The Origins of a Sewa Journey Part 2
As mentioned briefly in my first blog, our first orientation day also included a talk on perseverance by YFS alumni Priya Koria. This blog elaborates a little more on this.
Perseverance is one of those buzzwords that many of us know about and maybe like to pepper into our job applications. But arguably it is one of the hardest skills to cultivate — so why can that be the case?
In the Oxford English Dictionary, perseverance is defined as: “constant persistence in a course of action or purpose; steadfast pursuit of an aim, esp. in the face of difficulty or obstacles”
Two things stand out clearly to me here:
1. The words “constant” and “steadfast” — signifying that perseverance is the act of maintaining our diligence.
2. The phrase “in the face of difficulty and obstacles” — Alluding to the possibility of failure and risk.
These aspects of perseverance may seem obvious to us or easy to say but they can be much harder to do, especially in the age of social media and online culture.
It can be easy to get into a doom-scrolling slump nowadays, convincing ourselves that there is no way we can achieve our goals.
I can personally hold my hands up and say there have been days when scrolling through Twitter or LinkedIn, I have been disheartened and tricked into thinking I am the only one struggling with finding massive career opportunities and successes.
It can be easy to get into a doom-scrolling slump nowadays, convincing ourselves that there is no way we can achieve our goals. But similarly, it can be just as easy to get caught up in the hype of unexpected success and to forget all about that slump the next week. But this constant swinging and reliance on success to boost our energy levels, diligence, and happiness can be draining, and ultimately unsustainable.
Priya emphasises in her talk on perseverance that steadiness and the willingness to drop perfectionism and embrace failure are key to helping us become more resilient.
It can be easy to become fixated on a big, broad, and difficult vision of success. But our desire to execute this perfectly might mean we take fewer risks or fail to explore all avenues. It can also make it harder to stay motivated, as we only feel we can celebrate once we have attained that final stage of success.
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Setting out clear, achievable milestones, and working through them can be a more sustainable way of working towards our bigger goal. It means we can pay more attention to each element and stay engaged along the way.
Being present rather than getting caught up in the abstracts of future successes means that we are more likely to centre the people that we are serving, which is ultimately what selfless service is all about.
When things go wrong, we can uplift ourselves through past achievements and turn back to our actions back then for guidance. Often, it also means we are more present during our tasks.
This is something that I think is so important especially when undertaking Sewa. Because being present rather than getting caught up in the abstracts of future successes means that we are more likely to centre the people that we are serving, which is ultimately what selfless service is all about.
Our steadiness and focus mean we are less likely to let damaging and draining extreme emotions drag us or others down.
Interestingly, the phrasing of the OED definition also reminded me of a key lesson from the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita is a Hindu scripture spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna. Arjuna is facing a difficult battle and seeks guidance from Lord Krishna to help him face it. The text, which can be translated to The Song of God in English, uses Arjuna’s situation to outline some essential spiritual lessons.
The definition of perseverance made me think of the following verse:
“yadrccha-labha-santusto
dvandvatito vimatsarah
samah siddhav asiddhau ca
krtvapi na nibadhyate”
“He who is satisfied with gain which comes of its own accord, who is free from duality and does not envy, who is steady both in success and failure, is never entangled, although performing actions.”
(BG Chapter 4, Text 22)
In the above verse, Krishna explains that those who are “steady” (or persist) in the face of both success and adversity never becomes entangled by unstable emotional swings from happiness to unhappiness and anger to satisfaction. Instead, they can go on no matter what, unaffected by the frustrating temporariness of success and failure.
What strikes me is that in both this talk and reflection on perseverance and my previous reflection on dharma, the idea of maintaining a certain attitude come up. The more I reflect, the more I realise the importance of steadiness and consistency in my work and attitude to work.
It is a lesson I hope to apply to my self-development and Sewa over the coming weeks.
Featured image courtesy of Brett Jordan via Unsplash. Image license found here
