Today, I got a wonderful opportunity to sit in on an online platform to be part of a workshop. This workshop is a 3-day event, wherein, different speakers come in and share their insights and understanding of certain topics that are important to lead a fulfilling life – especially during turbulent times like these.
Decoding Yourself: Mr. Harpreet Bhan (VP – India and Middle East, Adizes Institute)
This session was about understanding the different aspects of yourself that contribute to understanding who you are. There are various elements that make up who we are, it was interesting to break it down the way our Mentor did for this session. The different aspects to yourself are:
- Your name and other demographics
- Our physical body: which is our health and our appearance, amongst other things
- Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – this is our intellect
- Emotional Quotient (EQ) – this refers to feelings, emotions, and hormones
- Spiritual Quotient (SQ) – this pertains to our purpose, values, our moral code, all of which allow us to have clarity of thought
It was also interesting to see how our environment and people who are directly related to us have impacted us for the better. We all know that our parents are our first teachers and we love them unconditionally. We also know that good or bad, we learned something from them. When we were asked to write down things we learned or things they taught us, I had to really think, not because I didn’t imbibe anything from them, but because I couldn’t find the right words for the gems they left for me, every now and then.
I say it was interesting, because after being able to pinpoint what a fraction of those lessons were, it made me realize how much we tend to take things and people for granted. Along with that strange feeling, I also felt a huge sense of gratitude, for a lot of things that I cannot really put into words. Those gems have extended from my heart and mind, to my behaviour.
It got me thinking about the small victories and blessing that we receive but may not necessarily be conscious of. Gratitude is a particularly good way to feel connected to people without having expressed it. I feel one should take time to think about people who have really impacted them, especially when one feels low.
The speaker also talked about different ways of perceiving, a model that Mr. Bhan uses when conducting sessions as part of his work at the Adizes Institute. According to what I have understood, there are 3 ways in which you can perceive a situation:
- How it IS
- How you WANT it to be
- How it SHOULD be
When we are babies, the three aspects are aligned, babies cry when they need something and that need is fulfilled, because it is necessary for the child. As we start to grow older, these three aspects start moving away from each other. When this happens, an imbalance occurs because they are not in sync anymore. When this happens, leads to an increase in frustrations.
Understanding that the situation itself is not good or bad, it just is. What gives the situation a positive or negative feeling, is our perception of the situation. Once we understand this notion, we realize that in order to manage the situation, we have to realign our expectations to what is.
Realigning those expectations and perception can happen when we make a conscious effort to decode ourselves. In other words, introspect and explore the different aspects that are causing these frustrations. Once you identify the source, or the roots of the problem, it is easier to deal with. It makes it easier to understand your options and which way to go.
Finally, there is no end as such to introspection and decoding ourselves because we are ever changing and evolving. We learn and try to unlearn things as time goes by.
If you would like to check out more information about Heartfulness, you can click on this link and it will direct you to their website https://heartfulness.org/in/
Metamorphosis 