Pie Chart of your Life
I have heard lot of people in late fifties often complaining that they worked so hard for their career to reach the top rungs but still they were not happy with their overall achievements in life. Why because they missed on many other things in life like family, health, relationships and a good family life. I know many workaholics who regretted later as their wife deserted them because they attached more importance to chasing their professional career and pursuit of money while not giving sufficient time to their family. Well, life is a sum total of such needs like money, mental and physical health, knowledge, family life, friendship, morality, self actualization and spirituality. Due to law of equilibrium prevalent in nature, sum total of these needs for a human being still remains same which one can call as ‘Whole Life’.
One can visualize it by drawing a circular pie chart divided into sectors illustrating these needs in proportion to what you have allocated actually or you want to allocate. Wonderful thing about this ‘Whole Life’ is that these requirements are dependent on each other and if you try to increase proportion of one requirement by your actions, it shall have immediate repercussion on other needs. For example if somebody tries to chase too much money in life, he may lose on other fronts like family life, friendship or health proportionately so that sum total in the pie chart still remains the same. That means that everything what one does in life has a cost attached to it and if you try to gain in one, you may have to pay in terms of losses on other fronts. It is like saying that in life there is no free lunch. Wise thing is to create a balance in life and keep proportions of these requirements within limits. It is like eating balanced diet which comprises of various ingredients and varieties of foods in form of cereals, vegetables, fruits and other intakes rich with protein and vitamins so as to keep you health intact.
At different age and stages of life, proportions of such needs what one seeks from life may vary. Like in early stage of life say when you are in your twenties, you could allocate more proportion to money and professional career which are important to satisfy one’s basic needs like food, shelter etc as per the hierarchy of needs defined by famous sociologist Maslow. In thirties and forties, you have to devote more time to your family life giving it the requisite proportion in the pie chart of your life. Like vise when you are in your fifties, sixties and onwards, you might like to allocate higher proportion to spirituality, self actualization and to your health. In Hindu mythology, to keep these proportions in-tact, life was divided in four stages called ‘ Brahma charya Ashram , Grahastha Ashram, Vaan Prastah Ashram and Sanyas ashram’ In Brahmacharya Ashram, one could allocate more proportion of one’s time and activities to knowledge ,morality and health, in Grahastha ashram allocating a higher proportion to seeking money, family life , friendship while in Vaan prastha ashram and Sanyas Ashram, priority was given to health, self actualization and spirituality.
By drawing a pie chart of your life in above manner, one can keep a control of your life so as to not regret later. This shall also help to keep oneself happy and satisfied because some of the material benefits which may look gains in a short term approach may actually be a loss to you in terms of your mental health, relationships and family life. This happens in property disputes among brothers. For apparent material gains actually they have lost on relationships, family life and may be on health too because this may not give them mental peace causing illness or diseases affecting their physical health.
So the Mantra of achieving a good and meaningful life is to keep a proper proportion of your needs in your Pie Chart choosing your activities through right conduct without compromising your moral values which shall surely result in your mission of life well accomplished.
Writer
Akhil Chandra
