The swallow within us

One of Aesop’s fables narrates the story of a Swallow – a bird well known for its forethought. A farmer was sowing some hemp (the fibre of cannabis plant, extracted from the stem and used to make rope) seeds in a field where a Swallow and few other birds were hopping about finding food. Noticing this, the Swallow warned other birds. “He is sowing hemp seed; carefully pick up each and every seed. Don’t allow it to grow or else you will regret later”. 

However the birds dismissed Swallow’s advice and continued their business. As time passed by, hemp grew up and was turned into cords. Nets were made from the cords for capturing birds. 

The birds that previously didn’t pay heed to Swallow’s words were stuck in those nets. They saw the Swallow perched on top of a nearby tree and heard it say “Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin”.    

There is also a Chinese proverb that emphasizes one to put an end to the evil in its early stages. In English there is a saying “A small fire is soon quenched”. It is easy to acknowledge the fact that it will take less time and efforts to quench a small fire that has just begun. If it is allowed to spread, it will get out of control and eventually engulf everything. 

On the same lines, we should constantly be on the lookout for “hemp” seeds in our life and destroy them immediately. The hemp seeds may be in the form of ill habits, wicked people in the guise of friends or anything that impacts our self-growth. 

If we allow them to flourish, we are bound to face the consequences later and we will have to pay a heavy price. We ought to intently listen to the swallow within us and follow its guidance.

What do you think are “hemp” seeds in your life?

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Unfurling the memory riddle

Try answering these questions as precisely as possible. What did you eat for breakfast today? What did you discuss with your friends yesterday? When did you last visit a restaurant and what did you eat? How did you spend the entire day exactly 6 months ago, 1 year ago? In the last month, which day and what time were you the most happy/sad? 

How many could you answer perfectly? Sounds foolish?! Well, for some of us, even answering the first question perhaps turned out to be tough.

4 Major Reasons

Why does this happen? We are dealing with one of the complex organs in human body – brain and its function of storing and retrieving information. Few reasons for why we forget are listed here. Following is a summary. 

• Retrieval Failure – Information is lost because the memory trace holding the information has not been rehearsed and hence cannot be retrieved. 
• Interference – Information that needs to be converted into memory competes with other memories (for possibly the same trace) and result in interference. 
• Failure to store – Information does not register into a memory trace because it is considered redundant. 
• Motivated forgetting – Information is forcefully removed from the memory by conscious effort because it makes us unhappy or brings pain.

Root cause?

Looking at the reasons we infer that there is “something else” that is involved in making a decision. Whether it is concluding that information is redundant, or deciding that specific memory trace of an unhappy moment to be removed, there seems to be another part of us playing this role. 

Possibly reasons mentioned above are just a manifestation of “something else” based on its actions. If this “something else” can be considered the root cause, it certainly holds the key to address our questions about forgetfulness and maybe more.

Boon or Bane

Just imagine what would happen if we could recollect everything vividly about our past. Would it help us make better decisions? 
Or would it be harmful because we would end up brooding upon the bitter memories? Perhaps there is a hidden reason as to why human brain is designed to be the way it is. 

Does your memory tell anything else?

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Staying Humble

When I was a kid, I was fond of indulging myself in the game of snakes and ladders. It was such a simple and beautiful game.  Just a small piece of cardboard having numbers 1 to 100 and adorned with colorful snakes and yellow colored ladders placed randomly at different locations. 

The board game was filled with various sizes of ladders as well as snakes – some very lengthy and others very short. Most of the snakes looked funny however I’ve to admit some were scary!  

Just this board, a few markers (for individual players) and a pair of dice were all the stuff required to get me engaged. Going up the ladders made me happy but at the same time, sliding down the body of venom less snakes disappointed me. 
Nevertheless I continued to play and eventually reach the end. After a while I would start yet another game! 

