Improvement through Awareness

This is not just an article.

This is a thought and an effort to be an AWARE individual. An individual who is not
only aware, but finds a broader perspective for perceiving things around him by being
vigilant to his/her environment.
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The Ground Reality
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We are a part of IT / ITES / Services workforce whose efforts are making India proud by leaps and bounds.
The effects are seen from growth in GDP to the comfortable lifestyle we are able to
afford today.
How many of us own cars, flats & have all the consumer products which we all see on television everyday. They keep on increasing and we keep on buying. A vicious circle.But then there’s nothing wrong in it. It’s the economics of demand & supply.
Hence life’s comfortable.
We have a prosperous family and loved ones around. We are socially, physically, mentally, professionally & economically doing well. So this more or less completes our life.
But is there something else to the story?
The thing’s that missing
My 7th grade English teacher Mrs. Raina introduced me to a lot of words one of them was called “Proactive”. I instantly liked its connotations. She used to say you got to be proactive in life. Those were the days when you believed in what teacher’s and elders told you.
I believe today we are being just reactive to the things happening around us and not being
proactive.
Maybe because we are not Aware. We read the events and listen to news but we miss the story. Is it the prerogative of newspaper / media to hand over the happenings? I don’t think so.

We have a tool that has revolutionized the way we seek information. INTERNET which has indeed leveled the playground. Information is there to be comprehended in depth, varied opinion, criticism, facts,
theories which help us to build our own point of views.
Well I am not an expert but do believe in improvement and improvisation. So here are few things I recommend one should at least start to do to make himself more Aware.

Random Discussions at Work / Home – These are like steroids and have an immediate effect. Just gather colleagues and friends on a weekly basis and discuss random topics e.g. Performance of Barack Obama , Beauty of Kerela , Importance of Marriage etc. The trick is to choose topics from a variety of genre. This will help you to shed your ignorance and most importantly initiate a healthy discussion. Also you will see a diff facet of your colleague / friend / spouse etc.

Knowledge about your field: Always keep a pulse on your industry through newspapers , articles etc. Best option is to buy a Business World / Business Week monthly. It’s just a monthly thing which we all can afford to do.

Knowledge about your passions – We all are fond of something, Music, Dance, Cooking, Movies, and Painting etc. Learn about it and make it a point to practice it.For just one reason it will make you happy.

Visit Wikipedia regularly – Imagine those days where we looked for information on movies / people / books / events and we had no clue where do search for it. The world’s biggest library is just a click away. The great part is it’s very precise and linked. You can navigate from the page of Mahatma Gandhi to Drug trafficking in Columbia. So go out there are satisfy your curiosity.
Online Newspaper – Pick up an Online newspaper, and just go through each section from Politics / Entertainment / Sports / Events / World etc. Believe me it takes less than 30 minutes to go through it on a daily basis. Prefer Hindu as its still means business today.
Special Mention ( my personal choice ) Read Swaminomics (by S.A.Iyer ) and Siege Within ( by M.J.Akbar) . They come on every Sunday in Times of India. Cover a wide range of topics and very interesting read. You’ll be surprised how much you have learnt in few months.

Spend time with Children – This is a strange one but believe me they are really smart. The fathers / mothers know this. But pick up a kid (siblings / cousins /neighbour) and make it a point to spend time with them. You’ll be surprised how they challenge our awareness.
There can be many more but I am sure once we start doing this it would slowly but
steadily make a difference. I am not saying this would bring about a significant change, maybe most of you do this already or much more but it has helped me many a times in diverse circumstances.
There’s an old saying:
“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.”

The efforts are towards a more AWARE you. Let’s give it an honest shot.
Cheers!!
Abhi