Strengthening the Core in Turbulent Times

It was a Holiday in Bangalore on the occasion of Ugadi, The New Year and it was also that Start of first ever Lockdown, that most of us would have seen, in India. Day 1 of the period of Uncertainty had just begun. It was also the last week of Financial Year 19-20, with tasks Unfinished, entries Incomplete, deliveries Midway and with so much to be done yet, before 31st March, the most important day for business and…here we had shut operations, all of a sudden.

Unbelievable, yet true!

All my team members went home on Monday, March 24th and did not return for 2 months. They had families to feed and we had to take care of them, with business or no business. The more we were getting to know about scenarios around the world, worries were getting graver. Unprecedented Situation became the buzz word, with Uncertainty and Insecurity, the obvious outcome.

We were home bound, taking every day as it comes, managing our chores, and living the life with minimal resources. Life was back to basics.

And just then, I read this, one of the most powerful lines in my life.

When you Can’t go Outside, Go Inside!

One would wonder, inside where?! What lies there and what can it do to me.

And as I tried to understand this a level deeper, I realised, it was about pressing the pause button in my life! Taking this moment to stop and reflect and realise the power that sits within me. The power that is phenomenal and abundant, which can help me understand this challenge and convert this crisis into opportunity. It was the Power of my own Mind!

  1. But how can it help me in my endeavour to deal with the current situation and
  2. How do I optimise the power of my mind

Few days passed only wondering what next and how long. And, one morning as I was watching the Sunrise from my terrace, overlooking the quiet city line, with no honk of rushing ahead of the other, no grinding machinery moving the Earth to give way to Namma Metro and no other man made intervention into the Nature.

All that I could hear was the chirping of birds and when I observed more closely, I could actually hear my breath.

As I continued to take few more deep breaths, with gentle awareness on my mind and not resisting the stream of those anxious and negative thoughts that were not leaving me in last few days, as I continued to breathe, just witnessing my mind, I realised,  the Anxiety Settled. Fear of Uncertainty was leaving me and my nervous consciousness which was constantly worrying about how do I justify my role as a Leader, to my organisation and to its people, was gathering its courage back. I was slowly gathering myself back and I could feel a consolidation within me!

It was one of the most powerful moments of my life

After 25 minutes of Deep Breathing and Meditation, it was like a new beginning. As if someone has just pressed my reset button and I was ready to take on from where I left on 25th March.

I had higher energies, clarity of mind, reduced stress and a loud roar of inner strength that made me realise This too Shall Pass. In this crystal clear state of mind, which was not just focussed but also relaxed….i started rebuilding strategies. Started to focus on the ahead without worrying much about the bygone.

There had been losses, and there was no denial of that, but being the Leader that I was, I could not succumb to the situation and let it overpower me. I decided to the turn the tables on my side. I started talking to my people in the organisation, right from the managers to shop floor boys… and this was a direct communication, a heart to heart communication. I assured them all will be well and they will be taken care of, we all are together in this. No one will lose their job and their families will be fed. There were tears and laughter! It was priceless, and, a lot changed after that.

Once the worry was out of our eco system, the team started bonding, from a distance. They started having internal communication and subsequently they came up to us with innovative ideas to tide over the turbulence. We built work infrastructure at respective homes and we started working from home, which seemed an impossibility in the set up like ours. We reflected upon the previous year and did our combing exercise.

Throughout lockdown, Every morning I would spend those precious moments with myself, Breathing and Meditating and I would come out more Energetic and  Intuitively, more stronger….to take the right decision at the right moment and initiate the best action towards fructification of those decisions…

As Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar says:

Purity in Heart, Clarity in Mind, Sincerity in Action, is the key to right outcome.

I started feeling the same happening with me.

The negativity around would not bother me much and I would regain my centeredness after every session of breathing exercise.

Days passed and so did months…and finally when the lockdown was lifted on June 1st, 2020, surprisingly, I wasn’t shaken so much from within, even though the economy was down as was the confidence of most people around me.

On that Monday morning, I was Calm Within. I had immense positive energy to face the new challenges, new circumstances and I was ready for a completely new work environment, with a new set of rules around social distancing and functioning limitations.

I would like to believe that this Inner Strengthening of the Core at such Turbulent Times, is the most important, powerful and essential tool to overcome the challenges that we all are continuing to face for few more months. Empowering Our Breath to Manage our Mind is the best gift we can give t ourselves and to our dear ones, at this time and enhance our internal faculties to help us play that wining stroke that a Good Leader would.

Though we cannot change what is happening around us, we can surely change what is happening within us! And bequeath it with our Breath

Shivani Shivhare

Director Finance

Chempure Pvt Ltd

Faculty – APEX and Happiness Programs

The Art of Living

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