Which phase are you in?

A man is said to pass through different stages in his lifetime. Dr. Wayne W. Dyer categorizes them as athlete stage, warrior stage, statesperson stage and spirit stage. Abdul Kalam believes even nations go through these transitions and called the last two stages as Big Brother and Self realization stages respectively.

Athlete stage is that energetic pursuit of performance and achievement

Warrior stage is that goal setting, pride of achievements and finding ways to demonstrate superiority

In the big brother stage, with a somewhat tamed ego, focus shifts to what is also important to others and societies – still achievers but not so inclined or obsessed to prove strength or superiority.

Self-realization stage is where humans matter, not families or nations alone, and certainly not self.

There are many senior people all around us who are very well established and highly successful, their children well settled, however even after their retirement, they still could not get past that demonstrating superiority stage. Initially their subject of discussion revolves around their own materialistic achievements - the villa, the cars, the foreign trips, the club memberships, the high profile job, then it is their children’s achievement – the foreign degree, their villas, their cars and their high paid jobs or medical profession or whatever, finally the subject is their grand children who is a ranker in school, great dancer, swimmer, athlete etc. It is not parental pride; it is plain and simple bloated ego! The Warrior Stage!

At times even if there is a will, it is always not possible to adopt an orphan child, or sponsor a senior’s treatment or child’s education every month – one can at least begin by being sensitive enough not to flaunt their achievements in front of people who do not have the means. Instead, they could share their struggles with them, their humble beginnings before their success in a manner, not to stamp their personal ego but in way others can relate and be inspired to enhance their quality of life. Is this anything less of giving? Someone’s life is getting impacted positively because of the life you lived; the success you tasted and the ready willingness you have to assist another achieve the same.

That is one of RSF’s core themes – Human Life Cycle Care that runs on the belief that any small or large scale social impact cannot be limited to a dozen institution’s responsibility alone, it has to be an individual choice. The next time you raise your maid’s pay or tip the waiter, be generous. The big brother stage is not about what you have gathered for yourself but what and how much, you have learnt to give.

If you are done with the first two stages and want to do something meaningful, feel free to contact us as we have several projects to be taken up by people with that intent. Twenty or Sixty, regardless of the age, the only criterion is you should be really done with the first two stages.

References:

Ignited Minds – APJ Abdul Kalam

For more details or to support our projects, contact ramosara.foundation@gmail.com