THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN LIFE

                                                                                

 The sports arena wore a festive look. Students were displaying their skills in karate, silambam, pyramid, dance, drill, etc. Now it was the turn of the yoga students to perform. Around one hundred and sixty of them performed in unison. What was surprising about this well coordinated performance was that, everyone was blind-folded! It was a spectacular show. The asanas that they performed with grace, had the audience spell bound. If you start practicing yoga when you are young, it will be easy to twist and turn your body. But when you start as an adult, it becomes a challenge.

 Two profound realizations dawned on me just then. One is, getting our habits right early in life. The second one is, we are a challenge unto ourselves. Sometimes we ourselves limit our growth. I do weight training five days a week and yoga twice a week. Yoga may seem easy, but when you attempt it as an adult, you understand how difficult it is. Though I have come a long way in my yoga practice, I am still struggling to get my asanas right. It would not have been so if I had started early in life. My body would have been flexible and supple. Today it has become stiff. I cannot stretch my own body. I have been working on it for almost two years, and I have made some progress.

 This is true of life too.  I realized that all the right habits should be inculcated in children when they are still young. Else, it will be difficult to change our habits as an adult. Conquering our inadequacies is more difficult than succeeding in the outside world.  In life, we struggle to transcend our wrong habits. Nobody can help us. We need to help ourselves.

 “Chains of habit are too light to be felt

Until they are too heavy to be broken”

Even today, waking up early, reaching our work place on time, being systematic, controlling our temper, completing our work on time, getting our relationships right, exercising every day, a place for everything and everything in its place, a time for everything and everything in its time, is such a challenge. We get agitated for trivial things, we get ego involved in relationships, acceptance, resilience and tolerance are not part of our life, nor is consistency and punctuality, giving up smoking & drinking is tough. Though it sounds simple, I know of so many people who are struggling to outgrow their tendencies. If we do not grow up with the right values and qualities from childhood, our entire life will be spent on getting our basics right.

It is only then that we realize that the enemy is not outside of us, but within us. We should be our best friend and not become our own enemy. Getting multiple degrees, a well-paying job, climbing the corporate ladder, are all easier than correcting our habits. It needs tremendous will power to transcend our inadequacies. Take up one habit that you wish to change. Do it long enough, till it becomes transformation. Overcome yourself. Consistency is the key. Do not give up. Even if we can achieve great success in our profession, the greatest success, according to me, is to imbibe the right values & qualities. That is the biggest challenge in life. Come, let’s conquer it!

#Thoughtfulthursdays #nsn #nsnschool #mentoring #parenting