Routine Kills Intelligence

This is something I personally believe. 

 

I have always gotten bored with daily routines, ever since childhood. I am constantly looking for something that challenges my mind and intellect. But obviously, that challenge should be within my level of understanding and capacity, because I am not someone who is intellectually gifted with strong reasoning.  

Yes, but I am good at comprehending abstract ideas. I can think beyond people's perspectives. I can invent new ideas based on practical, day-to-day solutions. They may seem weird or challenging in the beginning, but they turn out to be effective once implemented.

Till now, I have written about pessimoptimism and procrastination including its types. We all know that life is not a bed of roses and, therefore, we should prepare ourselves for rainy days both physically and mentally. It's a good approach. It helps us not to be blind and gives us the wisdom of the great Buddha. Same is with procrastination. It may seem quite usual and most of us presume that a person who procrastinates is lazy but it, too, has many causes. One may lose interest. One may feel stressed or overwhelmed. Or one may become too much optimistic towards life and himself. And now I come to my today's topic: Routine and Discipline. 

Most people believe that following a routine with discipline ensures success. And yes, it does ensure success — but at the cost of your natural drive to learn. Slowly, we lose that drive completely. We become like machines, conditioned to old beliefs and ideas that are not even ours.  

It is called the end of creativity.  

It is called slow suicide which the society, community and family offer us. 

That’s why Paash said, “The most dangerous thing is to go to the office from home and to return to home again.”  

He, too, was saying that routine kills your natural tendency to think.

As a teacher, I sometimes wonder why students remain so excited throughout the day, and how they listen to even the most common things with amazement. We adults ask, “Why are they so excited?”  

The answer is simple: They are full of life. We, on the other hand, have already spent half of our lives, so most things seem ordinary to us.

But remember what Lord Krishna said to Arjuna. He said that he who sees everything with amazement can see the ultimate truth.  

Now, seeing with amazement does not mean staying excited all the time and being ready for party mode. I am not talking about that kind of amazement. Nor does Krishna favor that. Such excitement only shows how hollow we are from inside. 

My amazement is about being curious. About being inquisitive.  

And those who have lost it can never unveil the mystery of the cosmos. 

May Lord HariHar bless us with a curious mind and an inquisitive approach.