‘THE ROAD’ TAUGHT ME THE ‘ART OF RESILIENCE AND PERSISTENCE’
May 9th, 2010 by admin
One day while I was travelling by road, I realised that the Road was very similar to our lives. I found turns, smooth stretches, speed breakers, potholes, traffic jams, and complete road blocks … when I had to turn U and search for a different trajectory to reach my destination.
LIFE WORKS IN THE SAME WAY!! Just as the Road offers a WAY to travel, so does life offers us a PATH to live and grow… Smooth stretches - we love and enjoy, Speed breakers – that come suddenly and surprise us, Potholes which are quite a pain as they leave us injured, Roadblocks which push us to an edge and leaving us with no option but to find a better way. Then there are Turns , the decisive moments in life which make us GROW.
We REACT to each of these on the Road and in Life…albeit unconsciously!
Let’s see what we do on the road – The moment we see a speed breaker…remember it’s usually visible, it’s never hidden or concealed…we slow down and go over it! What with a pothole…we go around it! What with the smooth stretch….increase the volume of our music and enjoy the drive! What with the turn…we change gears and take the turn that goes to our destination!
ON THE ROAD, WE KEEP MOVING, WE DON’T STOP … WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO
But in LIFE , we do stop, we crib , cry and make an issue about the loss of momentum..But the ROAD teaches us that we can continue to move on, we must. Each time you face a speed breaker, a pothole, a setback in life…think of the ROAD and how you have BEATEN the road so many times.
The ROAD has been my TEACHER .It taught me the concept of the WAY, the PATH , keeping MOMENTUM and taught me the possibility of BOUNCING BACK. It taught me the ART OF RESILIENCE AND PERSISTENCE!
This is WHAT you could do in REAL Life
1. Did you try finding the cause of the speed breaker – What if you just stood out of the situation to assess what really has happened…objectively! What if you were to question your understanding of the situation. On the road, speed breakers are usually for safety reasons where speeding can cause accidents J Maybe, it’s the same in life.
2. Try pre- deciding your response to a stressful situation – it works – Your reactions will create more reactions…You can decide to cry, shout, fight or do something that relieves you of the stress. Alternatively, you could decide to just take a bath, go for a movie, talk to a friend or not react in the same old way. Once you know how you would react, it’s impossible to have impulsive reactions that may add to your stress. On the Road, you know you have to slow down to get past the speed breaker or pothole, you will never speed into or through them, so it is with life.
3. It’s good to hit the brake, than to crash – An experienced driver would never hit a speed breaker and lose control. On the journey of life too, sudden troubles are not too many but we choose to stay stuck in troubles of everyday life, knowing they are there and deciding to do nothing about them. How about being an experienced driver, slowly get past them. It’s better to hit the brakes than to crash everyday. Think about it!
4. Brake for One Minute - Can you try going blank for a minute without thinking of the problem. 60 conscious seconds would effectively intervene the auto reaction that your body and mind has. Practice this enough and soon you will be able to identify your own auto reactions and how to control them. Just like we need to concentrate when we are new to driving but it all smoothens out as we get better…on the road!
5. Do not attribute more than there is to the situation or a person- Take your part of the responsibility in any situation and do not try to decide the ‘why’ in your own special way. Take it in passing. If you attribute more than there is to it, that is what it becomes …MORE of it. On the Road , do you stop at the Pothole and keep staring at it for the rest of the day???
6. Speed Breakers are to prevent accidents – Look at the positive side, some places you do need to slow down. Any setback should just be treated like that. Gives us time to re-think, re-work and re-plan our goals, that’s it. It does not mean one has to live in slow motion, but one just needs to slow down for a while and get moving again.
Three cheers to bouncing back and enjoying our journey!
Your friend and Coach
Abha
http://www.mypopkorn.com/blogs/abha-banerjee/profile.html
