Hi again. It is week 2.
Ready for Ramki’s gyan on Chapter 2?
No Age to Change:-
And I quote…
- Yes, age is but a Number!
- I always quote Fauja Singh when I am on the subject of age; there were two more such people who took to running very late in their life and ran marathons –Gladys Burrill of Hawaii and Srikrishna Deshpande. Like Fauja they started late and ran marathons in their 90’s! and there is this lady from Punjab who is 101 (Man Kaur -Miracle from Chandigarh) and inspired her son 79 to start running- they both run now!
- People spend 95% of time assessing their past and thinking about fear of future uncertainties.’ Very true. This message is strewn all over the scriptures. Few examples are given below.
- Viveka Choodamani exhorts us to ‘convert worry time into medication time!’ Bhagvad Gita says: ‘No event deserves sorrow as response!’; Kaivalya Upanishad says: ‘Two powerful expressions of Samsara are: 1) Regret for the past; 2) Anxiety and fear regarding future. True knowledge of God will remove them.’
- ‘Humans have survived through ages by adapting.’ A beautiful quote I like on adaptation is :’I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination’ by Jimmy Dean.
- Charles Darwin said: ‘It is not the strongest or fastest which survive; it’s those most adaptable to change.’
- ‘Don’t be afraid to try new things and ideas’; I love this and practice this. I have taken up learning Sanskrit at age 65 as you suggest at end of this chapter; believe me it is tough! Last month I and my daughter went to Bir Billing in HP and did Para Gliding from a height of 7500 ft (of course Tandem) –supposed to be second highest spot in the world!
- ‘10 minutes breathing morning and evening’; you know of course, Sandhya Vandana prayer has Pranayama which just does that. Three times a day. Of course many of us do not do it or do it without the breathing part; I do Yoga for 15 minutes on most days. The age old practices all had meaning.
- The grandmother story touched me; I was reminded of Vaidehi’s grandmother who passed away a year back. She was 101! She had 4 sisters and 2 of them lived to 100! The secret of their century? They worked hard in villages for many years. The kitchen was their Gym! They saw lot of change and adapted. Took what life threw at them with a smile and grit. They loved their families totally. They did their stuff whether it was rain or sunshine. They never expected much in return. They lived happily and made others happy! I told this story in TW meeting in Dubai and said a company can also live a hundred years if it is resilient to change!
The messages I loved in this part:
- Even if you decide not to act it is a form of action! (But sometimes even that is a problem; I read a Newton’s law of Internet ‘for every action there is an unequal and opposite over reaction!’- when PM does not talk opposition wants to know why he is not talking!)
- Brain needs to be exercised.
- Form habits by using brain’s natural capabilities.
- Mistakes help to point out new opportunities.
- When there is less stress you get more time.
More coming up…next week… TATA until then…
