The Catapult Theory

Ok! before I even start this, let me inform you that I had a strong feeling that this may not be the first time you may have heard of this so I wasn't sure if I was writing something new. I did my research; google's average search speed is 0.2 seconds and I gave the exact word search as the title above and guess what! Google returned results about only the physics of the contraption called "catapult" but not on a life theory which I had to explain about. So if it's not google then the only option left is... (take a pause here and think for 2 minutes and guess)… 

...it is?

"Rajnikanth". :-)

...but he would have experienced this theory for ‘1nce’ which would be equal to 100 times, so that may not really work for mere beings like us, so who am I kidding! :-)

Anyway, this all started with one of my colleagues who spoke to me about this ever eluding promotion at work. I know him, he is one of those hard workers who has a tough time presenting his work “smartly” which does not give him the edge on his projects when it comes to the Seniors noticing him. The tips and tricks of accomplishing it has been given to him so many times by his mentors, friends, relatives and even the next door seven year old who happens to be a living Calvin saying “Uncle, reality continues to ruin my life, so what’s the big deal with you!” :-)

Before me or my colleague could accept that, I had this best friend of mine who spoke about his ever eluding wish of getting his own home due to mounting commitments from unknown quarters thwarting that very idea just when he was ready with the down payment, my aunt who speaks of her daughter's ever eluding marriage with her meeting that right alliance and getting to the 5th time Coffee Day meeting and then the phone stops ringing or the messages stop coming from the alliance for reasons unexplained.

It's a space of giving up and resigning to the situation... however I feel it need not be!

I see a example to adopt in all this, like the catapult or the sling shot;

(courtesy wikipedia) 

The only way to make these things happen is to have our backs firm against that “leather pad”. When you hold and pull, what you are doing is “storing tension” of the rubber band that is tethered to the pad. The same tension, stress, and anxiety, you are bearing inside you, while waiting for the things to happen the way you want it to. Every instance of that wait only multiplies the “storing tension”, its ok, why? Because this would only mean that you will have, more time to aim accurately at the target, you have more hold on the tension, you are even more settled in the pad before the launch. For, when the launch happens, you are propelled with maximum thrust, with highest velocity and land right in the center of that target, where you actually want to be.

One of my favourite quotes that explain this theory is in a short scene in from the batman series ‘Dark Knight’ where Alfred tells the Batman.

Bruce (Batman): People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do? 
Alfred: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it.

Well the Batman does it for a entirely different reason on screen, but for us the word is so apt.

Endure!

Just endure that every moment of that wait, which feeds into the tension of the rubber band, without losing the aim, which has been designed only to take you bang on to the target.

“Relax, and enjoy the ride” that’s old.

“Relax, and enjoy the launch” the new :-) 

A Full Moment:

Yes! A picture is worth a thousand words and there are innumerable instances that exemplify that adage. Yet, how many times have you come across a moment captured by you which depicts your entire inner self with the outer world.

Here is mine.

This was in Aug 2011, me and my friends were on a trip to a place called Chikmagalur a city located in the foothills of Mullayingiri Range in the state of Karnataka, India. The city is known for its many hill stations surrounding it and we had been to a couple of them before we came to this city as part of the last leg of the tour. Well this was according to me the most planned trip ever as it happened with not 1, 2 or 10 but 72 email exchanges between 5 of us planning every inch of the road that we would drive on and every sq ft of the cottage that we would stay in :-)

One of them, the Woodway Homestay in Chikmagalur. It was the morning of the fourth day and after a long night’s sleep I had just stepped out of the homestay at 7am with my morning coffee and my inner soul was experiencing this stand still moment in my life, I wasn’t thinking, there was no past and there was no future. It was a ‘this is it’ moment. I was present to “now”.

I was experiencing tranquillity, chillness - that was warm not cold and my life was full, complete and holistic.  

I looked up and couldn’t believe the sight I was looking at, I captured it with my eyes and my lens.

My experience was right in front of me, the colour green depicting tranquility, the misty morning provided the chillness and my life was full as the gleaming cauldron filled with rain water from the last nights drizzle. My inner self and the outer world were in harmony.

Few leaves from the branches above were sliding away their tiny water drops into the cauldron creating the most symmetric tiny ripples on the brimming water. It was bliss!

Every second there is a picture like this passing by.

The moments of the “now”.

Engrossed we are in our worldly pursuits that we let them pass by.

Do you have your full moment… share your harmony here!