Life and Beyond

 Saw the passing of an aunt this week, and heard of another from a close friend. Both were elders, and my aunt was actually in a coma induced by a stroke that happened about two months ago. 

It does make you ponder, about the ephemeral and uncertain nature of life. Accident, disease, or unexpected shocks can cause death in a very short while. Some are fortunate, and pass away in their sleep. Others suffer for some period, long or short.

In any case, we are lucky to be alive each day, and must try and make the most of it, as per our inclination, choice, and ability.

Live a life with few regrets, or none at all. My mother passed away in November 2020 after a life lived fully, with few medical issues, at around 91. We were fortunately at hand, being stuck in the COVID pandemic. 

Not to worry too much about it, but be prepared for it, both your passing and that of others. 

Balanced Scorecard Approach To Life

 I have now read a few-quite a few- ways to approach life, from philosophers and self-help gurus and many well-meaning people across the spectrum. But my mind went back to something I had read in an article, that talked of a Balanced Scorecard to measure a company's performance. Maybe this can be adapted to scoring how well we are doing on various measures of success. You can tweak this to suit your life goals, of course, but the general framework can be as follows-

Success in career. This for a working middle class person is an essential fact, for about 30 years of his/her life. You cannot wish it away. Therefore, some amount of success is required to keep you afloat. If you are a housewife, maybe you can skip this.

Success with enterprise. You may not be an entrepreneur, but you can be enterprising, and take the initiative and do things. Simple or complex things. You can go on a trek, make some meetings with family or friends happen. Or anything else. A game of Bridge or Golf, or whatever. For academics, a conference paper, leading to a visit to the conference. 

Creative pursuit. A book project, or a painting, or learning a musical instrument, singing, acting, photography etc. This could become a lifelong companion. 

Supporting Role in someone's life- a child, parent, spouse are obvious people that come to mind. But it could be a friend or stranger too, like your working for a cause, like pets, or disadvantaged people.

Living life without too much of planning and thought, spontaneously, enjoying it to the fullest for its own sake, apart from all the rest of it, expectations, family, society, come what may.

Hope this helps in some small way..

Why Not?

 An attitude of why not? can lead you to undiscovered locations, and journeys, or experiences. Maybe also lead to some self-discovery along the way. Usually, if you lead a life that is too structured, there is little scope to experiment and discover something new. It could be something as simple as a new dish in  a restaurant, or a restaurant itself. Or, a new place to holiday in.

We tend to be scared to get out of our comfort zone in many spheres of living, and lose out on newer experiences that we might like. I am only suggesting that we try and get out of it, at least once in a while. Life may have a lot more to offer than you think.

Death and its Impact on the Living

We all have to face death one day. But what is the impact of the death of a close one on us? It can be considerable, and can affect us for a very long time. How do we cope?

These thoughts are triggered by one recent death in the family, and one at IMT G, of an employee who battled with cancer and passed away-today. In this case, it was an advanced stage of cancer, but the employee had an attitude which was positive till the very end. She worked with us in the MDP and other functions, and all her colleagues remember her as ever-smiling, and willing to do any work assigned, uncomplaining. That is a sterling quality, in anyone. Most of us find it easy to complain rather than work.

My father-in-law passed away last month, and he was a little over 80. We shared some great times, and conversations. He was a former shippie (marine engineer) and had lots of stories from his adventurous sorties on the sea. I was sometimes reminded of Sindbad the sailor! He also presented me with his golf kit, which I still use. We shared a lot of jokes when we met, and he visited us fairly regularly, amid all our moves from Bhubaneswar to Hyderabad, to Harihar, Lucknow, Calicut, Bangalore and Nagpur. He was in great health, until his last day, something to be grateful for.

I think we should remember the good times spent together with the departed souls as often as we can, and try to do something which they might have liked us to. And live our life well, too. Because it is a limited time offer, as someone put it.