Thoughts, Emotions, Actions and Fulfilling Life
You will be celebrating your fourteenth birthday today. Many Happy Returns of The Day, and wishing you a long, successful, fulfilling and happy life ahead. (This is my letter to my granddaughter, but all readers will find it useful as a self development input.).
As you enter the fifteenth year, you are approaching the final year of schooling and will soon be entering a different world where you will create your identity in an area of your choice. Along the way you will learn what makes you successful in life.
At seventy-one, I am at the diametrically opposite end, and now well past my professional life. I would like to share some thoughts on what will make you successful in life, not just in your profession and they will guide you well.
First, remember that the body ‘grows’ while the mind ‘develops’. This is why people say that ‘Growth is automatic but development is a choice.’ In other words, we must make conscious efforts to develop our mind or our inner self; it does not happen automatically.
Second, the mind can be thought of as a combination of three factors – Thoughts, Emotions and Actions.[1] Development is nothing but broadening spaces of all the three, and let me share how it is done.
Thoughts space is broadened by knowledge and information; we should therefore study various subjects, and by various means such as learning by reading, watching documentaries, and listening to lectures. When we methodically collect information, like what you do in your school, we make progress otherwise it remains scattered information and knowledge. Focused way of learning is the key.
I recently developed interest in photography, so I watched several videos on photography, studied photo albums and Coffee table books to understand how to create good photographs. Taking guidance from accomplished photographers was another step in that direction. This should explain what I mean by ‘Focus is the key to learning.’
Emotions space is broadened by learning about one’s own emotions and also acknowledging others’ emotions. This is not as difficult as it is made out to be, but the efforts must be conscious. You have a great advantage here as you are naturally gifted with empathy. I have seen on several occasions that you instinctively understand the emotions of others.
How to understand our emotions? The technique is simple – sit quiet and ask yourself what you are feeling at that moment. Maybe you had a great day and you are feeling happy and satisfied; or maybe things did not go your way on that day and you are feeling unhappy, nervous or tense. Then ask yourself “Why am I feeling (whatever I am feeling at that moment)?” You will discover an answer: it could be that you worked systematically to improve your score or that you met a friend after a long time, and that has made you satisfied and happy.
This is introspection and it creates a behaviour which is healthy, for example you learned that working systematically helped you improve your score, so you are likely to repeat it, or when you identify what made you sad you tend to avoid or correct the behaviour which led to it. Sometimes we also understand that we may have gained or lost due to factors beyond our control, and then we stop taking credit or blaming ourselves for every success or failure.
Understanding others’ feelings is important because it puts the conversation (or our actions) on a healthy track. Always remember that when people speak to us about anything, they are telling us two aspects – facts and emotions. We usually listen to one, that is to say, we listen and respond only to the facts. But we choose the correct response when we address his/ her feelings. Responding only to facts makes the response shallow and often incorrect if not inappropriate.
Let me explain to you with an example: Imagine that your classmate comes running in the class in just a nick of time before the class begins. She is breathing heavily and tells you how she got up late, but ran to take the bus, ran again to the class after getting down from the bus and entered the class just a minute before the class began.
When a group of friends listen to this story, one would say, ‘Getting up on time is important.’ Or ‘So finally you reached in time for the class’ (suggesting that she is usually late). There can be many responses, but the question is which is the right response? We will find the right answer if we ‘understand’ what she is communicating – she is telling us that ‘I made every effort to reach the class in time and I am happy and relieved that I made it.’ When we understand what she is communicating, the correct response will occur to us: ‘I know how you feel – you are feeling so happy that you made it to the class in time.’
Understanding others’ emotions leads to lasting friendships and, you will learn later in life, it also leads to better judgment which is essential to leading a good life.
And lastly let us discuss the third element, actions: Actions space is broadened by learning skills of various kinds. You will now appreciate why so much emphasis is placed on ‘soft skills’ training. Skills of all kinds fall in this category. It includes all from learning programming to learning to write poetry and painting (which you do well).
Imagine an equilateral triangle with Thoughts, Emotions and Actions as the three angles, and the length of each side is, say, two inches. When we ‘broaden’ our thoughts, emotions and action spaces, it ‘develops’ in an equilateral triangle with each side of say, five inches. The point is broadening those spaces, and that is the development of the mind.
And finally, we have to make sure that our thoughts, emotions and actions are in sync; but I will write about it on your next birthday!
