Growth | Raam Dev

Posts Tagged: Growth

The Potential to Cultivate

An oak tree may produce thousands of acorns before a single seed finds fertile soil. It may live for two hundred years producing acorns and waiting for random chance to carry one seed to germination.

Each acorn contains the potential of an entire oak tree along with thousands of more acorns. All that’s missing from each acorn is an intelligent force of cultivation.

We possess the gift of cultivation. We possess the ability to plant a single seed with intention, tilling its soil and carefully nurturing it to maturity.

This is our human gift, the gift of cultivation. When we plant seeds, how much isn’t nearly as important as the focus of our intent.

It’s not how hard we work, but rather how our work helps others.

It’s not how much money we make, but rather how that money is spent.

It’s not the length of our exercise routine, but rather the intensity of each exercise.

It’s not the volume of our experiences, but rather what we learn from each one.

It’s not how many words we publish, but rather the intent behind those words.

It’s not how much time we have, but rather what we do with each moment.

Increasing volume will not increase our potential to cultivate. We don’t need to wait for chance to plant roots and grow; our goals and dreams will spout when they’re cultivated. Focus on the quality and cultivation of each action and leave volume to the trees.

Heart Growth

Trees do not grow by greedily snatching the rain from the sky. Instead they cradle each drop, patiently ushering them one by one to the earth below. Only after filtering through the soil and collecting nutrients does the water get absorbed by the roots, carried back up through the trunk, and finally pushed out to the very same leaves and buds it passed on the way down.

Without firmly planted roots and strong trunk, the life-giving potential of the water would be dispersed, misguided, and lost in a splash of confusion. Our individual growth is no different. The wisdom of our teachers — the inspirational leaders, fearless explorers, and great writers who inspire and motivate — will only help us grow if we choose to digest their wisdom through our core, channeling and guiding their wisdom through our essence.

When we grow and reach for the stars, we need to grow and reach from that place deep inside, that place where the very essence of our existence illuminates the path ahead. Real growth does not originate from grabbing wisdom and slapping on inspiration but rather through digesting, filtering, and absorbing the nutrients of wisdom through our heart.

Something Better

There comes a point where we need to decide that something is “good enough”. But settling for good enough is a dead end. Good enough is always one step behind, one step in the shadow of something better.

Every artist learns when to settle, but the best of the best learn to treat each piece of work not as something to finish, but as a stepping stone towards something better — as a step towards a higher vantage point where a greater perspective enhances creativity.

Instead of settling for good enough, climb towards something better.

Beyond Imagination

I traveled 1,300 miles by foot, car, subway, and two airplanes to watch a spaceship blast off into space. Was it fun? Absolutely. But was my decision to spend time, money, and resources to watch a machine carry humans into space really just another small vote for poverty?

A child is painfully aware, if only subconsciously, that it knows very little. The young brain does not see the world and say, “I know everything; I don’t need to learn that.” It doesn’t make assumptions. A young brain is infinitely curious. Always exploring, always learning, always expanding its horizons and converting the unknown into something that makes sense.

Scientists call this brain plasticity, our brains’ ability to evolve, change, and grow based on the experiences and the environments we’re exposed to. As we age, our brain becomes less plastic and begins to harden as we convince ourselves that we know. We know how language works. We know how people work. We know how the world works.

But when we expose our brain to something new — a different set of people, an awkward social situation, a reality that was previously deemed science fiction — our brain is forced to cope with this new truth. It’s forced to grow. It’s forced to return to its plasticity and expand. Continue reading →

Taking Responsibility For Our Creations

Bamboo Waterfall in Kahule, Nepal

Many people had told me that taking an airplane would be safer and on several occasions I found myself wondering if I should’ve listened to them. The eight hour ride on a tourist bus between Pokhara and Kathmandu wasn’t the most comfortable, but that’s what I get for spending $5 to take me more than 280km (170+ miles) over mountains where the roads were littered with evidence of total failure.

As I gazed out the window and watched the landscape change from city to mountainous countryside and then back to city, I couldn’t help but feel saddened by how enthusiastically the cities seem to grow. So much pollution, waste, and destruction follow in their path leaving the Earth malformed, blackened, and bare.

It’s the monsoon season here in Nepal and the rivers are raging. Small streams of water trickle down everywhere from the green mountains. The locals often cut the bottoms off old plastic bottles and use them as funnels to create small water spouts. More commonly though, they use flat stones or pieces of bamboo sliced in half to create channels that direct the trickling streams into neat little picturesque waterfalls. Continue reading →

Posts Tagged: Growth

The Potential to Cultivate

Heart Growth

Something Better

Beyond Imagination

Taking Responsibility For Our Creations

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