Now, grown up, I still have a passion for this amazing board game. But looking from a different perspective, I’ve also realized that life itself is a board filled with snakes and ladders. 
When I achieve a feat, I gain happiness. On the contrary, when I encounter failure I feel saddened. Life is a mixture of ups and downs, crests and troughs. 

We should discern that irrespective of one’s position, either at the top of a hill or at the bottom of a pit, one should stay modest. 
Because we never know what lies just ahead of us – it may be a tall ladder that would take us to great heights or a snake that would make us descend and stoop low!

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Elephantine Deception

When the elephant is still a calf, it is bound to a mast just by a rope. The baby elephant struggles to escape from confinement but as the rope is thick enough to match its strength, it can’t. Noticing that its efforts are in vain, gradually this calf registers in its mind that it cannot tear away the rope and eventually stops trying to escape. 

Years pass and when the calf grows to become a massive elephant, it is still bound by the same rope – however the rope itself is now “tiny” when compared to the “huge” animal. The rope is no match for the animal’s immense strength. 

Alas! But the elephant does not try to escape. Why? Because the elephant’s mind has been tuned to make it think & believe that it cannot tear the rope into pieces. Its mind has been deceived.

The same goes with us humans too. During various stages of growth, we become exposed to lot of hindrances, difficulties. Based on the environment, we make a conscious effort to arrive at a just judgment. 

Most of these situations etch seemingly indelible marks in our mind. Unfortunately there is no straightforward way to selectively erase these blots. At later stages, we get entrapped into these historical conditions and lose clarity in current happenings. 

We lose our freedom of thoughts; we end up believing that there is no other way out. Exactly like the baby elephant we accept that the bond cannot be broken.  

It is important for us to be always conscious and take action accordingly. Each of the marks in our mind may have their own story to tell. But instead of blindly going with history, we should at least make an attempt to challenge ourselves considering the current circumstances. Keep in mind the 3 tips below to avoid mind’s beguiling. 

1. Write down the problem on a piece of paper and list various possibilities to address it
2. Evaluate each of the possibilities with an unbiased mind. Discuss with a friend or a counselor, if you consider it helpful
3. If a historical scenario pitches in, identify the differences in environment between the previous and present situation

I believe that a little conscious attempt is sufficient to unveil the paths to tackle our problem.

Anything interesting that you adopt in your life?

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Happiest man on earth

Do you know who the world’s happiest man is? It is Mr. MatthieuRicard. He is a French academic-turned-Buddhist monk. Scientists have conducted many experiments on him as part of a research and after he scored significantly above the average of hundreds of others, declared him the happiest person. Well, what was his path to this stature?

5 quick facts about this remarkable person

1. At a young age, he was interested in classical music. However he obtained his PhD in cell genetics in Paris in 1972.
2. He moved to India to study Buddhism and after several years of isolation emerged as a celebrity. He wrote a book "The Monk And The Philosopher", which became a bestseller and was translated into 21 languages.
3. He has also written another book "Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill" and has several collections of photographs of the Himalayan landscape. He has translated numerous Buddhist texts. He donates all proceeds of his books to many humanitarian projects which have built schools for numerous children and provide healthcare for 100,000 patients a year.
4. Neuroscientists wired up Ricard's skull with 256 sensors at the University of Wisconsin and found excessive activity in his brain's left prefrontal cortex compared to its right counterpart, giving him an abnormally large capacity for happiness and a reduced propensity towards negativity.
5. Ricard spends his time meditating in isolation, scientific research and accompanying the Dalai Lama as his adviser on trips to French-speaking countries and science conferences.

His Quotes

Try sincerely to check, to investigate. That's what Buddhism has been trying to unravel - the mechanism of happiness and suffering. It is a science of the mind.

Neuroscience has proven that similar areas of the brain are activated both in the person who suffers and in the one who feels empathy. Thus, empathic suffering is a true experience of suffering.

Its quite astonishing to see that in the current hectic world, a person can get the distinction of being the happiest! If I get a chance to read any of his books, I'll update my thoughts. See my other post showing a glimpse of happiest nations. 

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