QUESTION PAPER
Satya entered the examination hall. She saw all the students were seated based on their time of entry into the hall and after a little search, she found her place. There was a question paper and answer sheet provided on the table to complete to get certified as a life coach.
She looked around and found some known faces who were already writing their exam. She shared a glance with a few unknown faces and smiled. Overall, everyone was busy either doing their work or preparing themselves to do so. There were empty seats as well, and she was unsure if anyone had yet to come, had left early or those seats had not been allocated. The interesting aspect of the exam was that there was no invigilator and no set time to start. Everyone did not get the same paper either, though a few questions were common. Reference sheets and tools were supplied. Her paper was seemingly easy, but she would not know until she had attempted all the questions. She was excited to start.
If we pause here to look at Satya’s current state, it resembles life when one enters the world: some people are early, some late, some not yet there, and others are gone. There are many empty spaces around. The question paper is the life that we are given to live, and its uniqueness means life is not the same for everyone. We are given the tools as parents and teachers to understand how to live. All we must do is live, and life is always easy by the look and feel of it.
As it was for Satya.
Now she looked around and found everyone busy with their work. Some were drawing, some were writing, and some were reading the questions. As far as she was concerned, she ended up writing all that she knew and when in doubt, she used the tools and reference sheets to help her. Instead of only answering the questions with words, she tried to express her thoughts through colorful sketches and highlighters. At one point, however, she was stuck. She did not know the complete answer. There was nothing in the reference sheet to provide ideas. She stopped attempting the problem at hand and went ahead answering the next one on the paper. As she reached the middle of it, she understood the pattern in responding to the questions and that helped her to return to complete the difficult ones.
There are seven billion people in the world. None of us have the same challenges but we all face similar problems for which, in many cases, we do not have answers. Furthermore, we may not always have the support of someone along the way. Perhaps, we should try every possible solution in every phase of our life to the best of our ability, taking note of recurring patterns. We can try and overcome our challenges, in the same way Satya did hers.
She was then happy that she could write something and looked around with relief. She was surprised to see Sarang in the test center. She was not sure if he had any challenges. All she could do was wave to him. He waved back at her and continued to write his test enthusiastically. Satya completed her answers and left the place because she had nothing more to write. She did not have to wait for Sarang because the end time of the test had not been specified. The certification process took time and there was no benchmark score to accomplish, so all she could do was to get going.
The teacher was going to have a tough time evaluating the answer sheets because the questions were so varied. But the set guideline was to evaluate based on the enthusiasm shown and quality displayed in attempting all the questions. Similarly, God or The Energy has designed different lives and different results, and the measure of life is based on the ability to live with enthusiasm, awareness and tanacity.
Satya turned back and, curiously, found Sarang leaving the exam hall too. They may or may not have had similar questions, but there was the possibility, in both becoming life coaches, they could end up being together. This thought brought joy to her, for his presence mattered, like enthusiasm matters in living life to the fullest.
