If we look back in time, people lived in villages and small towns and managed all their issues within their commune. They produced what they needed and consumed within. They went out only when they could not produce. This was true for all aspects of life and living. Today human beings are creating problems everyday around themselves and struggling to find solutions.

Whether it is climate change or warming of the earth’s surface, all our actions today ,is leading us to a bleak tomorrow ,for our future generations. We have to move from a world living on greed, to a world satisfied with their needs. I am not sure if we have solutions, for all the problems we are creating ,for ourselves and our future generations. However, the silver lining is that ,Nature has solutions for all man made problems.

Let us look at how we can learn from nature and at least prevent the further de-generation of the human kind. A simple example could be the natural disasters. I am told that the animals sense the onset of a tsunami or an earthquake and caution other animals and birds to move away from the likely site of disaster. Tribal communities who are closer to nature observe and listen to the calls of these animals and reduce the impact of disaster on them.

I am at an ayurveda retreat at present in Kerala, India. As per Ayurveda experts, there are many precautions human beings can take ,to lead a healthy life. This could include ,the type of food consumed, the exercise we do and even our daily routine of getting up and going to sleep. These have been prescribed hundreds of years ago and we are still groping in the dark and knowingly ignoring them.

Another interesting video I was watching was about the bullet trains in Japan. I was told they had a perennial problem of high decibel noise from the bullet trains when they exited tunnels and this impacted the nearby communities. They struggled to find a solution till an engineer saw a kingfisher bird diving into the river without a splash. This prompted the engineer to design the frontal side of the train like the beak of a kingfisher. this not only reduced the sound emitted but also reduced power consumption by the trains.

Nature has myriad ways of teaching us everyday. We have moved away from nature .humans have started believing that our ingenuity and technology can solve all man made problems. We are realising that this is not true and the sooner we get closer to nature, the better it is for mankind.

Let us look at the waste we create everyday around us. Earlier it was mostly organic and got naturally recycled back to earth. Nowadays with plastic and all other chemicals used in packaging etc, there is no way waste will get recycled easily. Although, we are going organic rapidly, our ability to reduce consumption will lead us to a better tomorrow. Here again animals teach us that they never consume more than what they need. Have you ever seen a dog over eating ? It will refuse food when its stomach is full. It is humans who keep consuming irrespective of need and because of greed.

It may be time to reconnect with nature and learn everyday.

S Ramesh Shankar

18th February 2023

 

Nature may be our best teacher in life. Every plant and animal around us teaches us every day in every possible way. We, as humans have become blind, deaf and dumb to these teachings from nature. The chirping of the birds in the morning or the loyalty of a dog – everything is a lesson in life for us.

When we are born, we are not attached to anything in life. We arrive on earth with no clothes on us and the same thing happens when we leave this world. We cannot take back with us ,anything we have possessed during our lifetime. We literally come bare handed and go back the same way ,wherever we go as per our own religion.

However, during our stay on earth, we get attached to many things and of course many people. We start getting attached to our family from our childhood. Then friends, relatives and neighbours come into our lives. Every relationship makes us feel connected and we miss them when they are not around.

Our material possessions grow similarly. We have the bare minimum in our childhood and as we grow into adolescence ,our greed tends to go beyond our needs. Then adulthood makes us self reliant and thereby we start valuing our worth ,based on the material possessions we have.

As we do we well in our lives, our value for people decreases and material wealth increases. We start believing that we can live and survive on our own ,based on our financial wellness. We get connected to material things more than the people in our lives.

If we reflect on nature, we realise that birds do no accumulate any material things. They are always caring for each other and flock with one another to make each other successful. On the other hand, humans want to be financially well to do and relegate the value of human relationships.

Nature teaches us to be connected with everything without being attached to anything. The birds, the animals and even the plants are connected to every part of nature ,but they do not get attached to anything. On the other hand, we as humans ,get attached to our possessions and are not connected to other humans ,as we succeed in life.

Our ability to value people and not things in our lives ,may be the first step. Then, our ability to be detached and at the same time be attached with people ,is the key. This may look like a dichotomy of life but it is invaluable ,if we are able to master it. We need to enjoy the company of people we love as long as they are around and then need to live their values in our lives rather than keep worrying about them when they are no more.

The art of being connected to everything and not being attached to anything ,is the “mantra” of life. This may be easier said than done. It is easy to write about being detached than to practise it. However, the earlier we internalise this basic truth of life, the better it may be for our survival and growth as a human being.

S Ramesh Shankar

15th Feb 2023

I have always been an ardent admirer of Nature. I have never had enough of nature and every day I am astonished at the miracles around me. I recently had a few experiences which made me admire nature more and learn important life lessons.

The first one was when my Christmas tree was growing up in the garden. As we know, Xmas tree grows tall and so was mine. One day its tip reached below the leaves of my coconut tree. I thought I will have to ask my gardener to chop of the coconuts fronds. But before I realised, the leaves of the Xmas tree found its way through the leaves of the coconut tree and continued to grow tall without complaining to anyone.

The second instance was when I saw a lotus pond near the place I stayed in Pondicherry. I had requested the estate manager to get me a small lotus sapling from the pond. But every time he tried, he could not. I was disappointed till my visit last month. He presented me the same and I brought it diligently to Bangalore and put it in my lily pond. Within days the lotus sapling dried and died. I realised and learnt that a lotus pond is more than 20 feet deep and my Lilly pond is around 3 feet only. Hence, there was no way that the lotus could survive in a shallow lily pond.

Both these experiences are great learnings in life for me. The first was to let people learn and grow their way. We should not interfere and want them to do it our way. In the second experience, nature taught me that I should not mess up with nature. If I try to force people to do it my way or learn my way, they may not succeed. Encourage people to do it their way and let them bloom in their own backyard.

If we sit down and reflect, we learn a lot of life lessons from nature every day. Many of us tend to complain and crib all the time that we are not able to grow for any number of reasons in the organisation. We sometimes say bad boss, poor opportunities, lack of support or resources or something else. If we are willing to learn from nature, we will not allow anything to come in our way and will continue to learn and grow.

Similarly, as leaders and parents we tend to make people behave as we think since we feel it is the best way to do. It may or may not be right. If we create a work environment as a leader or a home environment as a parent and let our colleagues and our kids learn and grow as they would like to do, they may prosper. If we try to force fit like I did with the lotus tree in my Lilly pond, nobody prospers.

Nature teaches us every day in every way. It is upto us to admire, observe and learn.

Time to start is today.

S Ramesh Shankar

8th March 2022