It is fashionable today to hit the gym everyday and make a statement about it. Some people take up fasting as a hobby and a fad just to show others and post it on the social media. These people may believe that hitting the gym or intermittent fasting may help them become fitter than everyone else around them.

I do agree that hitting the gym or fasting may lead to a fitter body but may not necessarily keep you healthy. Good health is a combination of fitness, a balanced diet and mental happiness. A healthy mind leads to a healthy body and the balance between the two keep you happy in life.

No wonder we read about people who maintain a six pack or eight pack body ending up in an ICU with a heart attack ,since they think physical fitness alone may make them healthy. They do not realise that anything done to the extreme could be more harmful to the body, mind and soul. Neither jogging 20 kms a day nor fasting every day would keep you healthy ,although it may make you believe that you are physically fit.

We need to realise that physical fitness alone is not healthy. The day we realise that “Health” is a combination of body, mind and soul, our approach to life will change.

I fully endorse physical activity every day and it is good for our fitness and health. I personally walk for an hour ,do yoga and play badminton everyday. You could also indulge in any physical activity you enjoy everyday ,to keep yourself fit.

But physical activity alone is not good enough. This has to be supplemented by a balanced diet of vegetables, fruits, water, proteins and vitamins in natural forms. This has to be further complemented by mindfulness – a state of mental solace. Health is always a synchronisation of body, mind and soul.

The day we realise this basic tenet of life, we may become healthy. Physical fitness alone cannot necessarily keep you mentally agile and happy in life. Health is a combination of physical fitness, mental soundness and emotional balance in life.

We should not get carried away by advertising models for health and fitness products, which display a fit body but do not necessarily guarantee you ,good health and happiness in life. We can evolve our own daily physical exercise, which we enjoy and can sustain. This can be supplemented by a balanced diet and a happy environ around us ,at work and at home.

When we hear stories of a young CEO of a multinational firm collapsing in a gym or a film celebrity ending in an ICU, who otherwise cared for his physical fitness, we may be taken aback. It is important to realise that physical fitness alone cannot keep us healthy. We need to balance physical exercise with good diet and a happy mind.

I do subscribe to a daily regimen of exercise ,of our choice. This could be supplemented by a well balanced diet of natural source of vitamins, proteins etc through vegetables and fruits. This also needs to be supported by a happy state of mind and soul.

Let us redefine “good health” as the synchronisation of body, mind and a happy soul.

S Ramesh Shankar

7th May 2023

 

We find it difficult to see the seen and hear the said around us. It may be difficult to “see the unseen” and “hear the unsaid” in life. The perceptive people around us do that. They are able to see the unseen and the hear the unsaid.

Psychologists tell us that more than seventy percent of our communication is non-verbal and only thirty percent is verbal. If this is even partly true, then we communicate more by the unsaid and the unseen. It may be worthwhile to then focus on the unsaid and unseen in life.

Have we observed a child communicate to her mother ? The child communicates more through actions than words. A mother is able to hear the unsaid and see the unseen. A mother knows when a child is hungry and when the nappy has to be changed even if the child does not speak nor the nappy is seen.

If this is believable fact of life, then why are we ignorant of the same. Either we are not observant enough or our mind wanders around and we do not focus on what we need to. We can learn from our parents if not anyone else around us. Our mothers can teach us more on listening to the unsaid and seeing the unseen.

Life is no different. It is our ability to see the unseen and hear the unsaid which makes us smarter than the majority of people around us. Let us examine this from the perspective of the workplace. If as a leader, we are able to sense the unsaid words of the team members and see the unseen actions of them, we may be admired as a leader.

A leader does not only see and hear from his own eyes or ears. He ensures that he listens and observes through the eyes and ears of all his team members. So, if we are in touch with everyone around us in our team and other teams, we may see and hear what we are not able to see or hear ourselves.

Another interesting learning is from the field of sports. captains may communicate more through their actions than their words. Sometimes the absence of a captain may communicate more than their presence. It is this ability to inspire even in your absence , which makes one a great leader.

