EVERY SUNSET IS AN OPPERTUNITY TO RESET

 

“A fresh start is, always, made with dirty laundry.”

Teri Louise Kelly

I was talking to this mother, this morning. Her husband had done our Personality Development programme many years ago, when he was a teenager, and found it very useful in his career. Three years ago, their daughter was enrolled for the programme, and she, too, had found it very useful. Then, last year, I was approached by the mother wanting to enroll her son, too. But, the son was not ready for it. “Sir, he is simply not ready," the mother said, “let’s see next year.”

A few days ago, the mother called me, once again. “Sir, can I send him, this summer?” she asked.

“Yes, please do,” I encouraged…

But, then, the young boy’s time hasn’t come, yet… He is simply not convinced by the experience of his parents or sibling… “I am good… I don’t need it,” the young man, has told them, bluntly…

The mother was feeling bad, this morning, as she was talking to me… “How can I convince him, Sir?” she asked sincerely, “Can I send him for a session or two and decide for himself?”

 

Every time the thought comes in my mind, that I have been teaching, training, writing for close to five decades, somewhere inside me, I hear a shrill voice: “Forget whatever you have done in the past… Start fresh… with fresh kids.”

Every kid comes with a clean slate, and, therefore, I should be able to write some fresh stuff on it… What worked for this young kid’s father or sister may not work for this kid…

Need I see this kid as though he is my first kid here? Should I start on the assumption, that I do not have all the ‘magic tricks’ to apply on this kid?

Yes Sir… It does seem so…

Every kid is different, and so is every experience…

Starting fresh, all over again - with every kid and  every year - is the only way to stay relevant in what I do… Every day is a new day…

Let me start all over again.

As I was typing this Post, I heard my phone ringing… It was my son calling. He had been to Goa to attend the 10-day Vipasana course, the second time. The first time, he had done a 10-day course here in Mumbai…

Can you imagine sitting there quietly for ten days - without talking to another human, leave alone on phone, … just observing your breath… that ever-restless mind? From early dawn to late night, doing only that – ‘Nothing’… emptying… dropping the unessential… Trusting… “All will be taken care of… All will be just the way it is supposed to be”…. Yes, can you imagine sitting quietly like this, for ten-long days?

And, son was doing it for the second time, just a few months later!

“Just got my phone back, Dad,” son said with the slowness and quietness still pervading…

“How was the experience, Son?”

“Profound.”

“You cannot step into the same river twice,” I recalled the Zen saying…

The flow was not the same… The man was not the same. Yes, it’s a new man stepping into a new river…

You see, the rule of the river applies to every soul on this earth… New Life lies only ahead…

Step in lightly… gently…

“All will be taken care of”… Every breath says it…

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: 1. Pixabay 2 & 3 planetofsuccess.com

Video: Andre Rieu

Title quote: Richie Norton