Tag Archives: Exploration

Dilemma-Sure?

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My grandmother used to tell me that you should take your time to decide.

Hear others, research and refer to relevant resources, 

And once you are sure take that plunge, have no doubts what so ever and stick by your decision. 

Ideal as it might sound, the reality at times is far fetched.

No matter what’s the decision we take, the thought of loosing upon the other side of the coin troubles our mind.

What if the option that I left was better than the one I chose? 

What if it would have made me more successful?

What if I would have got what I wanted by going for that other option?

Well, what if is something, which no one knows off,

No one can predict or decipher,

Then why think about it! 

For what if you never were born! Or what if you would die sooner than expected. 

But the question is how does one get this very monkey off our backs and minds?

Yes, one can try to focus on our actions and forget about the consequences, as illustrated in the Bhagavad Gita. 

Yet, is it so easy to do so?

If it were, as they say, why would souls invest lifetimes in figuring out what the truth is!

Well, wasn’t life all about exploration and finding answers to the questions that keep cropping up because of our curiosity influencing our very minds?

If it is, then what are we waiting for? 

Take the plunge and see for yourself what it is rather than being caught up in this dilemma of being sure or not.

Source for the Image: https://depositphotos.com/stock-photos/dilemma.html, https://www.pureexploration.nz/

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Work Ethics

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Possibly the most discussed aspect in any sector or office,

A concept which has given sleepless nights to the senior leadership team and in turn HR.

Let us delve into a certain perspective which the term has to offer to the world.

Going by the definitions:

Work, simply put, is the effort one takes to accomplish a task,

Ethics, on the other hand, is the principles that may guide an individual’s actions.

Two combined, it has a powerful connotation where one is evaluated on the basis of the:

core values that one has

and

the commitment that one is ready to put to achieve a certain goal, which is

Created by an entity, which in an ideal situation, one should have bought in before joining a certain company.

More often than not, people have their own compulsions or reasons for taking up a certain role,

Be it at a personal level, where one feels compelled to do certain things for their and their family’s survival,

Be it the act of exploration where one is not sure what one needs to do or is capable of doing,

Be it the time pass they would want to do, simply because they prefer not to sit at home,

or

Be it the interest and motivation to work in a certain field, one has;

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Whatever that all important reason be for an individual for accepting the offer letter,

Bottom line: Once one commits, one should meet that commitment. 

In today’s world, words have become just a loose way of expressing things,

Yesterday, one could say something and today one may come up with a totally opposite version of the same,

Such loose conversations and commitments has somewhat become a way of life for:

millennials  in general

and

GenZ s in particular,

Reflective of the kind of value system and lack of trust that persists in our society,

Be it the reinforcement from parents,

or

Be it the reinforcement from teachers, peers and the schools,

The end product, in the form of grown-ups seem to be a cohort which is:

Insecure, about their own competence, finding excuses,

Imbalanced, when it comes to handling personal and professional situations,

and

Reactive, at times because of being born with a golden spoon,

Having said the above, all is not lost. The challenge for us as a society being:

How we channel the enthusiasm and energy in a direction which ultimately leads to satisfaction at a personal and professional front!

Which requires a systemic change.

The only question is:

Are we all willing to do so as a society for everyone’s well being?

Source for the Image: https://www.proschoolonline.com/blog/work-ethics-avoid-conflicts-at-workplace

Deciding to Obey!

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Since childhood,

Be it our parents or teachers,

Be it the moral science books,

Be it any other elder in the neighbourhood,

We have been told to obey, for the sheer reason being that all the stakeholders mentioned above have experienced life much more, in terms of no. of years, than what we might have.

Fair enough, some would say!

But few might ask, is this the only and probably the right way to approach any or every aspect of life?

Well, may be and may be not!

obedience-2_opt

May be, because of the communication relationship and the trust that you might have been able to build with the person over a period of time.

May be not, because, unless and until you have experienced it yourself, you might have a tendency to stop being curious and accept it at a surface level.

