Transforming Life …

In our Eighth Standard Science tome, the first chapter that we read
was about this element C, known as Carbon. When the molecules of
carbon are rearranged, we either get a slippery, soft and fragile
substance, Graphite or we get this rigid, extremely strong and highly
prized, Diamond. Physically, Carbon and Diamond do look disparate, yet
they are merely diverse expressions of the same prospective. It is
just similar to what people are despite they belong to the same genre,
to the same species, sharing similar yet rearranged genetic code.

Then what makes people transform and stand their own individuality?
What makes them different from others? Is it the physical features
that have an edge? Is it the material possessions? Is it the worldly
qualification that they've gained..? Obviously No !! the answer is
that with a little internal reorganization in their values, beliefs
and attitudes, is how people can be truly transformed into
individuals.

A well known fact is that a change in our perception can change the
definition of reality. Sometimes we perceive things, based on limited
knowledge even though the reality could be far beyond our insight. Its
true… we believe God works in mysterious ways, ways that are unknown
to us. We might opine about what the outcome could be of this deed
that we did, but the result astonishes us, before we recognize the
other face of the coin.


Here is the story of a farmer in China that will tell you about the
amazing transformation of a person:

A poor farmer in China was in great distress. He was a peace-loving
person who had to share a single room with four noisy roommates.
Besides, there were a couple of stray dogs and a few noisy chicken and
ducks in the neighborhood that made it difficult for him to sit
quietly or meditate.

Depressed, he traveled a long distance to his Zen master to find a way out.

Listening to his tale of woe, the compassionate Master said: "If you
listen to me carefully, I can try to see what we can do." The farmer
was all ears. The Master said: "Go back to your village and invite
inside your room the stray dogs, the chickens as well as the ducks.
Let them all stay with you for a week besides your four friends. Then
come back to me." Although he was shocked and surprised by his
Master`s strange prescription, the farmer reluctantly agreed to do as
he was asked.

The farmer came back after a week. He was in a pitiable state; his
hair was disheveled, his clothes were torn to shreds, his eyes were
red from lack of sleep and his body smelt of animal dung. He looked
tearfully at his Master and said: "The experience was worse than
hell-those animals and birds and their week-long company-let my fate
not befall anyone!"

The Master said: "Everything will be all right. Just go back to your
village and leave the animals outside your door-where they were
before. Then, come back to me after another seven days. "The farmer
again did what he was told. But this time when he came back-there was
a bright radiance in his face. His eyes shone and he told the Master:
"I have never known so much peace before. Just my four friends and I,
No animals in the room. We all slept well. And my meditation was
deep."

Many years later, the farmer himself became a Master. When people
asked him how he had found peace, he said: "The journey was indeed
memorable. It was like taking great pains in breaking into your own
house by climbing a ladder and smashing a windowpane-and realizing
later that the door of the house was open. All you needed to do was to
pull in the door towards you rather than push it."

The farmer in the story discovers something that was always present as
reality. Peace always existed as a possibility in his own mind. In the
process of this discovery he transforms himself. A traveler once said,
"We do not discover new land, we discover the old land with new eyes!"
When leaders undertake the journey of transformation they re-define
our view of reality.

Transformation is nothing but a process of renovation of people`s
spirit and psyche. And where does this start? It is believed that
conversion embarks on with a dialogue. In ancient times, Rulers used
to rove about their realms in masquerades, just to enquire about what
people had to say about the monarchy. If the feedback through the
conversation was credible, the monarch assumed that there was peace in
the realm. If not, then it was certain that there was snag brewing
within.

A change of heart in a human being is possible only when there is a
change in the internal dialogue of the person. Leaders do not compel
people to change; they merely induce the change process by changing
the internal dialogue within the person because it is believed that if
you wish to transform people allow them space and time to grow in
their knowledge. It is the only way to reach individual peace and self
realization.
Actually, why humans are called a superior race than other creations
is their thinking capability. If Gold becomes easily available just by
digging the ground, who will make riches out of it? Is it the ones who
dig deeper or is it the ones who dig wider? Well none, but the one
who'll sell shovels to them!!

We need to bring out the meaning of our relationships with the outside
word in order to penetrate deep within our own selves. We are
influenced when we are in a company because then we are being shaped
in the hands of the society of which we are a part. A log of wood has
little meaning unless it is carved into the shape of a boat or a piece
of furniture. This physical act of carving wood is preceded by the
arrangement of vigor in our consciousness that identifies with the
shape of the furniture.

Our life is a playground of endless potential. Life forever challenges
old forms of reality and old assumptions. Yet there is something
unchanging about life, which is change itself. To live is to embrace
change constantly. Change is inevitable. The only question is whether
we are the victims of change or the leaders of this change. It is
rightly said," Positive mindset is like a bird that anticipates light
at the end of a night and sings about sunshine even when it is still
dark!"
Tomorrow is nothing but a responsibility that we take on our shoulders
today and Today is nothing but a belief on our hard work that eases
this responsibility
…