The Chanakya Psyche : Hip-Hop for the soul

A whirlwind of thoughts engulfed Natalie. Her recent breakup with her boyfriend of two years, the looming vision of layoffs at her workplace, a tiff with her family; there was nothing she could find solace in. It almost felt like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She needed to calm her nerves and fast!

She gulped down a small vodka to take the edginess off her mood. J-lounge had been her favourite haunt for quite some time. She almost had a mini fan-following there. Always smiles, always courteous, she was the kind of person who could make people feel warm inside merely by smiling at them. She understood this aspect of non-verbal communication just too well. Notwithstanding her current state of mind, she carried herself with a calm and confident gait onto the dance floor.

The music rippled across the enclosed room. She gave herself up to the beats, swaying to the tune of the ascending tones. Meanwhile, a couple directly across her seemed to be having a heated conversation. The guy seemed in no mood to dance and his girl tried her best nonetheless to coax him onto the dance floor. She finally gave up. Several people round Natalie had given her a wide berth and seemed transfixed to her rhythmic moves. The girl, who had just failed to get her guy onto the floor, joined Natalie and both reverberated to the beats together. They were soon joined by another gang of girls and took the spotlight on the tiny floor. The DJ played his best mixes, the crowd cheering everytime Natalie showcased a complicated Hip-Hop move. Natalie knew she had gotten way past her previous nervous self.

Perfume a scorpion?

Not making sense? Well, that's what analogies are made of. In essence, it relates to handling fear and my ramblings particularly relate to successfully racing the last lap.

It may be so hard that it makes your knees buckle with fear. The idea that you have nourished for so long requires one last burst of speed to take off. And you feel that you are beat, after all those pain-staking efforts. Sounds familiar?

You may submit to yourself and shed a few tears in private but that won't lessen the gravity of the final lap. Instead, embrace your fear as positive energy. Remove the fear-story and instead focus on the fear-feeling itself. Do you see yourself feeling heady or gasping a little. Whatever is the physical manifestation of fear that you experience, it's most definitely energy in its purest form. So don't perfume the scorpion, instead focus on the inherent energy. And turn it outward. It wouldn't seem much difficult to channelize it effectively.