Learning from Pencil

Would you agree that those who wish to learn can learn without someone teaching them? As  famous Socrates used to say, “I cannot teach anything to anyone. I can only make them think.” So, if we are capable of thinking, we can learn from anyone or anything. Can we learn something from pencil?

Yes. Though, pencil is just an ordinary object but if we observe closely it provides profound learning for life. It just depends on how you look at things. There are at least seven qualities which come to my mind. You are free to add or delete as per your thinking. If adopted, these qualities can certainly help us get more clarity and peace.

First: What really matters is inside you.

Exteriors have utility but most important matter is inside you. Pay attention to this inner dimension in you too. Is it your mind? What is that which is not changing with age, marital status and positions you hold in life? What is awake, when body is sleeping? Is it energy? Is it spirit? Is it subconscious? Is it nothing? I don’t want to answer this for you. Look within. As far as pencil is concerned, what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside.

Second: It leaves an impression.

One day, we all will become memory in others life. The real question is what kind? Everything we say or do leaves an impression. Not just on us but also on our surroundings. The higher position you hold, the greater mark you create. So, one should be careful and grateful. So be conscious of what you say or do. 

Third: No one is perfect. Don’t be arrogant, use eraser.

In this journey of life one thing is sure that we all make mistakes. Don’t justify them; rather let the eraser do its job. These erasers are the help we get to rectify or compensate the damage we created. Always be humble enough to accept your mistakes gracefully and seek help. Are you willing to let an eraser help you? This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the right path.

Fourth: Now and then we need sharpening.

One thing sure about success is that it will fail. Our today’s strength may become tomorrow’s bottleneck. Therefore, one must keep sharpening his/her knowledge, skills and attitude. Sometimes, circumstances thrust upon us some changes which seem to be painful but actually they help us to become stronger and sharper. At times, some critics or competitors also act like sharpeners. They are our unpaid consultants who help us to challenge our limitations. So we must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make us a sharper person.

Fifth: Time is slipping away every second.  

Pencil gets shorter with usage, so is life. We must realise that we are paying through our life currency for all the experiences we are having. Be careful with what you do with your time as once it is gone it is gone. It does not matter whether you write poetry or just keep scribbling; pencil/time is getting consumed. So, are you creating something significant or just consuming is your choice.

Sixth: Be useful till the end.

Pencil writes till the very end and remains useful. So, we must also strive to remain useful and productive till the dying day. Do your best and keep learning.

Seventh: Don’t be arrogant. It is the hand that makes you write.

Always remember that we are just the instruments in the hands of God. I know some of us may not like this idea but even if it is an idea, it helps. All our achievements, if you look closely are not our individual achievements. There is always someone else who contributes in our success. So, don’t be naive to think that you have achieved anything without any support. Whether God or someone else but it is not because of you alone. For my atheist friends, coincidences or chances also contribute in our success. Think.

Be humble and remain a learner. Be grateful. So, a humble pencil can contribute so much in our learning if we pay attention and are willing to learn. Now, look around and share what else we can learn from other objects. 

Pearls of Wisdom

Today dated 29^th June 2021 I had a distinguished visitor at my office Dr. A.K Gupta (MD, Medicine & Physiology, Fellow- Cardiology Society of India). I discovered that he is my regular YouTube viewer and therefore, wanted to see me personally. I was pleasantly surprised to see his recalling of my almost all concepts, stories and jokes that he has heard over the period of time. It seems as if he had seen all of my videos completely. I was obviously flattered to see such great, accomplished man appreciating my work.

He is 71 years of age and his memory, articulation, spontaneity and keen desire for learning & sharing is really remarkable. I sat with him for almost an hour and he poured some of his pearls of wisdom, which quite frankly were really amazing.  Let me share these with all of you:

1.       Anything we don’t use, we loose: He explained this concept in his medical lingo by sharing about Disuse atrophy. He shared about this medical terminology for a disease where any unused limb stops functioning, if not used for a long period of time. Of course when you hear the physical scientific evidence and that too from an accomplished professional, your conviction on the idea and excitement becomes greater. He further expanded this idea to communicate that similarly if the brain is not used properly, it’s efficiency goes down. His advice for reading & writing and explaining it with Disuse Atrophy made it look more appealing. I may use it in my next seminars and impress others with this borrowed knowledge.

 2.       Blessing in disguise: We all have heard this sentence so often. Dr Gupta gave a wonderful example, again from his own field. He shared that Dementia in North America and Europe has drastically come down in last two decades which was earlier rapidly growing at scary pace. Surprisingly, it is coming down due to increase in cardio vascular diseases. Due to cardio issues people have changed their sedentary habits and started living an active life and eating healthy. These changes have helped decrease dementia drastically. So, brain without active life also starts getting rusted. So, if alone, rather than watching phone all the time, play physical games, solve puzzles so that you have convenient old age too.

 

3.       Every Instrument Needs Tuning: He gave a wonderful example of musicians. Before starting the show, all musicians tune their instruments for occasion and all instruments like tabla, guitar, sitar need tuning before actual show starts. Not just that they also change tuning as per music song. He connected this tuning with morning ritual. One must tune himself/herself every morning for the show of the day. So, that you are in sync with the occasion. SAVERS morning ritual is a fine example of tuning. Those of you are new to SAVERS morning routine, might look for a video on my Youtube Channel.  

 

4.       No Pain, No Gain:  Learn to bear pain of “Injury & Insult”. He shared that no man of substance has ever achieved success without bearing the pain of injury & insult. One who is fearful of these two pains will generally live a mediocre life. No pain, no gain. Every worthwhile journey has these two factors that need to be handled else we will never reach to the destinations of choice.  

 

5.       Look for positive in everyone: Even a dead watch is right twice a day. Isn’t it true? Similarly, every person has some positive quality and one must not ignore that. To emphasize on this point he shared an incident of Maitheli Sharan Gupt. This famous hindi poet was writing something in which he had to write only positive qualities of all the characters in Ramayan. He got stuck to write something positive for Kaikeyi, as in India nobody thinks anything positive about Kaikeyi and I have heard no one keeping this name anywhere in India. After lot of thinking, he wrote next day,” Sau Baar Dhanya Hai Who Laal Ki Mata, Jisne Bharat Jaise Laal Ko Janam Diya”. Hail, that mother who gave birth to a son like Bharat. So, if you are hell bent on finding positive, you can always find.

So, such a short courtesy visit became an enlightening visit for me. In this brief meeting he bestowed me with his wisdom and blessings as well. Thank you Dr. Gupta for your kind visit and sharing your wisdom in such an interesting way. Look forward to see him in near future too.