Tree & Seeds

“ If you stand for a reason, be prepared to stand alone like a tree, and if you fall on the ground, fall like a seed that grows back ,to fight again.”

I loved this quote ,as it teaches us a lot of ,basic life lessons. We all are idealistic in our childhood and resolve that we will never give up on any of our basic principles in life. But, as we grow up, we tend to to compromise and let go of our principles for convenience or sometimes for protecting our image.

If we look at trees, especially during a storm, you realise that the tree stands alone and weathers the storm, all alone. It does not worry if any other tree or for that matter any other living being ,is going to support her to withstand the storm.

This could be ,a great life lesson for us. We all would love to ,always stand by our guiding values in life. But when the time comes, we tend to have weak knees and are blown away by the majority, although they may be wrong. If we learn from the tree and learn to stand alone, we may realise ,that our foundations get stronger and we are respected more by others.

It may not be easy to stand alone, in a storm. But our foundational values are tested ,only during difficult times. We may be alone and nobody around, to watch our behaviour. Do we live our values or are willing to compromise ,as it is convenient or satisfies the majority. Sometimes, it may look easier, to run away from a storm and deny the wrongs we did. But we need to remember that ,nobody is watching us except our inner voice.

The best of leaders in organisations and in communities will always stand alone in a storm and face the wrath. They will never allow the storm to impact their team. They will never compromise on their basic beliefs and will be willing to fail rather than compromise. Like a true sportsperson will be willing to lose ,rather than cheat and win a match.

We respect people, who live by their core principles in life. It is not an easy path to pursue, but the more sustainable one. The foundations of core values and beliefs, keeps us grounded and we are always respected ,by our own children and team members.

There could be situations in life, where we may get blown away. Then, we need to be like the seeds, which fall on the ground and sprout again to life. The best sportsmen may lose a match but never compromise on the basic rules of the game. They will bounce back like the seeds and win the match, even after losing a few games.

It is a reality of life, that we may not be able to withstand all the storms in life and sometimes, we may get blown away by the winds. This is perfectly human. But, we need to learn to bounce back and rise all over again.

Let us learn from the tree and the seed.

S Ramesh Shankar

22nd June 2025

Great things happen within us

“If an egg is broken by outside force, life ends, if broken by inside force, life begins. Great things always begin from inside.”

This quote was very insightful for me. Many of us would have broken eggs for our breakfast, many times. We may have enjoyed an omelette but never thought about our action of breaking an egg from outside and thereby preventing a life to begin.

Every change in an individual or society ,begins from a realisation, from within. Imagine a dacoit, who has killed thousands of ordinary people for years. One day, she realises that it is not fair to kill people ,to make a living, when she loses her mother by an irresponsible act of someone. This insight comes within her and she surrenders to the police and leads a normal life, trying to serve the community thereafter, in whatever ways she can.

The freedom movement in India ,may have germinated ,in the minds and hearts ,of some freedom fighters. They thought it was possible and went ahead to challenge the British and win freedom for the country. This proves, that sometimes, enlightenment could be from within an individual and sometimes it could also be ,from a group of people.

In both these incidents, the awakening came from within and not from outside ,just like an egg breaking from within gives life to a chick and not the other way around.

One of the things, which many thinkers recommend is that, we should spend some quiet time, every day. If we close our eyes and think for ourselves in a blank state , We may get thoughts and ideas from nowhere and there could be some “aha” moments in our lives. This we need to experience, to believe.

Even when a popular leader is suffering from a terminal disease, we have heard of miracles, when mass prayers have healed the leader. The power from within us is more powerful than all external powers put together.

When we speak to a tree to bear fruit, since it has not borne fruit for long and we state we will NOT look after her expressing our anguish, it flowers and bears fruits! This may look amusing but it is true that humans do speak to trees and they respond.

We have also heard of mass prayers in almost all religious groups, when tragedy strikes a community. It could be a plane crash or an earthquake, when groups of people pray together for a common cause, the suffering people, feel better and recover faster.

I have seen a Labrador dog sensing her master’s distress ,without a word being spoken between them. This is the inner voice, which we are speaking and could be very powerful.

We need to remember that the force within us is more powerful than all forces outside us. Generally, We tend to focus on outside influencers and thereby blame others ,for our failures. If we focus within us, we may be able to take full control of our lives and make things happen.

Let us learn to look within us.

S Ramesh Shankar

22nd June 2025

Life never waits for anyone..

“Life will never wait for you to be okay. Get up, carry your burden and keep going.”

We may go through highs and lows in life, but we need to learn to move on ,as life does not stop for us ,at any stage. Both at work and in our personal life, just learn to move on.

Some of us may have missed a train or a flight in our life. It really disappoints us ,but the reality is that ,no train or bus or flight ,waits for any passenger, who is late. If you miss the bus, you have to catch another bus and your program may need an alteration.

Life is no different. We think, life will wait for us ,to be okay . It never happens. One may have missed a first division in school by a mark. You feel dejected ,but we need to learn from this experience and move on, determined to do better in college and in our future life.

We do face a lot of hurdles in life. Sometimes it could be personal tragedies ,like losing a near or dear one. At other times it could be missing a promotion at work. We need to learn ,to move on in life. We need to realise, that everyone faces some hurdle or the other ,and we have to learn from this and move on.

We sometimes put a brake in our lives ,due to some mishap. This can only derail ,our progress in life. Every derailment can teach us some lesson in life. We need to learn a lesson from that incident and move on.

If an athlete sprains a leg and stops while running a 400 metre race, she may not be able to make up with the others and thus may lose the race. The other athletes may not wait for her to get up, get treatment and then continue the race. This is the reality of life too.

Life never waits for us. It is like a running clock. Time never stops and if we waste our time, we are responsible for it and nobody else. We may lose the race of life and cannot blame anyone else.

Life is like climbing a mountain. If we reach the base camp and feel tired and take a break, we may temporarily feel good but the other mountaineers will move on and we may not be able to reach the peak, along with others.

We may also need to realise ,that there are some things in life, which we cannot delegate or give it to others and move on. Our disappointments, our failures are mostly due to our own limited efforts and hence we need to take responsibility and cannot blame anyone. The earlier we get over it and move on, the better it is for us.

We may sometimes think ,that we could catch the next flight or train but may realise , with disappointment that what we missed was the last flight or train on that day. The train or flight does not stop for us and that day will not come back for us in life.

Let us learn to move on in life from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

22nd June 2025