We may learn from our teachers more by what they do than what they say. Sometimes the lessons of our teachers are vivid in our mind even when they are not around ,since they have embeded their life lessons in our hearts. Such is the power of the ability of gurus who teach ,not necessarily by what they say or do ,but more by what they make us learn even if they don’t say anything or show anything to us.

Our parents, teachers and leaders make us believe that it is worthwhile to learn the art of hearing the unsaid and see the unseen. They inspire us not only by their words and actions. They teach us by their absence and their silence too.

Let us learn to ‘hear the unsaid’ and ‘see the unseen’ and learn from both from today.

S Ramesh Shankar

7th May 2023

I was listening to an old hindi song today evening and it touched my heart. The lyrics says -“ I am not angry with you “Life”, “I am baffled”. As I listened to this song and many incidents of my life mirrored before me and I was reflective in thoughts.

India was always proud of family as a social institution. Our epics taught us to treat Mother as God, Father as God, Teacher as God and Guests as God”. Today we are keen to run away from our parents in search of our goals in life. I would not say anything wrong in finding your own meaning in life. But to forget your living parents and putting them in old age homes may not be the best way to repay our debts to them. Many children think that if they send money and put them in elder care centres they have done their duties.

Imagine as young kids if our parents had put us in boarding pre-schools and led their own lives how our life would have been. They never let us go anywhere. They sacrificed their lives for our welfare. They missed their meals sometimes to keep us well fed and healthy. They sacrificed their families and career to ensure the best of academics and overall growth for us.

Today when I have grown up and am well set in life, I am happy that I am financially independent and can support them. We do not realise that they are not necessarily looking for our financial support. They are looking for love, affection and care. If we are in any trouble even today, they will still be the first to come to our rescue. But in spite of this, we think that they need to take care of themselves and we are happy supporting them only through money or an occasional call. It could be just a video call from a distant land.

I want to share two stories of close friends in my circle. In the first case, the mother of my friend is suffering from a life threatening disease. She is being treated in a hospital in Bangalore and my friend and his sister live in Europe while his parents live in Bangalore. His mother is being treated and taken care by his father. Their son and daughter could not visit them during Covid, which one can understand. But, the fact that they have not visited them even after Covid is not preventing international travel, baffles me.

The second incident is of my friend, who had a kidney failure and was admitted in Mumbai. He had two sons and both are well educated and settled abroad. My friend was being treated and supported by his spouse since 2020. His sons could not visit him due to Covid but did not get leave or time even after that. One of the sons came to visit him this year when this friend was admitted for a by pass surgery and died subsequently. Now his mother is not interested in going with either of her sons as she feels that when they did not have time to take care of their ailing father, they need not waste their time in looking after a healthy mother.

Life comes a full circle. We may think money can buy everything in life . But Covid taught us we cannot. Money cannot buy peace, health or happiness. We may get away by ignoring our parents or elders who gave us everything of their prime lives to make us what we are today but we have forgotten those days. We may be quantifying their contributions in monetary terms and may be trying to pay back.

Tomorrow when we grow old and our children walk away, wisdom may dawn us or it may not. But life will not be same again. Our parents will live only in photo frames and not in flesh and blood. We may not be able to cry for all that we could not do for them. They lived life on their own terms and left us with zero debts in spite of all their struggles of life. We may be affluent in money terms but the emotional debts may go with us to our graves.

I sometimes wonder why life is so cruel on us. It impacts people who are always serving others. A classic example is that of a leading playback singer who was singing songs on demand from those suffering from covid to make them cheerful. The irony is that he was infected with covid and succumbed to it in a hospital. Can life be more cruel than that ?

Let us learn from our epics and remember to respect and care for all elders and friends who made us what we are today. We need to remember that tomorrow becomes an yesterday for all of us and we may get back what we do for others today.

Is it time to reflect ?

S Ramesh Shankar

25th March 2023