Life Learnings            

“Sometimes the hardest part is not letting go, but learning to start over”

                                                                     -Nicole Sobon (b 1977), Italian Freelance Writer

Birth is an accident, death is a certainty, is a well known adage, which does not need any explanation. But the subject of perennial interest is, how one manages life between the two events. A lot of materials are available both in print and video formats to develop a road map or a plan for conducting life ideally. However, as much as we know that the life journey is between B (birth) and D (death), we also know C is between B and D. Here C is the choices that we make throughout our life on a daily basis.

We make the choices based on our perception of risk-reward. Some choices are intuitive and some other is impulsive. Some are thoughtful and deliberate, but a few are driven by circumstances. As the number of choices increase, the decision making process gets complex.  Hence, it requires a deliberate process of understanding oneself with respect to capabilities, needs, available resources – time, money, efforts, human support, etc., at the individual’s disposal to develop a suitable plan and implement it effectively. The role of individual’s nature, the environment in which he/she lives and the efforts that go into making life meaningful and satisfying is for sure, a subject of great interest.

Recently, I was reading about how after seven years of exploration for oil and gas, ExxonMobil, announced the first significant oil find in Guyana offshore during May 2015. It encountered more than 295 feet (90 meters) of high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs. It was safely drilled to 17,825 feet (5,433 meters) in 5,719 feet (1,743 meters) of water[1]. Similarly if one has to understand oneself and bring out the innate potential, it takes some time to unearth it. Several environmental factors also facilitate.

Nature teaches us lots of lessons. To comprehend nature in general and human nature in particular, one must have an open mind and preferably free from much attachment. One should also be conscious to live in the PRESENT. Though this does not happen naturally, it can be developed, if one approaches life not necessarily just for securing and satisfying SELF, but for the good of bigger purpose. The bigger purpose in the early stages may be to help elders at home to ease their burden or teach a classmate to solve some problem. The purpose evolves over time and if one is consciously aware of it, chances of finding meaning to life and deriving satisfaction shall be higher.

In the initial stages of human life, the learning process is more of cognitive in nature and whatever is comfortable or convenient to our five senses we absorb or we do as per the family elders’ instructions / suggestions of friends, relatives and teachers many a times. Over time, the interpretations of the outcomes based on the experiences generally become the basis for the decision-making process. To change that basis, one requires the right attitude and an analytical mindset to implement the changes.

When we talk about life, generally it covers managing oneself in terms of health, vocation, hobbies, resources (time, efforts, money and relationships) at his / her disposal. At different stages of life the intensity and proportion of efforts that one needs to apply for managing various aspects for a given situation will vary. If one can create a flow for the various processes that he / she have to perform, managing life shall become relatively easier. As there is no formula or framework for determining this, one has to develop a structure or framework that will help in understanding the flow.

Having explored and experimented over the last five decades, I have identified the framework drawn from nature that helped me in learning lessons of life at different stages. Most of these lessons, I had learnt are through my association with variety of people spread over a period of time. Having met a few thousands over these seventy three years of my life, I have drawn lessons from many and will be sharing with you in the forthcoming blogs and also share the framework too that helped me to do this.

[1] https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/

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September 18th, 2023 | Ravi 62