Balancing Individualism and Connection: The Key to Sustainable Personal Growth and Stronger Relationships

Why Share Or Care 

“Best friends are better than pocket money.” I heard this from a Jamaican Car salesman when I went car shopping a couple of years ago. And it got me thinking.

Among all life skills, the spirit of collaboration (sharing, caring, losing/winning, compromising & complimenting), among peers and even among competitors can help spur rapid growth in human advancement.

But, when was the last time we shared our ideas, wisdom and knowledge and got some really cool ideas, wisdom and knowledge in return?

Ideals Or Ideologies

You know why festivities were created? To sustain humanity and our belief in our one another. So, today, can we start with a blank sheet without having to endorse feminism, religion, racism, sexism, war, greed, genocide, politics, violence and terrorism?

When we’re all the same and have the same potential, what’s the need to belong to any ideology?

On Violence and Brutality

The coldest places on earth that cannot grow a twig are no match for the coldness of the heart. The scab behind the ear is far less dirty than the blackness of the human heart.

There are forces of human acting against you. So, play your part. Cheapen everyone else’s resolve with your magnanimity. The need for peace, acceptance and the longingness to be appreciated are universal.

Violence, brutality, oppression, mass murders, being unkind –These are not subconscious choices of the mind. It is not even the order of the world. Eating, sleeping, procrastination, retrospection without consequences, mortality – this is.

In An Individualistic World, Our Success Is Collective

Whatever we want our definition of success and achievement to be, we cannot succeed without the support, guidance and faith of those surrounding us. It’s true that we’re products of the positive forces in our environment.

Our success as a society in fact depends largely on how we can all work towards tapping into the strengths of one another thereby elevating the overall cognitive diversity to solve a set problem.

So, let’s start giving more importance to how we all connect, communicate and collaborate effectively – in real life.

Societies Can Make Or Break Us

Divorce, drugs, death can destroy childhood and ravage families. Homelessness is essentially the loss of a great dream that we all have for ourselves – of not just covering the basics like food, clothing and shelter, but to be able to thrive beyond our wildest imagination.

Parental neglect, failing schools and no one to teach our children consequential thinking – the idea that our choices now will determine our destiny – are preventable reasons for homelessness. The rising costs of housing, health care, and the risk of unemployment are other societal factors.

But, here’s the thing. So many of us, and so many sparks of madness. Why can’t we call live together in our own extraordinary ways?

We get mad, we forget, we argue, we envy, we procrastinate, we forgive, we love. That’s what makes us similar. And, that’s why we can be friends.

We can all choose to learn from each other and grow emotionally and intellectually if only we have the patience and willingness to understand others.

Can Autonomy Trump Collaboration?

Of all the spokes of mental wellness, after self-care comes relationship care. As we become adults, society’s idea of being “independent and successful” is that somehow, we must become autonomous creatures.

Seeking refuge in someone is not a sign of weakness, it’s the most courageous thing to do. Because asking for help and advice and not just seeking attention demands us to be vulnerable.

Also, our life spans are getting longer and at some point, life can get lonely without a positive and nurturing partner to share it with.

Relationships fall apart mainly because of lack of respect, acknowledgement and genuineness. What’s more, trying to survive in a bad relationship is bad for your physical and mental health, and is associated with a shorter life span. Millennials, if this feels like we’re making a case for marriage, oh yes, we are. ;)

How are you nurturing the relationships in your life?

Why Do We Need To Remind Ourselves Of Our Kindness?

Once a year, our world celebrates The World Kindness Day. It’s sad that we’ve to have a day marked for kindness so we can all recalibrate and reevaluate our personal kindness quotient for our fellow beings. If everyone of us kind to the rest of our family members and our inner circle of friends, we would not have come to this. Wish we were all just unequivocal in telling our loved ones how much they mean to us.

In the end, let’s try to find out what is our inherent Viveka (The Sanskrit word for Discretion)? To understand that maintaining conflict is harder than not maintaining conflict.

Just not for today, but for every day, remember this. Just be nice, please. And life’s too unpredictable to plan sometimes. Be spontaneous. Visit grandpa today.

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