Ants and humans

There are lot of lessons we learn from ants on resilience, connections and their team management ways. But today I want to share a lot of questions that arouse in my mind regarding the places they choose to reside. 

Yesterday in my blog, I mentioned on how I got awakened when I saw I was about to step on the ant colony. I started to wonder, are they not aware of the impending and perpetuating danger? Many times they would have been destroyed and many ants would have died. But still they continue reconstructing there only. My human brain is unable to comprehend this. 

In my human mind, once or maximum twice if I’ve faced the same danger, I do something such that I’m safeguarded from that danger. Isn’t it? And fear starts to develop. Like we don’t stay at places which are susceptible to volcanoes or earthquakes. Even if we do, we take enough precautions like constructing houses with light materials to ensure we don’t die. That’s our survival instinct. 

But ants are not even doing that !!!! And as we know ants are the earliest specious who’ve survived all catastrophes and still survived for billions of years. And they are considered intelligent too. So I’m intrigued why then do they still construct their abodes in the middle of the path where humans (dinosaurs for them) walk? Aren’t they afraid for their survival? Or are they only community beings and have no value for individuals ants that they aren’t bothered about some ants dying? 

All these questions have been running in my head since more than a week. And when my individual mind couldn’t think ahead, I thought of planting these thoughts into my fellow beings minds 😉. So here I am writing and you are reading. Please respond if you can see some views in your mind such that collectively we can learn something about fear from this. 

So ants are the oldest species to survive inspite of living around us and always susceptible to be killed by all other species. Still they survive.  How? Don’t they get afraid at all or do they have a way to manage their fear? 

Come on. Think 🤔 

Who's journey are you in?

Today morning as usual I went for a walk with my father in the park. As I was walking, I saw the same old man who 4 days back had overtaken me and I had given up on keeping pace with him then. So I thought, today I’m going to give him a tough competition. At least that way I’ll get motivated by him. So I increased the pace of my walking keeping my focus on the sound of his footsteps (btw he walked with havai chappals making that flapping sound, the one that normally irritates). 

Suddenly I saw that I was about to step on the ants colony which was on the pathway (and normally I am present to that). I got startled that I was about to step on the ants and kill them all.  When my attention is on my walking, I’m also present to the nature and looking down at what I’m stepping on also. That gives me a sense of being with my body, being with my walk and also being with all the nature around me. But the moment my attention went to overtaking that man who was oblivious of my intention, I missed on my joy and presence. 

At that time I said to myself “Slow down Padma, and be with your journey. Don’t go into that man’s journey. It’s not important to overtake someone and lose out on the fun and joy of your path and miss on life”. This gave me so much peace that I slowed down and started noticing my steps again. But by then I had lost count of my rounds. The cost of focusing on someone’s speed and wanting to overtake them. 

In life too when I hear my friends sharing of the success they get, I get this feeling of insecurity and jealousy. But I tell them “I’m so happy for you”. Such a fake acknowledgment 🤦‍♀️.  And immediately there’s this drive to want to do something to overtake them. And a sense of failure of the self. This is so automatic that I feel ashamed of myself that I’m feeling jealous on my dear friends success. When I discussed with some friends on this, they said they also feel the same. Oh wow..... then I realised this is human conditioning. 

But today morning I realised I have my journey to focus on and they have theirs. I get my success when I’m ready and they get theirs when they are ready. And these times are different for each of us. And also that success becomes fulfilling when I’m actually there in the journey being present to “what I see, learn, how I do, when and why” of my journey. 

And so I’m back into my pace of my journey which gives me a sense of being in my life and in my nature.  And I am peaceful for myself and others. Look at yourself, are you in your journey or someone else's? Be authentic and honest with yourself... Your mind will deny... But look how automatically our mind wanders and goes into another's journey. Let's all come back home to our own journeys.

A moment of love

Here I was, sitting in my college, reading. The cleaning lady Chaitra walks in and tells me, "Was Chiranjeevi Sarja cremated? Isn't it unfair this happened?" and I said "I don't know whether it's fair or unfair, but it's just karma I suppose". 

Then I noticed a thought which asked me, "Did you hear to her to reply or to really listen to what she was feeling?" Did I have to reply so philosophically to her? Was it needed? Was I showing my up-man-ship? That I know life better than her? Whom was I proving this to? To her or to myself? All these questions brought a smile on my face. And I started writing. And as I am writing, my smile is turning into a laugh.

In the background of instrumental music "chooker mere man ko kiya toone kya ishara", I started to ponder and wonder and singing as well. WOW... What a moment I had created!!! My thoughts touching me... I love my mind 💗. Just then "sagar kinare dil ye pukare" music enthralled me immensely that I and my mind went to the beach. We had a lovely minute there together. I am really very proud of the mind that I have and I am simply in awe. We do fight a lot, but we reconcile, sometimes I agree to my mind and sometimes my mind agrees to me. It's a highly harmonious relationship we have and I am very grateful for that.

See, I got distracted (or did my mind distract me?). Whoever did that, forgiveness is always available. Back to what I was speaking, Why do we actually listen to people? To reply to them or to understand them? Or is there any other agenda? 

