Mind-Sweeper

Human kind may one day figure out the deepest mysteries of the universe. But I doubt if we will ever fully understand ourselves. I doubt if we will ever decipher the mechanics of the human mind, if we will ever comprehend how some electrochemical reactions in the brain can trigger abstract emotions. I have been ruminating over some aspects of human behavior and thought process for sometime now. I would like to present my limited understanding of some of these aspects in this post.

The toughest battle one has to fight in his life, is the battle against himself. One can face a hundred external opponents, but how does one face the enemy in the mirror. What I mean here is that, it is most difficult for a person to overcome his internal inadequacies. Like a person trying to shed his inherent introvert nature, or someone trying to conquer his fear of heights, or a timid soldier trying to build up enough courage to battle the enemy. One who can conquer his internal inabilities can conquer any external enemy. A classic example of this was that of John Nash, in the movie “A Beautiful Mind”. I guess this is the state that most ancient scriptures persuade us to achieve.

Dealing with failure is another tough task which the mind has to grapple with. You have been working hard to achieve something for a long time, you have been putting your blood and sweat into it, you have been hoping to make it big if and when you succeed. But in the end, you fail. What do you do now? How do you pick yourself up again? Some people are better at dealing with failures than others. They can shut out negative feelings from their system. They can switch on and switch off between different compartments of their life. But is this not something which all people can achieve.

“First impression is a lasting impression”. While this saying is true, judging a person just after meeting him/her once is probably the worst injustice that can be done to him/her. While first impression is a lasting one, it is rarely an accurate one. Over the years, my first impressions about people have been wrong more often than not. Many a times, the person whom I first thought to be a nerd, turned out to be quite a happy-g-lucky chap later, and someone I thought of as a a useless block, proved to be a hardworking person later. While I do believe it is possible to guage some facets of a person's character at first glance, it is impossible to get the full picture. I guess Nikhil will also echo my thoughts on this issue.

Sunil Gavaskar had once said, "Cricket is a game played between the 2 ears.". Perhaps, so is life.