Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Tomaranu Kokoro

I don't know what set off the chain of conversation that I had with a friend today morning. Perhaps it was sleep deprivation, perhaps it was the steaming cup of cappuccino that I had just completed, perhaps it was a culmination of thoughts that had been lingering around in my head the last couple of days. Whatever it was, it was good.

I was on my way to Ramanagar (again) and was sitting in the privileged rear seat of the car when all of a sudden from nowhere ideas started floating around in my head and I just knew that I had to tell somebody about it. So, I shot off a SMS to a very close friend, and the following is a transcript of the SMSes that went back and forth:

Me: I've realised something. I can either choose to live a very ordinary, mundane existence; or else, I can push the envelope each day and go all out for a high achievement life. The idea is to pursue glory, to pursue greatness. And in that if I fail, at least I've tried to achieve the impossible, whereby I would have achieved much more than in a humdrum, mundane existence.

Friend: First one is a good option.

Me: First one is a good option; I've been living it the last two and a half decades. And guess what, I'm not too happy with the results. I am now in a state of mind where I want to improve by leaps and bounds each day. And that would require pushing myself to challenge the limits of my mind (and body) every single day.

Friend: Have you realised... you ought to slow down your thought process. :-)

Me: I don't want to slow down my thought process. No disrespect, but I want to firmly believe that we intentionally slow down our thought processes, which is unnatural. The Japanese have a saying - "tomaranu kokoro". It means "the mind which knows no stopping". Why should we humans unnaturally stem that flow of thought? Why shouldn't we be as dynamic as the river which flows and gushes and brings the fertile soil of ideas to the land around itself?

Friend: I blame it all on sleep deprivation... It makes people cranky. :P

Me: It makes me edgy, and I seem to thrive on it. ;)

9 comments:

shweta said...

whoopsssss..!!
watever it was sleep deprivation or too much racking of the brain..it was worth a thought nd hats off if u can actually implement tht.
shwets

Shekhar said...

shweta: Amen. :)

Anonymous said...

no comments

:P :P :P

Shekhar said...

mini: No problem.. I already know what your reaction is. :P

Unknown said...

Believe in pushing the envelope!! :) how much can u sleep on weekends! push the limits..!
how many maggis can u eat before a proper meal..!
How many capachinos u can drink before the cafe wonder himself comes and yell, i wont pay for his treatment in hospital.!
push it every day.!!
:)
~~jokes apart.. i guess the lightening is striking in a lot of places suddenly.. :) lets hope the storm brings the rainbow and sunshine

Amateur said...

pushing yourself towards greatness!!! relax dude... i dont think u need to make a concious effort for achieving... it comes naturally... i don't think sleep deprivation is a problem..we r programmed for that.. :-)

Shekhar said...

trash-u: Long live the storm!

amateur: I think sleep deprivation is like a drug for us... we all need it once in a while to keep us going.

Ekta said...

First time on ur blog...
I love ur friends responses:-)
On a serious note..well just go with the flow...listen to ur heart and remember to live every moment of ur life!

Shekhar said...

ekta: Thanks. :)) I whole-heartedly agree with the 'live every moment' philosophy.

In fact, thanks a ton. On a morning like today when I was kinda feeling low, I really needed to be reminded of that. :)