Saturday, August 31, 2013

Thought For The Day - Moult The Past Away Like A Snake

What if we could get up each day without the baggage of yesterday? What if we can suddenly start afresh, slate clean, smiles in place, people not judged? What if we could shed it all like snakes do and move on?
Nice inviting road

Sounds heavenly. Life anew.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are days when many of us probably feel this way.

But there are other days where we have build something, written a chapter, completed a business transaction, repaired a damaged relationship and so on. In this case, we would probably want a carry-over, and accumulation, that ultimately leads to positive "equity."

So, perhaps we need a way to carry forward the positive but lose the negative. Tennis coaches teach that to young kids - to put behind losses, but store positive learning. For others it appears to be a personality trait - where they just thrive on positives but brush aside negatives.

Life is complex. Living is complicated.

Harimohan said...

Ah Anon, so it is, so it is.

It is an interesting perspective that you put forth - of carrying forward the positive and leaving behind the negative.

That led me to wonder, would even positive equity be baggage? Would it be different to look at the world without any baggage at all? With new eyes?

Thanks Anon, for the hand on my shoulder. Much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Good questions. I suppose positive equity could be baggage and act as a negative.

Perhaps a positive past could lead to future expectations that are difficult to meet - and thus lead to disappointment. Getting 100/100 in a few tests might make future 95s disappointing...

Or positive equity could lead to complacence or inertia..A person may just bask in past glory and under-perform in the future due to carelessness or sloth. The Australian cricket team may be a good example..

Or positive equity could lead to risk aversion. A company with successful products may shy away from taking risk, so as not to tarnish their record. There is a book that recommends that companies should learn to "forget"...

And so on, I suppose..

In the end, the trick may be to remember enough of the positives, to give a person self-confidence, but not to dwell too much on the positives. And to remember enough negatives, to spur one to improve and correct mistakes in the past, but no dwell too much on the negatives. Not an easy balance to find.

Harimohan said...

Yes Anon. Difficult to find - that balance. My theory is that we are all "in the end" trying to find that delicate balance in everything.