I want to very honestly say that my mind is programmed to 'listen to reply'. But I want to 'listen to understand'. And so I asked my mind 

"Can we listen to understand?". 

My mind said "That's difficult"

I asked "Can you make my want as your want? Lets do this together"

And my mind said "No big deal, let's do that"

And so my practice of 'listening to understand' starts..... Would you want to also embark on this journey? Just say yes here or message me...

Fear and Nature

“Fear blinds you to opportunities and to life”.

Today’s morning walk made this clear to me. Now you may ask me how can a morning walk teach me this? 😃 not the walk per se, but what I saw as I was walking.

As I was walking in rounds in the park, I saw 3 dogs under a straight barren tree looking up and waiting for someone to come down. As I walked near, I saw a cat up on the tree sitting on a small branch fearful of these dogs. However it seemed relaxed and comfortable on that branch. I didn’t see that as a cry for help. I thought they were playing a game. I went past them, completed another round and came back to the same spot to the same scene. But this time another dog added. This time the dogs threatened me thinking I’m interfering with their prey. I stood there rooted and the dogs silenced. Then I went past them to complete another round.

After my 4th and 5th round, when I saw that the dogs are still there patiently waiting, I was perplexed at the not giving up attitude of the dogs on one side and also angry on them that they want to kill the cat. I thought ‘how cruel of the dogs’. But isn’t that the basic nature of those dogs? That’s cruelty to me as I’ve learnt from my upbringing. Then I realised the cat is scared of those dogs and hence sitting up to escape. So I shooed away the dogs and told the cat ‘they are gone, you come down’ and started my walk again. But when I reached there again, the dogs were back and the same scene... Now my anger on dogs increased. So I shooed them again and stood there for a while for the cat to come down. I stood and stood and stood looking at the cat but the cat didn’t come down. Now another passerby would see me like some useless person staring up at a tree. Now I was angry at the cat that it was not escaping.

I was asking myself ‘Why doesn’t this cat use this opportunity of my help of shooing the dogs to escape?’. I then thought that the cat must be so afraid  that it just doesn’t have the strength to come down or probably doesn’t want to trust me too. Still I didn’t want to give up (if the dogs don’t  give up, why should I? My Ego 😂)  Another passerby joined me by then and we both kept the dogs away but the cat refused to move. After much effort he and I both realised that we can’t help the cat anymore until the cat helps itself. And I realised that the cat is an intelligent animal and it’ll escape in its own way. Not my way.

Two things I learnt here. One is how fear blinds us to opportunities to save ourselves and also to trust others. And second, everyone had their own way of surviving and we should help only when they ask for it. But some questions still lingers in me. Are the dogs wrong in attacking the cat? Isn’t It natural? Aren’t we humans too arrogant to think we can control and save everything? Are we beyond nature that we can save nature? Aren’t we too nature? Can’t nature save itself? It’s saved itself for billions of years. We are only about thousands of years old!!!!!

I don’t think we are worried about nature. Rather we are worried about lack of resources that’ll happen if nature isn’t preserved the way it needs to be, to quench our hunger. In my view, if we can learn to stop controlling everything around us, nature will be saved and it knows how to take care of itself.

I’m too nature and just like I respect myself, I respect nature the way it is. It’s a give and take relationship. Nature is not helpless and it doesn’t fear. It’s power is immense. It knows how to protect itself because it knows to love. I’m humbled to be a part of nature. I’m nature. 

Moments of life - My new teacher

Yesterday, I went to my friends home and got to meet his adorable daughter who invited me so sweetly that her demand to play with her was like an invitation to enjoy. 

She held my hand and pulled me into the house and made me sit down with her. We started playing. She gave me a toy sweet corn to eat and she took a toy capsicum to eat. We both acted eating. Next she gave me the capsicum to eat, I said “it’ll not be nice to eat it raw, so I’ll eat sweet corn only”. She then took it back from me and gave the sweet corn. She ate and she said “it’s yum yum, it’s not yak”. Hearing this awakened something in me. I saw how I was missing on life.

What joy did I get by knowing about capsicum as a vegetable? Who lived that moment more? Sharvi or me? Even though she has no knowledge of that object, her presence to life made me be in awe with her and i said “ok, give me the capsicum, I’ll eat and I said it’s yum, yum” and we both laughed. 😃. And I honoured myself and that moment in life.

So I realised, its not that knowledge gives you joy always...Knowledge takes away joy too. So I decided to know what Knowledge means.. and what I found was "learning from experience and exposure, be aware of through observation, inquiry or information". This meaning is so vast but I am disappointed at how we've restricted this to only "information". 

So it's information that stopped me at that moment with Sharvi to enjoy that moment. And I am thankful that I could catch myself at that very moment to be with that teacher of mine Sharvi and honour her by learning from her at that instant. Thank you my dear teacher..Sharvi.. 

I realised that I have no idea where my learning will come from. So I am practicing to be present to be present in moments of life. 

Happy living my dear friends.....