Bhuwan R Chataut
“What do you do basically being a life-leadership coach?” Simply put, I help people to enrich their experience of life. Everyone is seeking pleasantness, joy, and well-being.
Why are kids sent to schools? Why do businessmen take pains of hectic schedules? Why do people join organizations and kill themselves to hit the workplace? Indeed, the ultimate goal is happiness, satisfaction, and well-being, isn’t it? Perhaps, people fail to realize the joy and delight as they innocently miss to apply the art of balancing activity and inactivity. Essentially, it is my job to make them aware that how one could bring such richness to life.
Life is a balance between movement and rest. Since our childhood, not only teachers at school or universities, even our parents at family, and people in other social settings simply share with us for movement, encourage us to grow and progress. Perhaps many writers and speakers influence or force us either for hard work or smart work to attain great success. As result, speed along with direction has become the top agenda for everyone. It’s perfectly OK; but, only half of the story. The rest and significant side are to know ‘pause’, the right rest. In Vedic tradition, we have a particular word that is vishrama or being in a state of effortlessness.
Let’s say, you have bought a brand-new car with possibly the best engine. You keep on moving with it; on your vacation, you go for a long drive and enjoy it, and so on. Nonetheless, at a certain point in time, your vehicle gives signals that it needs servicing. Needless to say, our body and mind are quite similar to that car that we are using for our growth and progress and mainly for wellbeing. And, hence, we need to have some mechanism to keep them at rest to rejuvenate, rejoice, and supply vitality in order to produce desired movements.
Once Buddha was asked, “What is right and what is wrong?” He serenely answered, “When you are closer with self, you are right. And, when you are at distance from yourself, you are wrong.” What keeps us away from ourselves? Are they dreams, desires, and aspirations? Absolutely not! Rather, the longing for them keeps us away. The very burden of attachment is a true hindrance. Here, Buddha has simply suggested that we get disconnected from outside all affairs, and stop clinging to the past and future as well. His indication is to inherit mindfulness and understand the power of now.
Meanwhile, I remember a Zen story. A Zen master Bankei was preaching to a large audience. In the midst of a talk the priest appeared and challenged him to do some wonderful thing or explain what miracles can he perform? He replied lightly: “My miracle is that when I feel hungry, I eat, when I feel thirsty, I drink, and when I feel sleepy, I sleep.”
Unlike Master Bankei, in our daily routine, we forget to pay attention to our very basic natural urges, instincts, and body vibes. Time and again, we get messed up with random thoughts and weird gadgets. Often, we forget our natural thirst due to hectic schedules; even we lack a sufficient amount of oxygen in our system due to shallow breathing. Consequently, boredom, apathy, monotony, lack of creativity, loss of productivity, indecisiveness, and procrastination-like tendencies become common in our workplace.
One of the most beautiful ways that nature allows us to get disconnected is sleeping which is essential to physiological and psychological wellbeing. Many research studies have revealed that restful sleep becomes natural to happy, contented, and compassionate people in contrast to people tripped with guilt, anxiety, and sadness. Such deep sleep refreshes us, and keeps us calm, composed, stable, and energetic.
In addition, despite our corporate life with a top busy schedule, we can embrace some creative ways on a daily basis like practicing friendliness and acceptance, residing closer to nature, incorporating breathing exercises, going for a short brisk walk, observing and appreciating many wonders of nature and existence around us, allocating time to listen to the sound of silence.
Conclusively, integrating such life skills into our regular routine is really miraculous to get disconnected, to keep us alive and experience moment-to-moment success.
Chautaut is Life-leadership Coach at Life Awakening Foundation and Visiting Faculty at Shanker Dev Campus.
