So, I was happily walking along the footpath (for those in the west-west, thats what we refer to sidewalks here), minding my own business (almost!). Nothing but traffic around (and a lot of it), when suddenly I see stars in the daylight. As I try and find my bearings, I see paver blocks in my line of sight and remember last seeing them near the sole of my feet (God bless my 'soul'). I'm up in a jiffy (or two) and pause to wonder what happened. However, I don't wonder too much since the pain starts to creep into my senses. The 'Fall' has further heightened my senses. I seem to have taken a road 'trip' of the unpleasant kind.
I decide to calm myself by focusing on something else. So I reflect on what I could learn from the experience, which has a parallel with life.
So here are the thoughts that came to mind:
The first realization was what caused the flip. The answer to that, as it is for most of us (especally in Mumbai), is the need for speed. We tend to make haste even when not needed. We have no time to stop and smell the roses (so to speak, considering there are hardly any roses left in the ever-transitioning concrete jungle that we call home). This Fall gave me an opportunity to pause in life, to take a moment to introspect, to review and to reflect. At the end of the day, my pain hasn't reduced, yet I got this unique opportunity that always was mine, but which I hadn't tapped into so far. How often do we teach our kids that the early bird gets the worm. I guess that most of us chase these worms and in the process, lose out on the simpler, yet larger pleasures of life.
Aside from the physical bruises, I sustained, I felt my ego bruised: 'Why me? How could this have happened to me?'. Well, in my reflective mode, I asked myself: 'Why should it not happen to me? What makes me believe I should be more privileged than others? Why do I even think that?'. Realised that as much as we teach the concept of humility to our kids, some of us may have yet to internally accept and practice this completely. Lying completely shaken and prone on the footpath is a fasttrack lesson in humility that I certainly gained from.
Another thought that had flashed through as my mind first acknowledged my Fall, was about all the things that I had to get done and what would happen to them if I'm injured and physically unable to do them. On reflecting on this, I thought that this was such a (frankly) stupid way of thinking. This was also in some ways an internal ego thing. While it is noble to think of business continuity, we are all dispensable and replacable. This means that there are far higher priorities in life and longer term goals and outcomes; we need to focus on those instead of the immediate short term, no matter how attractive they may seem at the time.
And as I look back (mostly in pain) and retrospect, I see the value in the phrase 'No pain, no gain!'. The slip, causing my flip may have been a blip in my life, but if every such blip, provides such an insightful, learning clip, I'll be happy to promote the blip!
Signing off my inane ramblings, with another random thought threatening to intervene and take it into another direction... Over and out!
