It is in your Thinking!

Youth is in your thinking...

Or so I would like to think!

I know some very old people who are extremely energetic and youthful in their thinking (my Dad for one!).

While I huff and puff over mundane issues, he looks at any challenge and every crisis with glee! He has come a long way from being the eldest of a family with four siblings living in a one room “chawl” in Mumbai and sharing a common toilet, to being a Rural advertising pioneer; much sought after problem solver and go-getter! He is a person everyone wants leading their team

What makes him unique is that these people not only focus on their own lives, but like a Tsunami, they are capable of holding on and carrying the people around them to greater heights. That is the difference!

Yet they are ordinary folks with average intelligence who have climbed up the hard way.

Is it intelligence?

Decision making capability or clear vision?

(Not really. I believe many intelligent, focused people lack what they have.)

With more and more youngsters, committing suicide, sliding towards substance abuse, and most importantly abusing themselves by eating less (Anorexia), eating more (Obesity) and complicating their lives in many other ways, it becomes super important to talk about handling Stress. (Yes the same S word again but I hope to give a broader view of things here).

Coming back to how I started off this chain of thoughts, there is something unique about the way people handle Stress and that’s what I want to emphasize (stress!) here!

Research shows that such people have a unique personality trait that helps them face stress in a more flexible, confident and less destructive way. The good news is that this way of “Being” can be learnt!

It is a 3 “C” formula;

'To Be Committed’ and to add meaning to every aspect of your life,

‘To Be in Control’ of the stressful events and not let them control you,

And most importantly; look at all difficulties in life as a ‘Challenge’ and an opportunity to grow and not as a threat to flee from. (Personally I feel, the last one is what produces the most dramatic results.)

Once we start looking at challenges as creative opportunities for problem solving, it does not appear threatening and is actually a reality exercise to use our intelligence. We may fail or we may succeed, but what we have done in the process is take a series of actions which gives us an insight into how we can approach and solve a particular problem, how much help or assistance we need and whether the issue is worth addressing at all in the first place (aligned to our core values)!  

 

Once you start ‘Thinking’ this way, you can’t stop growing!

Remember; that who you are is actually who you think you are!!