Sometimes, you find some answers in the unlikeliest of places. I did too, while having a conversation with a colleague today.
So how is my Sādhanā shaping up?
Frankly, I can do better. The morning was spent in getting essentials from the grocery, to stock up for a few, given that the UAE has started a partial lockdown. While at it, I did observe that we tend to follow the herd quite a bit, mostly unconsciously. You see a cart filled with water bottles, and you want to get some more too. Too many veggies on another cart – he must know something I don’t – so lets get some more. Its human I guess, and somehow one ends up getting more junk, than the bare necessities that you went out to fetch in the first place. So much for mindful shopping.
How bout conducting business mindfully?
Business didn’t take quite long to get from making a barter, to trading wares, and then services came along. Business today is transactional, and in most cases, lacking soul, or meaning. And why am I going about looking for meaning in what is essentially a way of earning profit? What difference does it make, as long as one party earns money in exchange for goods sold, or services rendered?
The difference, in my opinion, is how you feel at the end of it. A hefty profit will make you smile, for a little while, but will it make you content? Can a business generate money, and yet have an altruistic nature?
That sounds like an oxymoron.
I had a bit of an epiphany when conversing with a colleague just now. We were speaking of portfolio management services (essentially managing people’s money), when we digressed into blue ocean strategies. What if he came out with a product – I said, for the lower end of the market? The ones that the big bankers don’t care too much about due to non-existent commissions in that segment…
These people would love a solution that helps them out, and with a heart.
Not to sell them something, but to help them ease their financial burden a little. Not for the commissions, but for a genuine smile, a sense of gratitude…
Oddly enough, such acts end up benefiting the doer more than the receiver of the good deed.
Money follows, but when you do something just for the money, it usually ends up being just that. Genuine compassion for our fellow beings may not make you as much in money, but can more than compensate in happiness.