Mind Fasting

“Eat to live and don’t live to eat“ is a proverb. Fasting has been advised as a religious practice in many religions. Even Doctors today, suggest intermittent fasting, for the number of health benefits, it has. So, we all agree, periodical fasting is good for the body and we understand the importance of fasting. However, we don’t think about fasting our mind.

If food fasting enables better digestion and absorption of nutrients, will not mind fasting enable better contemplation, analysis and comprehension of ideas and thoughts?

Earlier, while I used to travel in the train, I used to have the habit of buying any snacks, being brought by the vendors, at different train stations. It is not because I used to feel hungry, but because I used to feel bored. Seeing the snack, I would buy it and eat it, as it helps me to while away sometime, savouring and relishing the taste. So, in spite of not needing to eat, I eat just for passing time and it ultimately adds to the excess calories, which gets difficult to burn out.

We are all in a similar situation now when it comes to information. We live in a world of information overload. We can access any content, at the touch of a button in either text form, audio form or video form. We are constantly bombarded with information, from a variety of sources. So, we are keeping on consuming information, just because it is freely available, and we think consuming such information is a productive use of idle time.

But we also need to ask ourselves, how much of it do we really need? In what way that information is useful to us? How can we translate that information into some meaningful action?

Just like consuming more food than what the body needs, is a strain on the digestive system,  so is the excess consumption of information, which cannot be processed by the brain.

There is a nice saying, “Don't bite more than what you can chew.” This applies to information too. We are constantly adding more inputs than what our mind can process, and ultimately our mind gets cramped with too much of information, which often becomes counterintuitive and leads to action paralysis.

 

So, how can we avoid this? We can engage in Mind fasting. By this term, Mind Fasting, I am referring to periods of time, you can be free from any information intake through any form such as computer, mobile, books, podcasts, YouTube videos, TV etc. To start with, you can restrict usage of mobile phones or any electronic devices, for the first few hours and last few hours of the day, enabling a smooth startup and shutdown to your mind, every day. In addition, you can engage in activities, which are not heavy to the brain, such as having lighthearted conversations, listening to some relaxing music, Nature walk, enjoying a drive by the countryside or just sitting in silence. There is a type of meditation, which is called Vipassana. Vipassana, is a silent retreat where people spend days together sitting in silence, doing nothing. The purpose of this meditation is to allow some free time for the mind to process the information, that has been dumped into it.
 
Like a machinery or a computer system, our mind too, follows the Input - Process – Output cycle.  So, when it comes to mind, it can be Information - Thinking – Action. So, the quality of output is dependent on the quality of input. So, if we want to have better results or outcome from our thoughts, we should become conscious about what information to consume and what information to let go.

 

Our success in life, doesn’t depend upon the quantity of thoughts, but the quality of thoughts. So, we should strive to focus on quality and not quantity of information. By exercising prudence in this, we can live a more productive life.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

Beginners Mindset

You would have probably heard this story a number of times, yet it is such a powerful message worth pondering over.

“There was a Japanese Zen master. One day, he was visited by a university professor, who was curious to know about Zen.As a welcome courtesy, the Zen master served the professor a cup of tea.As he poured, the tea, the professor’s cup became full, but the Zen master kept on pouring. As the professor watched the cup overflow, he could no longer contain himself and busted out saying, “Master, don’t you see the cup is full and the tea is overflowing. No more will go in!”The Zen master turned to the professor and said, “Like this tea cup, you too are full of your own opinions and perceptions. How can I show you Zen, unless you first empty your cup?”

So, the beginner’s mind is actually a concept from Zen Buddhism called Shoshin: “Having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would.”

The Beginner’s Mind is an invitation to approach everything with a fresh and open mind. It is about trying to forget what we know about a subject and view it as if completely fresh – with no expertise, experience or opinions.There’s significant value of approaching problems as a novice, even if you already know a lot about them. It makes you more willing to experiment, to ask ‘why’ and question the status quo.

A Zen philosopher, Shunryu Suzuki says, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”I feel that there is profound truth in this statement. We have heard that a number of times, wise solutions to complex problems can come from a layman. It is just that because, he is approaching it totally fresh without any preconceived ideas.

