Life is a beautiful gift, and a responsibility. Not understanding how to make  the best of this is too big a loss. We find ourselves focusing on just one of its many dimensions, usually a professional career where we are stupefied by the associated monetary rent or salary. However in the process we overlook the many intangible but highly valuable benefits that other ‘dimensions’ of life have to offer. Think about it. Some of the choices we end up making are suboptimal, to say the least. Our parents, for example, are the only people we will ever have in our lives who love us more than themselves, but we see them less than we see our co-workers at work. There is much value to be derived from being with them. Consider also the case of our spouses, and our children, who face a similar treatment at the supposedly justified excuse of our deadlines and schedules. Spiritual contentment is a third dimension that also takes the back seat. There are important questions that demand reflection, such as where we are coming from and where we are going. In fact they are also enlightening, and can lead to true self discovery. There are numerous other dimensions that stay unexplored also; there is so much to learn, so much to see, so much to do, so many people to get to know and appreciate. Not as an afterthought, not as a guilt laden ‘time off from work’, but as our clear right as human beings yearning for a fulfilling life. My final contention is that these dimensions do not have to be lived in separate silos. There are overlaps that one could learn to value. For example in the work place, focus on developing what I call ‘life skills’ side by side with your other trainings. These life skills include how to communicate better, how to resolve conflicts better, and how to be a dependable team player. These traits will benefit you in your career, and you will take them home with you to your families, to your marriage, and to your children. We are usually able to keep putting this off, and to ignore this fact till we reach the ‘other side of the hill’. One is truly successful when one is happy and satisfied not just in the ‘today’ when one is young and everything is a daze, but also in the ‘tomorrow’. Adding depth to how we spend our lives today is an investment in the future far more valuable than any material assets we put away for retirement. It is time now to wrap up the analogy at the start. The cab really symbolizes our life, and the example is meant to remove unnecessary confusion from the view and present a simple and clear picture. Let us resolve to not let life pass us by just like the cab. The remedy, once again, is really quite simple. We actively need to learn to ‘balance’. With a little effort, we can experience how valuable and enriching a life that is enriched by multiple dimensions would be. |