fancy dress philosophy

This travels back to when I was in my sixth grade during school days.
And I was so fond of collecting certificates.
Blindly participating in anything called extra-curricular.

The sports day was fast approaching.

And I had this special preparation for sports days.
Back then, I was a plump lump.
And as the sports day would near, I would work extremely extremely hard in fantasizing about winning the most trophies (till date i haven't won even one).
And I would suddenly pump up my intake of milk and optimism.
The sports day came and sprinted past by.
And I had a few participation certificates in my hand.

But optimism knocked on my door again.

And this time, it was an inter-school fancy dress competition just a few days away.
That day, I dressed up as a statue.
Some enthusiastic teachers put multani mitti (fuller's earth) all over my body and three layers of them.
They even said that the remaining multani mitti would go waste anyways, so might as well stuff the statue.
It took three long hours to dry.
And actually, now I realize that its a great mechanism for mind-body awareness.
As the layer dries in a random manner and as it hardens on the skin, it helps take the awareness to a meditative tour all over the body.

Anyways, I did manage to win a third spot for this muddy affair.

Later on in life, I realized that during each passing day, I was actually in a fancy dress competition for the whole of thirteen years of corporate life.
I was trying to be somebody else.
Every now and then,
I would wear a new found management theory,
or wear a new financial theory,
or dress up as the latest book that I was reading,
or the latest movie that I have seen,
or a motivational speaker that I have drunk.
And I would move around knowing fully well the discomfort of the new dress, and yet display a confident grin.

For a long time the philosophy of fancy dress to me was:

Trying to be somebody else and willingly experiencing discomfort, in order to win accolades from some and fail to avoid the unavoidable laughs from many.

Its only lately for the last three years that I realized that the same fancy dress could be used for emotional intelligence...to be able to see from others' perspective and thereby developing higher state of discretion (vivek) and harmony.

And that the higher state is about the participation certificate of this life
...to participate in approx 25,000 days of this journey
...without worrying about winning or losing
...for winning is losing
...and losing is winning
...and perspective is perspective.

Happy Participation.

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