Notes for navigating the new year
So you have almost seen off 2024 with all its ups and downs. You have savoured the care of friends and survived the snare of enemies. You tasted both the sweetness of honey and the sting of a bee. You have stepped onto those occasional banana skins. You have realised that outshining your boss has proved to be foolish as well as fatal.
Now, shift your vision from illusion to infinity. Until now, you may have lived under a mistaken identity, binding yourself to the temporary body-mind structure. You’ve been like a buffalo in a dark room, bumping into furniture of the material world. This finite form—a beautiful yet impermanent vessel—is like a wave mistaking itself for the ocean. You are not this finite self. You are that one and infinite consciousness, expressing itself through a trillion forms. Realize this oneness and shift your focus from competitive gain to service. Let your body and mind become instruments of compassion.
Get off your head. Your brain—that rusty old forecasting machine. It spun narratives of fear, worry, and desires that seldom came true, pulling you away from the deeper intelligence of your being. The intellect is useful, but when disconnected from spirit, it becomes a blunt instrument. All along you have been a blunderful Buddha! So consider this: your thoughts are not facts, and your brain is not your boss.
Be a Missionary of Clarity. Know that clarity is your mind’s natural state. Sadly, you’ve mucked it up with misperceptions and runaway desires. The trick lies in distinguishing between will and whim. “I want another chocolate” is whim; “I will pass on that chocolate” is willpower. Chocolates stay moments on the lips, a lifetime on the hips—as your trousers know too well.
Tame the Million Mutinies in Your Mind. Harmonize the Inner Chaos. Within you exists a multitude of ‘I’s—voices competing for dominance. “I want this,” “I don’t want this,” “I am angry,” “I shouldn’t be angry.” These conflicting selves crash like waves upon the shores of your mind, dividing and depleting your energy.
“I’m tired!” says one voice. “I’m furious!” screams another. “You’re fine,” mutters yet another, passive-aggressively sipping tea. Self-observation is the trick here. Don’t fight the chaos; just watch it unfold. The moment you step back and observe your thoughts, they lose their grip. It’s like telling your unruly brain, “Calm down, Macha.” And Macha listens. Eventually.
Look out of your window. When life drowns you in data, noise, and to-do lists the size of novels, stop. Look out of a window. A window restricts your view, forcing focus, and therein lies its magic. You may notice something delightfully ordinary—a bird, an old kite stuck in a wire—and find your mind unwinding like that stubborn knot in your pyjamas that has just loosened up.
Finally, drop your grandiose New Year’s resolutions into the nearest bin. The future isn’t a distant prize to be won with lofty plans; it emerges from the patterns you create today. Old habits must be disrupted, new ones nurtured. Be here, now, fully engaged, and the future will sort itself out. Resolutions are for amateurs—be a master of the present.
As you step into 2025, let these secrets guide you inward and onward. The greatest journey you will ever undertake is the one within—where the boundaries of time dissolve, and the infinite whispers softly: Welcome home!
Debashis Chatterjee
Author, Professor & Director, IIM Kozhikode
successsutras@gmail.com