As I was picking flowers....

It had rained very heavily the previous night. The morning was cool and it was still dark. I went out to pick flowers. I had planted some flower bearing plants that had grown to 7 feet height and formed a barrier in front of my house. The plants, as I had said to myself while planting them years ago, would grow up to give me flowers and also filter the dust coming from the road in to the house. I thought that in return for doing this, I would water and nurture the plants daily. This was the deal that I had struck with the plants as I planted them.

Guess what...the plants neither needed my nurturing nor the water to grow. Even though I did this and also forgot to water them on few days, they got in alternate systems to source water and nourishment from under the ground and grew to be tall and sturdy.

As I picked the flowers today, my hands got really dirty. The dust and grime were what the plants were taking from the road and not allowing to get past in to the house. They had been doing their part of the bargain faithfully. As this thought crossed my mind, I was struck by something else. These plants had grown by themselves. They did not depend on me. They did not strike any bargain with me. They did not commit to me that they would stand there and protect my house from the dust and give me flowers. Yet, they did both of those and much more that I was not seeing or realizing. As far as these plants were concerned, there was no deal. This deal was only in my head. They stood there quietly, knew what was to be done to grow, knew when it was time to give flowers, took the dust on to themselves, gave away precious oxygen that human beings needed, gave food for insects, were a safe place for a cat to hide away her kitten till they grew up...and so much more. In all their stillness and calmness, they seemed to understand the reason for their existence. And, here I was, with the supposed 6th sense, trying to make a deal with these plants and most importantly, not knowing the reason for my existence.

Funny...and such is life. The so called smartest species does not know why it exists and all of the other so called dumb ones go about their lives knowing fully well what they need to do. Someone said that if all the insects in the world died, this planet would perish within 50 years. And, if all humans died, more species in this planets will survive in the next 50 years. So, not sure who are the smart ones.

Let us bring this concept to the work place. Just imagine working in an organization that does not know why it exists or the team that you work with not knowing why it exists and also why it does what it does. This is the Mission or Purpose Statement for Organizations or Teams. There are many organizations who believe they exist for some reason while they actually do for completely different reasons. It took a biscuit company decades to figure out that they were in the business of nutrition and not food. Not that they made poor quality biscuits because of that. However, its focus was on selling food items rather than good health to its customers. When the company realized this, it started off by selling biscuits fortified with vitamins and minerals. Their product lines are changing and the way they communicate to their customers and the public in general, has started changing. Most importantly, the employees now talk of nutrition instead of food.

Just think of the millions of people working in back offices of companies that have customers located thousands of miles away from their back offices. People working in these back-offices do not know who their customers are. They are given a process and told not to deviate - so, most of them know how to do the work but do not know why they are doing it. Just imagine a workforce not knowing why they actually are doing what they are doing on a day to day basis. How will they be able to relate the work that they are doing to the objectives of the organization? If they do not understand the big picture, we all know that their engagement levels will be lower.

There is so much damage caused if we do not understand the nature of our jobs and how it contributes to the organization.  What damage will all of us be doing to this world if we do not know why we were born and why we exist? This is the reality for most of us as we plod through life. There are many who find their calling in life and there are many more who just don't and die without ever having found out what was their true calling or why they came in to this world.

The best of leaders have always had an inspiring vision for their organization, have been able to communicate that vision effectively to the entire organization and made every member of their team understand how their work contributes to that vision.

Apart from making me understand the need for knowing why I existed, the plants were also trying to convey to me few other things regarding being contended in doing what comes naturally to me i.e. playing to my strengths. They gave away flowers, they gave away oxygen and they gave shade and protection. They were giving. For their existence and the support to the ecology, nature was working to ensure that the ground gave them the support to live.

So, if as humans, we knew why we were here and played our roles effectively, the world will work to ensure that we get what we need to live. The plants were telling me more now. Yes, they taught me how to live. They also were trying to convey to me that their needs were limited and could be received without paying any money.

As these thoughts went through me, I looked at these plants and asked questions to myself - What if I were to just be still as these plants (read as calmness inside me rather than physical stillness) and just be happy with what I am? Would it work? How are so many seekers in different parts of the world just happy being what they are and with minimum needs? Is this what is needed to be happy or contended? Was this happiness? 

The thoughts kept pushing me back to what Buddha said thousands of years ago. Let go of desires (maybe try and reduce them), let go of greed (again, maybe try and reduce it) and once we do that, we realize that happiness lies within each one of us. Any other kind of happiness seems to be transient. Similarly, being content resided in us. And it brings about a calmness inside that is all pervading. The plants had taught me so many lessons by their very existence.