The Ever-Growing Self

There is a nice quote by Carroll Bryant, which goes, “Growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional”. We are growing every day in every way.  We grow in all dimensions of life. We grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually too and we will keep growing till we die. Physically we grow in size, mentally we grow in knowledge, emotionally we grow in relationships and spiritually we grow by our noble deeds.

Like the river, our life is also full of surprising twists and turns. From where we originate to where we end, the path is not a straight line. But one thing we know for sure is, no matter what path we take, we are all constantly evolving, growing, and moving towards an ideal future. Let’s try to understand the different things that help us to evolve and grow. We acquire a number of skills needed to advance in our chosen career, we go through a number of life experiences, we meet different types of people, we read to different types of book, we travel to different places and each one of this alters our perspective of life.

 

Skills we acquire: We all need skills, not just to be successful in our career, but also to live our life to the fullest. The beauty of life, is that we can learn and acquire any skill, we are interested in. While talent is natural, skill is acquired. We can learn to drive, to swim, to dance, to sing, to play a musical instrument, which makes us enjoy life. We can learn to draw, paint, stitch or knit, which can be comforting when we are alone. We can learn a foreign language, which helps us to know and understand more about a country or culture. We can learn to play a game, do yoga, practice meditation and so on to keep ourselves fit. There is absolutely no limit to the amount of skills we can develop, if we are passionate about it.

 

Experiences we gather: Our experiences strongly influence what we become. All that happens in our life has to be considered as an experience without labelling them as good or bad. Like they say there is nothing called failure, only learnings. So, every experience teaches us new things and opens our eyes to new perceptions. Experience comes to us, firsthand, which makes it truly significant. It is not borrowed knowledge from books or borrowed wisdom from the sages.

People we meet:  In our life path, we are born in a family of few people, who we think are our world.  But, as we grow up, we meet a lot more people, with whom we connect and make friends. Like the saying goes, “Strangers are just unmet friends”. So, we keep on expanding our network, day by day through different professional forums, social forums, common interest groups and so on. When this happens, our world starts to grow bigger. We start to see the world differently, with enhanced perception, we gain from different people. Our relationships are not static, rather dynamic in nature.  We add new people and eliminate a few people in our lives, based on our situation and circumstances.

 

Books we read – We start reading right from our childhood. It starts with textbooks at school to story books at home. Even after we complete our formal education, we update ourselves by reading books, blog articles or magazines relating to the field of study. As we grow up, we continue to read.  We also read different types of books that capture our interest. It could be philosophy, self-development, history, literature, fiction, or anything else. There are so many genres of books we can read. Each author throws a different thought, which enhances our understanding and widens our perception.

 

Places we visit: One of the important things we should do when we are on this small blue planet is to see as much as we can of it, during our limited lifetime. Human life is a gift to see and admire, the beauty of the world – be it natural wonders or man-made ones. When we travel, far and wide, we see a lot which offers fresh insights. We also get the opportunity to meet and interact with different races of people, which helps us to transcend the ideologies of nationality, religion etc. and start embracing humanity, as a whole.

 

So, let not allow our age to determine our destiny. Why should someone retire from work at 58 or 60. Well, as long as we are alive, we can do all the above things, I have mentioned. By doing so we will keep growing and growing till the day, we cease to exist. Let’s remember the Reliance tag line goes “Growth is Life”. It also means to say, what that doesn’t grow, dies.

 

Keep growing!

   D. Senthil Kannan,

   CEO, PALMS Training & Consulting (P) Ltd., Tuticorin.

   Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

   Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com