Page 12 - HERE AND NOW Dec 2022

Looking Back, Going Forward, Embracing

Change

By ANKUR JAYKAR

A lot happened in the last two years. The dreadful pandemic of COVID-19 created havoc, but slowly the
human spirit conquered it – but not before learning new ways to lead life. A lot was lost but a lot of that
was regained too. The last two years brought out the ugly face of human greed & indifference but was
also contrasted by an equally endearing face of love and compassion towards fellow humans. A lot many
things that were earlier assumed to be important turned out to be fallacies. The lockdowns and closure
of businesses made us realise the fragility of things that we earlier thought were permanent. If I must
describe the last two years in a single word, it would be “Change”.

These last two years made me reaffirm my belief in my strength to hold my nerve when things around me
fall apart. It made me aware of what matters the most in my life. A paradigm shift occurred in the way I
looked at my work-life balance. It also drew my attention towards the health of myself and my family.
Today I see myself as more cautious and conscious of what I eat and what I do not. I make attempts to
weed out avoidable stress generators from my day-to-day life. I have now completely stopped following
the news media in any of its forms. I spend the time so saved with my family and am reaping the resultant
health benefits. My wife has become more attentive towards the meals that she cooks and the people
she meets. Both my sons have gradually shifted away from their computer/phone screens towards sports,
arts and reading. These have been some of the greatest advantages to us as a family after what we went
through in the last two years.

Like the silver lining in dark clouds, a hugely beneficial spin-off of the pandemic was that the world
accepted technology-enabled ways and means to bridge physical distances between people. The internet
and digital platforms made it possible for us to continue doing things which we earlier assumed were
possible only face-to-face. I was lucky, as this new way of functioning made it possible for me to attend
Basic and Advanced Labs in Human Processes with ISABS which had been in-person events for the last
several years, but now were being conducted on-line.

Those 10 days of my lab life opened new windows for me to look at myself and the world. These two life-
changing experiences helped me see my routine interactions in professional, social and familial life in a
totally different light, bringing to my awareness my needs and beliefs lying in the unconscious till then.
Now, in every situation that I face, I consciously attempt to pause between the external stimulus and my
response to it while being aware of my self-talk have during that pause. This has helped me become a
better listener and handle conflicts in a better way. Post the labs, a good amount of soul-searching has
happened, and this has helped me define new metrics of success & happiness for myself which is reflected
in my short-term as well as long-term decisions.

More than just behavioural changes, both these labs resulted in heightened consciousness about my
feelings. Not only am I more aware of the feelings that arise within me in different situations, I am also

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