Swirling currents of energy in a body

REINVENTION

When you are all fired up, your body can never falter. It is a fire that affirms, “I’m going to be healthy and active on two days — today and tomorrow.” Such a fire burned brightly in Dev Anand. I have him only twice but certainly felt his positive vibes and energy reach out and sear me. It blew me off my seat and on to my feet.

Indeed, as being with Dev Anand showed me, we are all swirling currents of energy encapsuled in a body. We can power or weaken these energies with our thoughts, attitude and action. Dev Anand had mastered these with his PET philosophy-in-practice. PET stands for Passion plus Purpose, Enthusiasm, Tenacity.

Purpose and passion

Most of us say, “I want to do this”. But in Dev’s book, you just go ahead and do it. You make your passion your purpose, and your purpose your passion. Livelihood is secondary, living is primary. If you don’t have a purpose, you create one. When you create a purpose, life smiles at you in gratitude, because a purpose is a thanksgiving to life.

Your purpose takes you to places you’d never  otherwise visit. Your thoughts acquire a fire, your mind transcends limitations, your talent sprouts wings. Even your intuition comes alive and you start seeing things you’d never noticed before. The world is the same place but you see the special beauty in it. Life is the same too but a new meaning appears — some mystery, some magic.

Dev’s mental vitality kept him physically agile. He told me he loved the highlands of Scotland. He could roam them freely without being recognised. Yet he was not restless. He could sit as still as a monk and write his ideas, his scripts, the oly part of him that moved was his imagination.

Enthusiasm

The one quality I saw in Dev was enthusiasm. It’s a special sort of energy in the lower spine. He had springs there. His seat was his stepping stone — from one adventure to another. I’ve learnt too, that you’ve got to continually re-invent, remake yourself so that at last you know how to live. You literally manufacture thoughts of admiration. When I looked into Dev’s eyes, I saw innocence, not naivety. It’s just that there is no time to be lost in negative knowing, it’s forward we march on and on.

Tenacity

Yes, Dev was a star, but never a fading one. His stardom lay not in the success of his films but in his self-belief. And from this came that tenacity. Tenacity is the parent of one’s personal drive, it helps you tap the highest levels of your abilities, your capacity, your energies. And if you’re not hung up on the results and rewards of your endeavours, more power to you. Enjoy the journey, the inner expansion, the breathtaking view from the peaks, and make the valleys your personal spa for reflection and rejuvenation.

Ah yes, we can make our own guide. By learning from this evangelist of energy some positive strategies for the new year:

*Resolve to live with all our might.
*Resolve to waste no time but use every moment creatively, kindly, lovingly.
*Resolve to always follow our passion, our purpose with no expectations of profit.
*Resolve to always play to our strengths and not dwell on our weaknesses.
*Stir that inner fire. Exercise daily. Eat to fuel, not fill. Ever-refresh the mind and body.

(The writers are authors of the book Fitness for Life.)