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              Action Vs. Reaction

                  

My Take on the Quote 

The need to feel higher to others is a major cause for some of us who try day in and day out to put our friends/colleagues/neighbors/ family down. As per Psychological studies, people who have such thinking patterns may feel rightly/wrongly superior and they try to assert their dominance. Unfortunately, they don’t comprehend and realize that they themselves may sooner or later undergo similar treatment whether in the organization/relationships or elsewhere. Well practically speaking, some people mistreat others for no reason or may be for fun sake, insecurity or even jealousy. There are times when some people like projecting their competitors /subordinates that they are not good enough and attempt to hit so hard that breaks concerned individuals and possibly tear them apart. 

Looking at the above picture, I feel it is paradoxical when neither the person behind nor the one in front can escape falling down if either of them moves away. I take this as a team leader Vs. team working relationship (not in factual) sense. In an organizational team, both the team leader as also the team members work in tandem like wheels of a bicycle. Each without the other may not fructify in a physical team working. Apparently team leader is required to lead, inspire, motivate and direct the team. More often than not, the team members become directionless in the absence of a leader and each member may work individually without coherence and coordination. Similarly if there is no team, who the leader will direct and lead and who the team members are supposed to deliver and be answerable. When the leader backs his/her team, it builds long-term loyalty, trust, and credibility, commitment, and morale of team members. This helps to create a positive working environment and builds confidence and team coherence. Same holds well for the team members when each member is expected to cooperate with the other team members.

I recall the famous and most important Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion which states that ‘To Every Action there is an Equal and Opposite Reaction’. This law is very popular and repeatedly used in our day to day life. The action and reaction forces are reciprocal (opposite) on an object. Let me discuss some more relevant examples. When a swimmer swims forward, he/she pushes against the water; the water pushes back on the swimmer and pushes him/her forward. I also feel that the relationships between parents and their children more often than not, have certain amount of resistance. For instance, the more resistance parents display should they find their child trying to tinker with the discipline norms, the harder child tries to be dissenter. Well if we try pushing someone, they’ll push back. We can’t blame them they’re just following a natural law. Yet another example I can think of is that of husband-wife partnership which to me is a spiritual connection and binding. Each takes a vow during the marriage that in spite of being two bodies, yet they would cherish and work spiritually as a unified heart. In-spite of unification, yet situations at times may arise that me lead to discord/unhappiness. Either partner on resorting to some action may sooner have reaction from the other partner. The fact is that if someone pushes us, our instinct is to push back. It’s human nature as much as it’s a law of nature. ... Take for example rowing of a boat. The boat man not only rows the boat, may act as an anchor if required so. When the passenger sitting in the boat moves to the left, the boat moves back to the right based on the action- reaction premise. Are there equal and opposite forces acting on the person and the boat? Perhaps yes. Let me take another example from some middle class families in some countries of Indian subcontinent like India, Pakistan, Nepal etc. Traditionally in the joint family system, some mother in-laws have been found ill-treating their daughter in-laws. As time passes, the mother in-law becomes old, loses control of household, the daughter in-law takes revenge (cause-affect). One may witness such cause-affect relationships in movies, serial dramas in these countries also.

                                                Illustration Credit- Héizel Vázquez 

The Law of Karma is a widespread principle and everyone is affected by its power and influence. Karma (deeds) is believed to apply to any action performed by human beings, good or bad. It is an unwritten law but all scriptures mention about how our deeds are ultimately met. Karma apparently is invisible but its effects ultimately are visible. The law of karma states that for every action performed in life creates another reaction which in turn produces a new counter action. Thus an endless chain of actions and reactions is produced which binds us to our good and bad deeds. This is the way how karma works. As it is said that goodness is the child of good deeds and misfortune and calamities are the children of evil. If we do good, even if it doesn’t yield proper results immediately we can certainly expect goodness out of it in the future.

                                                      Photo Credit-A Conscious Rethink

Reactivate Yourself

We are always free to make whatever option and preference we want, but we are not free from the penalty and reaction of the choice. It is quiet normal to feel disgusted on a letdown because possibly the choice we took did not work as per our wishes. Life is full of hard choices and the more options we have, the more complicating it becomes to choose. Before launching on our desired choice, ask questions: Am I on the right track? What are my alternatives? What corrections and change I need to incorporate. Making a choice whether for small or big objectives will always remain difficult and hardest since there is no choice which is perfect. Life is a dynamic process so are our choices that keep changing with our desired objectives. Some times in spite of making right moves, yet we may under perform. But this should not stop us from having a re look and analyze what was the cause of letdown and what changes we need to make so that next time our chosen choice brings in the desired results. The core premise is that life is like playing a game of cards. Depending on the set of our cards, we have to make the right moves. Remember we all go through circumstances of different types, impediments, obstacles, etc. from time to time. It’s all about how we deal with our circumstances and how we will bounce back. Life is all about choices and managing our circumstances and make things possible.

To tap it ‘if we can’t change the circumstances, change our self. ’There is no readymade formula to judge whether the choice we have decided is going to meet our expectations. Just use our head and heart and remain optimistic all through.

Bhushan Kachru

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