to play to the heart’s content till the dusk , still had  surplus time to prepare for exams and for other unnecessary chores .

Sifting through today’s childhood , its not at all easy for one to know where has the leisure time gone. The little ones are always running a mad race starting early for school, shuttling in extra classes ,coming back ,going for hobby classes till late evening and facing piles of homework to be done. A day still holds 24 royal hours but everybody is constantly lamenting a lack of time.Material as well as physical help is available round the clock but everyone is  reeling under the  time pressure.Going to the depth  of the situation, earlier the lady of the house  used to stay at home completing the work in 24 hours but now the things are altogether different. Playing equally on the work front , her independence, needs and ambitions have also grown proportionately leaving a few hours at her disposal.Besides, the effect of social media is weighing heavily on our lives. Their presence is 24/7.

Even while on family relaxing tour , if one happens to view  beautiful scenery or any eye catching fancy flower, we tend to immediately capture it on lens. Why do we not delve into/contemplate its immense beauty and feast our eyes forever? Why is it that we believe in sending short messages or  likes to a post instead of conventional methods of socialisation? Although this media has  enabled us to talk to our  loved and dear ones instantly at an affordable cost , still we believe in few worded small text messages. Anyone of us with a smartphone or tablet will think nothing of grabbing a few seconds here and there for a quick browse. Sometimes we get so engrossed in surfing and browsing that we hardly realize that an hour or so has been frittered away.We get hooked on to the gadgets and miss other important things on our to do list. Gadgets have taken the much cherished time and space which is actually meant for other meaningful pursuits.

With the help of the Internet  , it has become much easier to gather various required information and with twenty first century gadgets available today, you can protect your child better and also make the life of your child easier. But with all the modern gadgets and gizmos that are attractive to children and adults alike, we are getting addicted. The misfortune part of modern gadgets and gizmos is that today children are so engrossed in these things that they do not want to go outside to play or even read books.People prefer to be alone with their gadgets.

Socialization is  a course of  sharing customs, ideologies and norms without any inhibition.It is like having someone to talk to, share a meal with, and sharing  outside interests giving enriched, happier and healthier lives . Unfortunately,we are posing to be social by spending  time on virtual media without getting sensitive enough to conform to the norms of  socialization. Virtual contacts and socialization gives  instant gratification which is  heading us to vacuity and fantasy.

This media has gained strong reputation as a leader of our social lives and that too at just a simple swipe of our phone. We definitely get distracted by regular and constant forewarning notifications. Being active in groups on whats app or facebook just for pastime results in mental drain weighing heavily on our mind.

Few of us will agree to disagree claiming that it is a good relaxation media as well as good time pass. Before claiming we need to understand that relaxation helps to attain increased state of calmness and reduce  anxiety and stress. We need to coach our life well whatever  the relaxation technique may be .  Spending  time with gadgets and virtual media , if , helps you to tame your stress and anxiety levels, you actually are on an edge but what if  your stress is spiraling out of control ,giving you a fallacy , then the things really need to be checked. We need to be careful and return to the “ real world”.

We are living this precious life as a sprint instead of marathon .

You simply feel good at the end when you have lived and conquered the day as planned. Try to live each day as if you are not going to get another day.Its not an overnight process ,not a magic or a miracle. It is we who have to strike a cord with our time and ourselves.We need to encash every moment that the Almighty has credited in our individual time account as no balance is going to be carried forward.

ART OF KNOWING

ART OF KNOWING

 Man is a social organism who exhibits attributes of independence, creativity, consciousness and sociability in everything he does. He builds and sustains various inter personal relationships. Often these begin with small gestures which acknowledge the presence of other co-inhabitant of the space, even if it is for a short period of time. Exchanging a quick glance, sharing a smile, nodding in agreement over some facts and similar such interchanges help in breaking that initial ice. It could happen anywhere - on a bus, waiting in a queue, on a morning walk, enjoying the vista on a pleasant day or having to share a table in a crowded restaurant. In most of the cases, such fleeting interactions get wiped out of mind quite insignificantly but in some rare cases they do ordain beginning of something bigger, longer and friendlier or otherwise. Though inconsequential, these gestures do tell something about the character and personality of a person. It may leave one with a pleasant feeling of having met some pleasing personality and it may put some on the path to curiosity as well. It is the curiosity or inquisitiveness to know more about the other person, to study his/her personality, to understand him/her better. If man is considered to be a social being, he is also believed to be a curious organism. And it is the curiosity of humans that make Newtons and Einsteins out of ordinary individuals. 

It is strange but sometimes this eagerness and curiosity to know and study human behaviour puts one on a path to self realisation and don’t we all want to tread that path? One can analyse a situation and  an event better if it is enacted in front of him/her rather than when one is performing in that act him(her)self. Similar is the case with our psychology, sometimes we get an opportunity to understand our own disposition and behaviour better by looking at mirror like personalities in front of us. Isn’t it said that when a parent gets to confront one’s peculiar characteristics in one’s child, then one gets to realise how difficult it is to manage the particular idiosyncrasy.

As community also we keep trying to explore the opportunities of knowing each other and working together at various fora - social, spiritual, emotional and moral. The simplest examples of the same are the practice of collective chanting, reciting and vocalising of some verses and almost all sects follow this practice in one form or the other. In Buddhism it is considered as an effort that leads one to the path of communal progress and harmony. When this happens, it leads to upliftment of the whole social setup and progress for all. Hence, the truest form of evolution happens when ‘I’ and ‘mine’ stop mattering and they get transformed into ‘we’ and ‘ours’. It is then the collective wisdom is achieved.

However, one needs to be aware at all times for a few pitfalls on this path - one’s curiosity should not become encroachment of private space for others, the outside noise should not drown the path that was supposed to lead to one’s own progress and upliftment.