For the time being, mull over and park these thoughts in your mind.
I wish you a happy birthday!
Affectionately,
Aaba
[1] I gratefully acknowledge the concept which is the theme of a Dr. Anand Nadkarni’s video.
“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” / Read more Lulu blogs in my book ‘The Lulu Duologues’
Picture courtesy: Ethan Elisara, Brock Wegner and Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Beautifully articulated. In fact, it applies to all ages. Thank you for sharing!
Interesting read ! Well crafted.
Foundations of it, lays in awareness ,relatedness n having sense of futurity.
What struck me most was sheer depth of wisdom.
Lage raho Vivek.
Hi Vivek,
Congratulations for articulating the fundamental what I would like to call “Jeevan Sutra” in a very simple language. Your this article is worth its weight on gold.
Warm Regards,
Sharad
👍 true for all of us
Thanks Sir for sharing this with all as its age agonistic and words of WISDOM from Aaba (sounds more affectionate then Shri VSP) Enjoy the BDay and our Wishes with your grand daughter….
Wonderful simple yet so intense . Applicable for all ages
So well written. I am 38 and I could learn a lot from it. Saving this article for my daughter when she becomes a teenager.
Can people apply to be your grandchildren? Like in any positions vacant? Just asking! Your grandchild has a blessing beyond compare!
Well done.
Such powerful thoughts yet presented with such simplicity. And oh what joy it must be for the young lady to receive a letter from her beloved Aaba!
Well written. Your guidance on development of mind is applicable to persons of all ages . Birthday wishes and blessings for Anika .
Regards
Blissful thought of life for every person of all ages…how to live the life.Thanks for sharing.
Regards
Beautiful words of wisdom for a very Lucky grand daughter !
What a wonderful well written letter to
Anika! It has a valuable message that can help everyone, young and old.
Vivek, this letter is best gift your grand daughter has received . I am sure she will cherish it for a lifetime.
Happy birthday to Anika!
Dear Mr Patwardhan – another profound concept articulated with such simplicity reflecting your depth of the understanding of mind and emotions which leads to actions. Development applies to us all irrespective of whether we are 17 or 71 and as you rightly said “development is a choice”….all of us can choose to apply this to our every day experiences and continue to develop through empathy, acknowledging emotions and feelings and being non judgemental…..a key question is to ask oneself when one goes through emotions and feelings is “what does it tell me about me”….that’s where development begins…..thanks for sharing your thoughts ….helps ignite thinking in the reader….
Hello Debashish,
Your comment is persuasive enough for me to share something. I started my journey to enhance my self awareness in 1990 choosing T-Group as my path, there are many paths but this is the one I chose. I got my professional membership of ISABS in 1995. Since then I have been facilitating T-Groups. My experience is that generally, 2 out of 10 participants in my groups are emotionally literate. The rest are cognitively strong but need to get introduced to their own emotional world. Emotional self awareness is the foundation of empathy. Vivek is an advocate of enhancing emotional self awareness. I have lot of respect and affection for Vivek. He has mastered the art of saying profound things in the most simple language.
Warm Regards
Sharad
Read and reread the article few times. My comment may not be able to express the way I feel. Thank you for sharing this wonderful wisdom from her appa to her. This is applicable for all ages. Feel so touched that you shared these moments with us. cherished!
Pearls of wisdom with warmth from grandfather.
How nicely written, Sir.
What a wonderful gift for Anika from her Aaba. Beautifully written, great philosophy for a healthy mind and to live a good life.
I have to save it for my grandkids.
Thanks for writing such a wonderful blogs.
अतिशय सुंदर आणि मुद्देसूद पत्र! आजकाल पत्र लिहिण्याची प्रथाच बंद झाली आहे त्या पार्श्वभूमीवर हे पत्र म्हणजे एक कायमस्वरूपी भेट आहे तुमच्या नातीला.
Grateful for your appreciative comment on my blog! Thanks a million!!
Complexity unraveled with such simplicity and clarity! Thanks for sharing this. Wishing you many years of joy and fulfilment.
Nice Vivek
You make great points as always
My granddaughter is 12.Maybe why I particularly resonate with this.Children today are streets ahead of what we were and hence exceptional empathy and sensitivity is essential in order to a)understand them and b)to get them to open up and tune into their thought processes in a fruitful manner