So, it comes down to whether the acceptance is because of the very concept of obedience or because you decide, having experienced the same, to give your consent to obey.

Considering the kind of argument one gives behind obeying, in a way, influences the way your thought process shapes up.

From a teacher or a mentor point of view, it is extremely important that obedience is a consequence of the decision a kid chooses to take, after having had a complete understanding of the relevant aspect of life.

For, all the kids out there, there is a strong need to delve deeper into what’s being said and ask as many questions as you can, before you decide to accept,

and

For all teachers and parents, the imperative is to encourage kids to be curious and let them explore before expecting them to obey.

Source for the Image: http://dawnhydebooks.com/montessori-how-obedience-and-will-power-develop-in-young-children/

Game of Educating!

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Have you ever wondered, why education has just become a means for attaining good marks, which in turn gets you a so called good job thereafter? And the education providers a business for churning out mechanical robots day-in-day-out.

After all education was never meant to be a business and a factory for generating the above, it was meant to lead to creation of responsible and sensible individuals who could, after growing up, make rational and sensible decisions, guiding the world towards a sustainable and joyful place to live in.

The question that arises is whether that’s happening? And if not, what needs to be done to ensure that it happens? Very valid questions indeed and we do have an answer, though it might not go down well with the herd mentality of trying to make millions of dollars, yet can have an immense impact on the way people perceive education in a holistic manner.

Before we get into the dynamics of how it can be achieved, let us take a pause to understand what it means for a kid. Kids are born with inherent curiosity, which they express in so called constructive or destructive ways, yet one thing that should not be taken away from them is a zeal to ask questions.

Shouldn’t our education system be encouraging questions and enabling the curiosity to flourish among kids?

Once the curiosity take its own course, kids are bound to find answers to the same, be it asking their elders (parents, siblings, teachers) or seeking it for themselves, be it internet, any chat bot or other means of digital access.

Coming to our role as adults is to provide kids an environment and assets through which they can explore this wonderful world, ask us questions when they feel like and get the answers to the same or a guidance as to where they would be able to find the answers to the same, the latter being the preferred modus operandi, as it leads to self-exploration and building a confidence to explore.

Having said the above, there are many aspects to providing this environment, especially in the current scheme of things (assuming the kids are able to come to a school, though there are other aspects of how to bring underprivileged kids to the same which encompasses mid-day meal programs etc.):

number-demolition-11-20

 

  • Physical Infrastructure

 

      1. Classrooms (black/white boards, chalk/marker, chairs, tables, lights etc.)
      2. Toilets
      3. Playground (garden, trees)
      4. Projector
      5. Computer
      6. Science Labs (chemicals etc.)
      7. Staff room

 

  • Learning Material

 

      1. Text Books/E-Books (in every language)
      2. Videos (in-person/animation) (in every language)
      3. Experiment kits (aligned to concepts and real life examples) which kids can play with, relate to and learn from the same
      4. Tools equipped with AR/VR

 

  • Teachers

 

      1. Friendly, learned enablers having teaching aides (digital and physical) who promote the culture of openness and asking questions

 

  • Parents

 

    1. Acting as enablers off the school campus, giving children an opportunity to explore

The very idea to create an exploration environment equipped with technology and other fundamental assets to make the learning process a joyful experience is what one would want to aspire for when it comes to developing that all important vision of educating the next generation.

The learning process needs to be made joyful and easily understandable which means presenting concepts etc. in a manner in which the kid would want to receive it as, which in turn means that we need to have a fair understanding of what would be received well by different kids of different levels of understanding and the matter or the material being designed in accordance to the same.

Does that mean that the grades need to be rethought and regrouped into a fundamental parameter, such as level of understanding?

If that’s the case, can the concepts be organized per se according to the levels of understanding and not grades?

Does it also translate into different explanations/pedagogy for the same concept for different levels of understanding that kids might have?

After all, a concept is grade agnostic and the very assumption that the kids of a certain grade wouldn’t comprehend a particular aspect of life is derogatory in itself.

