GROWTH

“Are you still there?”

Sounds a familiar question? How often have you heard that?

The realization of stagnation is killing. Life is only nice if it keeps on moving ahead. When it comes to halt, its ugly face appears.

The growth is evident in children. But what happens after childhood? Many of us struggle to grow financially, physically, emotionally & spiritually. Even those of us who are fortunate to grow, they are seldom satisfied with the speed of their growth.

Analysis of some of the aspects of growth is given below-

1. Dynamics of growth- Few isolated achievements can hardly be considered as growth. Growth is a continuous process of improvement.
Normally balance prevails in our lives. We remain in a ‘locked up’ position by two equal and opposite forces trying to counter each other. The forces may be-

- Drive for expenditure & income financially
- Drive for eating & physical work physically
- Feelings of pain & pleasure emotionally
- Sticking to individualism & surrender to universal forces spiritually

None of these forces are good or bad absolutely. These are just two extreme views of the same point. Balance is achieved by maintaining a fixed ratio of these forces depending upon individual preferences and circumstances. For example a miser person will have a high ‘income to expenditure ratio’, while an extravagant person will have this ratio very low. Normally we maintain status quo on these ratios unless something extraordinary happens. We can live for years, maintaining the same ratios. The ratios define our comfort zones and we maintain these irrespective of our circumstances.

The key to real growth is improving upon these ratios or our efficiency status. Have you observed an athlete or wait lifter practicing? It is a 4 step process –

- knowing his/her limit
- measure it
- Focus on a point just a bit more than the limit point
- Once the desired limit is achieved, the focus point is again shifted a bit.

This is also referred as ‘raising the bar’ phenomenon. By repeated practices the newly achieved standard becomes a part of life of the athlete or player.

Unfortunately many of us do not pay attention to the standards prevailing in our lives. They just use ready made standards generally defined by society. Very few of us think of raising the standards in our day to day lives. This involves coming out of your comfort zone which is painful. Normally it is done only when forced by external forces or demands. Those who do it willingly & knowingly become the record setters and leaders in their chosen fields.
Therefore, growth is a dynamic process of ‘raising the standards, achieving and raising again’. The process stops at the time of death only.

2. Rate of growth- When you grow very fast, you also become liable to sudden fall. As you reach to new heights and higher planes, it becomes more & more difficult to maintain the position there. A steady and slow rate of growth proves economical and healthy in long run. It gives time to our system to adjust to the new environment. So just have some patience, enjoy the process of growth rather than speeding up and loading your system unnecessarily.

3. All round growth- If we grow very fast in one direction, we tend to lag behind in other directions. A healthier lifestyle would involve growth in all spheres financial, physical, emotional, spiritual etc.

4. My space- Sometimes growth can be comfortably achieved by disturbing the growth plans of others. Is it worth it? We all can grow to our selected places and also give equal rights to all other living beings. That is truly human. Without love and respect to others, the growth is a mechanical phenomenon. There is no life in it.