Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Word and Letter "I"



The shortest and the most critical word in English is "I". There have been volumes written on the virtues of  "I-ness" and also on how it can impede your spiritual growth. I wanted to take a look at this unique word and provide my thoughts and leave it to you to comment.


I - All of us believe in it but still when confronted deny it ?

From the time we are born, we are brought up on a heavy diet of how we need to behave in the society, study hard, do normal things efficiently, settle down in life and during the later part of our life - think about being spiritual with very little time actually left to do anything.

Consciously or Sub-consciously we constantly are focused on self to an extent that we hardly have time for others. When was the last time you wanted to speak to some one you grew up with and when was the last time you actually went out with the friends you studied in your school ?

Once you get to the corporate world, you are told not to show your "I-ness" but mix with the team that's there and still lead them :) Well, it is a great paradox - you have to be YOU but still be not you - a tight rope walk indeed - you need to be selfish to get to your goals - but the skill lies in making them sound like they are actually " Team" Goals !

Post your work and retirement, you get a lot of time for yourself and that's when most of the people would try to analyze and start thinking about being spiritual. In reality, that is really too late in the game to make any changes to your traits and behaviour pattern. Also spirituality has a negative connotation for a lot of people -  but it actually teaches us to be very practical.

More to come in my next post on the same subject... "I" - this is too deep to get through in a single post.

Post your comments on this and we can continue where we left in my next blog.

- Pavan

5 comments:

  1. Want to read more on the so-called 'I-ness', not yet completed:)

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  2. I-ness is an interesting topic. My mom always taught me to treat others as I hoped to be treated and not to be shocked if I was treated how others felt I treated them. It doesn't always work and sometimes I am misunderstood, but I do try to live by her teachings. We often don't have time to take care of all of our past friendships but I truly believe that if you have always been as honest as possible in your relationships, you will have lifelong friends and can pick up as if no time has passed when you see them again. Be well my friend; look forward to more I-ness discussion.

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  3. Very introspective and true. We sure are caught up consciously or subconsciously in the 'I' world to leave our mark.

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  4. It is up to one's self to learn to balance between being part of a society and cultivate your sense of self. It becomes a challenge to actually take it upon one's self to understand what the image in your inner "mirror" portrays. There is no physical way on how we can really see ourselves; we can only try to understand how we are viewed by others and by how they talk and act around us. Hence, the best "mirror" are those who actually do let you see where the "I" can be improved daily. That is when our subconscience wakes up and transmits the message to our conscience level. Then "I" change can be cultivated and nurtured without having a negative impact on our social & environmental suroundings.

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  5. Alpa:- Pavan, these are very nice one. I look upon for more such discussion.

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