The Contemplation Phase

If I get to name the phases of my life, I think this one year will definitely be named the ‘Contemplation Phase’ – Contemplation about past actions, present behaviours of all the entities around me… the list is endless. In the past it was difficult to find time to contemplate because the next action was always waiting to come. Here even though you are hard pressed for time, the realization about the purpose of being here has ensured that I do have time for contemplation.

(The virus bit me late last week and the bed rest only accentuated the contemplations. No, no… this post is not the deliriums of a sick person!! I am back to BAU now!!)

But before I sign off… (if you are still with me):

Used the rest time to complete reading “Matsushita Leadership” by John Kotter. Wanted to share the following poem, which set off a train of thoughts in its own way.

(It is actually a translation of a poem and hence the structure does not resemble a poem. But even in its non-poetic form, the content makes a powerful impact – IMHO)

                              ***

Youth is not a time of life, it is a state of mind, it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.

Youth means the temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust. Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living.

In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young. When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the eyes of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty. But as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

                              ***

I sincerely hope that (similar to me), the above words make a meaningful impact to you (maybe in its own way).

Stay Healthy !!