When I was young, I studied in the same school where my mother was a teacher. When I was in fourth standard, my mother would tell me stories of great people during lunch time. We would talk about the stories and I still remember asking a lot of questions, which were answered by my mother. I am deeply grateful to her. I only realised the impact those stories had on my life much later. Awareness and maturity have little relation to age. God has given us all a book with different chapters to learn and explore in this practical world.
When I joined Secure 20 years back, I was for the most part living my life unaware. I was living in an ideal world of my imagination and not able to harmonise this with reality. I grew-up in an environment where discipline, simplicity and honesty were the norm and naturally it was my parents who caused these values to be ingrained in me. I have worked with a variety of people since then, and many have inspired me and some have taught me important lessons. Sometimes I failed to understand some who were difficult and manipulative. I realised this only when I lost my balance. I knew that fear and anger were not natural and that the side effect was debilitating, but it seemed to have an unrelenting grip on mind. It happens to all of us at some point or another in our lives. I was out of touch with reality and could not see the emotional pain behind other peoples’ challenging behaviour.
I read lots of books and started learning the art of balancing all aspects of my life. I learnt and practiced yoga and meditation and joined The Art of Living, which is a source of many insights. Through a blur of tears, I began writing a daily diary which was a habit since childhood that I had somehow left after marriage. It was a safe place to express myself and also a tool for reflection. I was able to rationalise my thoughts through writing in the diary. It helped me to develop a different, more empowered, healthier perspective.
In more recent years, people have been coming to me to talk about their problems and asking me for guidance. I always find joy in listening to them and doing my best to help them to find their inner compass. It gives me deep satisfaction. I am thankful for the challenges I faced earlier, for giving me the opportunity to learn, to change my perspective, and for making me stronger. I am also thankful to those who inspired me with their positivity, mentoring and iron will. I realised that mistakes and failures are a ‘must have’ element to grow. The universe responds to every call for help and when needed we find the right sources. Semsites are lucky to have inspiring leaders like Kaushik sir who have devoted their whole life to living their dharma and karma.
Secure is not just a company, it is a family where there is a culture of helping, learning, growing, and encouraging people to act. Keeping one foot in front of the other helped me a lot. I started teaching yoga, soft skills and became a life coach to people. I searched everywhere for a sense of spiritual meaning and direction to where good might lie. The more I learnt, the more I wished to help those around me. I have been lucky to have people around me who have always inspired me to live a meaningful life. One lesson I have learnt, is to understand the deeper meaning behind failures and to learn from it. When added to a desire to live by our values without doubting ourselves, even if there are obstacles or consequences, makes us happy. We always have the power to change ourselves by pushing ourselves.
Stephen Covey has an empowering way of thinking about spirituality. He describes it in three related parts; integrity, meaning and voice. He says integrity is being true to your highest values and consciousness; meaning is a sense of contribution to people and causes; voice, is about aligning your work to your unique calling and gift. I believe I am here to fulfill the meaning and voice.
