The latter years

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As one ages having worked years in institutions and living through much experiences, one faces many dangers.

The major one is the danger of institutional frameworks that limits thinking. 

Working in institutions for decades one ends up having an institutional mindset and behaviour. “Institutional behaviors could refer to any behavior that is more common among individuals within an institution than those not in the institution. ... “

Usually the term "institutional behavior" is used for prisons, mental hospitals, orphanages, large corporations, and government bureaucracies.” But this affects people from all institutions. 

We end up expecting a certain type of behaviour, following rules and regulations, policies and processes etc. These might be important but these  become behaviour traits and limits our thinking. Affecting our ability to think out of the box, the ability to innovate and be flexible keeping impact as the overarching direction. And if behaviours traits which we are used are not observed around us, one gets restless and starts living in the past - constantly reminding others - this is how we lived and how it should be....

These past experiences definitely limits our personal growth and progress in addition to institutional growth and progress. We start living reminiscing the past, and settling into a mediocre way of life. Living much less than our potential. Instead of constantly growing in our understanding and experiences we live and engage based on the past experiences. We stop being learner’s. 

Such a mind set leads to a limited forward thinking. We are no more thinking ahead - and leave the thinking for others. Instead of being available to build the emerging generation who needs support in their journeys of forward thinking we become people who limit not only ourselves but even others in their journeys. And we end up leading a retired life - living in a retired mind set, slowly getting fossilised. 

Protecting ourselves from thus being fossilised needs discipline of impact thinking, constantly learning through a reflective life style.

When I was sharing this with friend - he reminded me “I wonder if a butterfly ever thought as a caterpillar again. It hardly walked on land, hardly ate the same food and was never limited to the same space.”

To fly as a butterfly till the last day of our life....

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