Dearest Darling Friends
I just read what happened to Eliud Kipchoge after Tokyo 2021.
He had just won his second Olympic gold. Then came the wait. Because of the logistics, the medalists were held for hours in a cramped, dull staging room before the medal ceremony.
Beside him sat the two other medalists.
1. Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands (silver)
2. Bashir Abdi of Belgium (bronze).
They did what most of us would do. They took out their phones, found the Wi-Fi and scrolled.
Kipchoge did not take out his mobile. He sat there in perfect silence and contentment, with a simple, relaxed glow on his face. That amazed me.
Today is Dussehra, and we know the story of Ravana well.
Think of him for a moment.
- A scholar.
- A master of the Vedas.
- A devoted worshipper of Shiva.
He did not lack intelligence. He had ten heads’ worth of it. What he lacked was stillness. Ten heads meant ten voices talking at once, and not one of them ever got to finish a sentence.
Put him in that Tokyo waiting room and he would have been first to the Wi-Fi. Ten heads, ten screens, one very busy man.
Kipchoge had only one head, and he gave it the one thing Ravana never could. Silence.
Distraction is rarely a villain with ten heads. It is usually a polite little rectangle in our hand.
It does not roar. It simply asks, very gently, whether we would like to “avoid ourselves” for a few minutes. And we say yes, because…
- we are tired
- the room is dull
- everybody else is doing it
So this Dussehra, I am setting a small, slightly embarrassing goal. Burn not Ravana, but the reflex to reach for the phone the moment the room goes quiet.
I will practice sitting in the waiting room, in silence, observing my mind and seeing who turns up.
Who knows? Even a dull room can become a remarkable one.
Happy Dussehra. Stay in charge. May all of us have the stillness Kipchoge has.