Recently I have learned the definition of philosophy - working out the best way to think about things. And I could really relate to it when I am trying to work on myself. When was the last time you worked on yourself? By assessing yourself whether you are treating the things or others with all the respect that they deserve, neither less nor exaggerating it. Nobody can be perfect, but that should not stop us from becoming a better individual. We do this questioning very rarely because may be we were afraid that we might have to move a bit from our comfort zones. These zones are so big and so deep and so tall that we think that there is no way we can ever come out of it. This thought makes us think - why give a try if it's not going to happen ever? But in reality we are not at a luxury that we can actually postpone or ignore this if it's really something that disturbs the natural way of treating anything. Whenever I try to work upon myself, if I'm at the giving end, then trust me it's not easy to bring the change that one deserves so easily. When I pondered upon - there is a gap between willingness and implementation. I think, I plan, I work, I visualize and do whatever I can possibly do before I happen to commit the same mistake, but somehow again I go back to my past self most of the times. It takes a great amount of practice, inspiration, motivation, determination and support to achieve what you wanted for yourself. The moment you feel that you have changed, by neither acting nor forcing yourself, but by understanding that you might feel the same way when you are not treated the way you deserved and by giving importance to how much happiness you will give and how much satisfaction you will get by doing a thing right is so fulfilling. Behaving this way could be with a plant, a kid, a person or anything in nature. This kind of mutual respect will keep you at harmony and will give you a sense of pride in establishing the things just like they are. And I hope that this be a never ending process - work in progress mode in asking all those questions about yourself and bridging all those gaps that are waiting to be filled.
A recent experience of directing a drama with children opened up new perspectives to the mother and teacher in me. As I was pondering about the art of acting as someone in a story, it dawned upon me that children are born actors. Look around to see how natural it is for a young child to imitate others all the time, so well without any inhibition or filter. A child naturally lives in the other to understand what it means to be the other - it is profound learning, and hard work that they are doing. It is only later, through the years of growing up, we gain the ability to look at others as someone else from the self. Hence we grow the ability to empathise, that we can transform ourselves to feel what it means to be in others shoes and come back to the self - much like playing a role in a drama. As we grow, we invite many roles into our lives (father, mother, brother, son, aunt etc.) and juggle between acting in different roles. We act so well that we actually live in that role and
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