Exploring Possibilities: Bananas Of Your Life...

There is a fantastic water bird called crane. It’s a beautiful bird, white feathers, long beak, stands alone in the stream of water If you observe a crane, it stands in shallow water. At times on one leg. It watches the movement of all the fishes in shallow water.

Small, colored, beautiful, all kinds of fish swim through. Hundreds of fishes pass through and the crane observes them closely, waiting for the right fish and as soon as it comes, crane grabs it and enjoys the feast.

Can we say that this bird understands the significance of the higher principles or more valuable things? Always have higher principles in your life. This analogy of crane is very appropriate to understand the significance of bigger principles. Unless we are focused on deep issues, we might get obsessed with little things.

These higher principles are like the lighthouses of your life. They do not allow you to make your life inconsequential and insignificant. You don't feel lost. You may get dismayed and experience the feeling of being lost. These principles help you to realign and streamline your life energies.

In our lives, when we start our journey, too many smaller but tempting distractions come our way. But if we learn from the crane, we should have enough intelligence to let them pass by. If we have the bigger principles set for us, we will only proceed for that. This is especially true for relationships.

I remember watching a movie, where a mother discloses to the child, that the child had great parents. Lots of people in the world love them. But the problem was, they don't love each other. Hence they were separating. The child couldn't comprehend these wise words. His vulnerable mind reeled in confusion.

He started to cry. He ran away on the streets and sat behind the tree. His mother was profoundly moved to see this reaction from the child. After 2 hours he saw his father's car coming. He quietly followed and reached the bedroom. He tried to hear the conversation. His mother told father what she said and what happened. There was a silence for some time.

Then father said, let’s continue, for no one else but for our child. They found their bigger principle. They understood that romance comes and goes but more important is the heart to heart sensible responsibility to a higher principle.

These guiding principles also help us to be calm in times of high pressure. They help in being emotionally alert. Perhaps helping us to be in the present too. Wise people define intelligence as a capacity to differentiate between what looks right for us and what is right for us. These principles make us intelligent.

Radhanath Swami aptly quotes that our ancient scriptures tell us that our mind works like a monkey. It jumps from branch to other, restless, walking, running and moving all the time.

But if you offer a good banana to a monkey, it focuses on that and becomes stable, to eat that. So my dear friends this banana is that higher principle, which converges the focus in one direction. May we all get the bananas of our life....

All the best, explore possibilities.....

(The author is a Certified Designed Thinking Master practitioner and Clifton Certified Strength Finder Coach, Corporate Trainer and a Leadership coach. He is based in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, India.)