So, in order to develop such a beginner’s mindset, we first need to be humble, irrespective of our age, expertise and experience. Creativity expertssay,“the way to keep our brain sharp, is by learning new things, which is in no way related to our scope of work. It is through fusion of different ideas, that we become more creative.” It is called cross functional intelligence. In a world where we have more complex problems to solve, this sort of a thinking, can determine the success of a person.

So, keep learning new things. Learn a new language, a new musical instrument, a new art form or anything that is totally different from your profession. Every new learning enriches us in a unique way. It helps us to develop new perspectives. And as we keep learning and updating ourselves, we realise how much we have missed not knowing something for so long.

I am someone, who likes to keep learning new things. So, I still keep attending training programmes and workshops, where there are a large number of youngsters attending. Some of my friends, ask me, “Don’t you feel shy to go and learn along with youngsters?”. This thought didn’t come to my mind, till someone actually asked it. Age should not be detrimental to learn new things. In fact, the best way to feel young, is by keeping on learning, something new.

I have heard this interesting quote, “When was the last time, you did something for the first time.” What a nice question to ask. We can rephrase the question a bit. “When was the last time, I learned something new?” So, when you approach this question with a beginner’s mindset, you are definitely going to gain a lot.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com

THE MOUNTAIN MAN

– A true love story –

Feb 14^th being Valentine’s Day, I thought of writing an article on Love.  When we talk about a love monument, we naturally tend to talk about Taj Mahal, as it is considered as an epitome monument of love, which was built by Shah Jahan, in memory of his loving wife.  But, recently I saw another monument of love, which I feel was even more significant than the Taj Mahal, not for its grandeur, but for the dedication and devotion, that went behind creating it.

 
Quite a few of you may already be aware of the story of the Mountain Man. However, I would like to share this story, hoping it reaches to more people. I came across this true story about few years back, but it didn’t tug my heart so hard, until I happened to see this One Man wonder, while I was travelling across Bihar, a few months back.

Yes, I am going to share the story of Dasrath Manjhi –popularly known as the "Mountain Man, who was given this title for single-handedly carving out a 360-feet-long, 25-feet-high and 30-feet-wide passage through the mountain. He made the difference into the lives of villagers by shortening the 55 kms distance into 15 kms.

But what motivated him to do that? Here is a true love story that truly impressed me.

Manjhi, is a native of Gahlaur village near Gaya district in Bihar. He was from a poor downtrodden family. He fell deeply in love with a girl named, Falguni Devi. But her father denied the proposal, as Manjhi was jobless. But their love was so strong, that they decided to elope and started living on their own.  Falguni gave birth to a baby boy. After few years, she became pregnant again and it was at this point of time, a tragedy changed his life forever. One day, Falguni, was taking lunch for Manjhi, to the fields for which she needed to climb the mountain. Falguni's foot slipped and she fell from the mountain. The villagers alerted Manjhi about this and Manjhi, took his blood-splattered wife to the nearest hospital that was 70 kms away, where she was declared dead.

The heart-broken Manjhi, who loved his wife more than anything else in the world, began cursing the huge mountain, which was the reason for his wife’s death and vowed to bring it down. In the memory of his beloved wife, he decided that he will break the mountain to carve out a path, so that no other person suffers like his wife. All the villagers, including his father ridiculed him for undertaking a mission, which sounded almost impossible. He did not heed to that but took a hammer and chisel and embarked on the task all alone. He did not gain any public support. However, he was determined to go ahead, and he started this mission in 1960 and during the course, he couldn’t get any help either from the public or the Government. Manjhi went through extreme hardship of drought, hunger, betrayal and so many more difficulties, before he could finally get the path made in 1982. His 22 years of hard work became a success, as the road constructed by him is, now used by villagers.

The indomitable spirit of Manjhi, certainly deserves a big salute! He proved that nothing is impossible to achieve. His life gives a moral lesson that a small man, who has no money and no power can challenge a mighty mountain. Manjhi's firm determination to carve the huge mountain gives out a strong message that every hurdle can be crossed, if one has a strong motivating purpose behind what one is doing.

Love, definitely proves to be a strong purpose.

 D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com