Friday, February 4, 2011

What's stopping me ?

A few years back I was contemplating to take up a course I was long resisting. I got a distinction between a conversation; 'Why are you not doing the course?' and 'What's stopping you from taking up the course?'

The latter is actually a very powerful way of inquiry. It does not put a person in a spot.When you ask someone 'what is stopping you?' the context of the conversation changes altogether. It's an empowering inquiry that the person does not resit.

What's stopping me ?

Fish Tank



Imagine a water tank with only pure water flowing into it. It has beautiful fishes, all swimming in their own rhythm. And then one day the tank starts getting filled with dirty water. The fishes in the tank grow sluggish. Hovering at the top of the tank to gasp some oxygen. The dirty water is filling the tank faster than the pristine water.

The dirty water also brings with it some fishes. Fishes, those are used to the dirty water. Slowly the fresh water fishes are all dead.Will the dirty water fish still survive? Why not, they are so used to the dirty water; right? But the dirty water also brings with it lots of sludge. Slowly the sludge fills up the tank bottom up. The dirty water fishes also now start moving to the top of the tank,gasping for oxygen. And then one day, all that is left in the tank is nothing but the sludge.

Now the tank itself is not capable of holding any more water, pure or dirty.

Our life is also very much the same. In real life, there are a number of instances when good and bad collide. Just like the tank example, we let the bad thoughts,emotions,experiences or actions
flow faster than the good. If the pristine water were to flow faster than the impure water, the pure water would have displaced the impurity like a waterfall juts with pure water.