It’s like putting the kids into unwanted boundations and making them believe of the very limitations which don’t really exist.

Strong need to rethink upon how education can be made:

Relatable (to what one sees around oneself),

Realistic (based upon pure observation),

Simplistic (easy to understand),

Unbounded & limitless (making a conscious effort of not creating superficial boundaries in the minds of the kids)

and

most importantly Enjoyable.

Source of the image: https://www.education.com/game/number-demolition-11-20/

Figure out the GOOGLE in you!

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One day, a philosopher was sitting beneath a tree, thinking about the usual, what is life, what is my purpose etc. etc. 

All of a sudden, he felt a cool breeze embracing his hair and face with love and warmth. Don’t know why, that experience made him believe very strongly in, life is about the little experiences that touch our being every moment. 

So many guys have tried, some have taken the path of a sanyasi , few have tread the middle path proposed by Gautam Buddha, few have committed suicide, few have become hippies but no one has been able to figure out the existence of the almighty.

The question is not whether God exists or not, but whether one should actually be wasting his/her time in figuring out the same.

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For what we are, a physical mass which tends to interact with whatever is around us, if it were not because of the experience per say, what is it to live.

In sweet and simple terms, if you are not experiencing, if you are not making yourself open to the little pleasures of life, you are not living. For life was meant to be experienced.

So, instead of trying to find who built Google, why not figure out the Google in you and get on an exploration spree.

Source for the Image: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/744685614862958594

The Exploration!

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For the past couple of days, I have been conversing a lot with some old friends, family members and some new friends that I have made over these past couple of days. 

Don’t know why and how but somehow the conversations have revolved around the basic theme of what we all want from life. Might be that we all are if not a little concerned but surely trying to find answer to the biggest mystery that seems to surround us all. 

If you are wondering how and when we will be able to decipher the same, then my dear friend, I must tell you that it might take an entire lifetime to do so, not sure for certain that you will be able to reach the pinnacle of discovering the same.But the journey of being able to explore the same seems to be exciting in itself. 

As far as I am concerned, life for me is discovering who you are and then trying to live life to your own sweet will. But I must be kidding when I make that naive suggestion that we don’t know who we are, right!

Well, to be brutally frank, we don’t want to know our inner self. We are too engrossed in the nitty-gritty of life so as to ignore the real aspects associated with the same. The biggest question though is why should we all try to delve into the deeper and inner aspects? After all, we are all happy living the way we are                             images 

We can go on debating on whether the kind of happiness that we all experience in our day-to-day life is real or not, but let me present a perspective which might ring some bells in your mind.

Consider a state A, where you are happy (though I would want to call it pseudo happiness) and consider another state B, where you know for sure that you will be healthier and happier. Wouldn’t you want to go  from A to B? The only catch here is that while going from A to B, you might have to face certain challenges and might have to delve into certain kinds of explorations which you might not be prepared for at the moment.

Would you then want to give up to the fact that you might not have the courage and possibly the skill set to be able to explore the world in order to reach state B? Would you be tame enough to treat pseudo happiness as the real happiness or would you want to explore the myth behind the same? Would you want to continue living in the hope that some day someone would come and give you salvation or would you be brave enough to explore your own path to salvation?

These are questions for which answers can only be found once we dive into the exploration of our own lives. This, in no way, implies giving up your life as a professional and move into the woods to do the same. Just that, you need to modify the way you live and think and perceive a tad bit and you will notice a considerable amount of change in your psyche.

This will surely lead to a better understanding of who your are and would in turn result in a much healthier and happier lifestyle. 

The choice is yours. Whether you want to continue living your life in a web created by the who’s who of your personal society or you want to make yourself feel free from the pseudo bonds that you seem to have accepted as the real truth.

Just need to go out there and start exploring and that is what our life might have wanted from us the moment we took that first little step in the enclosures of our protected households. 

Source for Image: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/125/the-new-age-of-exploration/