My formative years were spent in a semi-rural area north of urban Mumbai. I was recently invited to speak at the annual day of my school and would like to share with you the Seven Life Lessons that I shared at the event. As the theme of the event was 'the colors of the rainbow', I chose to organise my sharing in the VIBYGOR framework.
For the first 3 colors I focused on my growing up years:
V- violet for me stands for Values. Work-ethics is a value I hold in high regard. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. So as a student and later in life I held this value of hard and smart work very highly.
Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.
I- indigo for me stands for Independence. While currently there is lot of focus in India on the girl-child and empowering her, I am fortunate to have parents who 50 years back had the foresight to have given me the exposure and range of experiences at par with that of my brothers that helped me build my confidence and independence to make my choices. Taking responsibility of our choices is as important as the decision itself.
Independence comes with responsibility.
B- blue for me represents Belief that one has in oneself. I strongly believe in the power of positive intention. I have seen it happen around me and have experienced it myself. Negative thoughts have the power to attract misfortune towards us and impose limitations on our destiny. Positive thoughts and intentions have the ability to enrich us and create a life of abundance.
Our intention will create our reality.
The next 3 colors of the rainbow I focus on my life lessons as mother to my three boys:
G – green stands for Generosity. I do not see my role as mom as a duty towards my children. Parenthood is not a ‘deal’ where you expect returns for your investment of efforts, sacrifices and time. I see it as a privilege to be their mom. Hence I become very generous with my time and my love for them. Now that my oldest son is 26 years, my middle son is 19 years and youngest is 8 years I can see that the time and love that my husband and I chose to give, comes back to us through our children manifolds.
Parenthood is a privilege, not a duty.
Y – yellow for Yahoo! I could not think of an appropriate word to rhyme with y. It stands for keeping with the times through technology. Communicate with our children in the environment and channels they are familiar with, rather than expect them to regress to the ways we as parents were used to. Use the tools available to stay connected with them rather than complain that the children are not following the ways of the old.
Tech-savvy parenting is a necessary skill.
O – orange for Opportunity. Rather than strait-jacket ourselves and our children with the limited information and knowledge we may have on various aspects of life, I took up every opportunity to explore our interests and talents. As I went forth with an open-mind, these explorations brought new opportunities to consider and take advantage.
Success depends on our ability to explore opportunities with an open-mind.
The last color of the rainbow is red. This color I want to focus on a lesson as a businesswoman:
R – for Roots. Wherever life may take us, however high the climb to success, I have learnt to stay very rooted both in terms of where I began from as well as everyone who along the way have played a part in my success. The only way one can stay rooted is if one has humility. Roots watered by arrogance, pride and misplaced sense of importance will result in a very lonely life journey, despite outward success.
Remember your beginnings and the people who helped you in the journey.
I hope this peak into the lessons I have learnt along the way has given you some food for thought and hopefully some tips for the various life stages.
Here is the link to the talk at this event. I had to toggle between English and Hindi so as to ensure my non-English speaking audience did not get left out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCeICtFw588 Do share it with those who you think may benefit from learning from my lessons in life.
I would love to hear your lessons in life too.
