Cake

"I love cakes", she said. "They are yummy. They satisfy my taste-buds and make my mood. I can share anything, but when it comes to sharing my cake, it is the hardest thing to do. I cannot let go of my piece of cake", she went on.

"Real testing times is when it is my birthday & I've to cut my cake and share it among my dear ones. I make sure I make small pieces so that I can have bigger one. I just love cake & yes I cannot share it or forego my piece", she chuckled.

From above description, one might infer that this person is selfish and self-centered. That real happiness is in sharing.

True, that real bliss is in sharing, but what if the cake is the 'only' thing that she has. True, that giving and sharing help you grow as a 'Human'. But isn't giving and sharing with one's own self equally good and help a person to grow? Or is it that 'growth as a human' is associated only when 'giving and sharing' is done to the 'other person' and not 'self'?

Quite tricky, isn't it? It is easy to opine or judge prime-facie - that a person is selfish. However only on deeper analysis, when you go into the facts, the background, that you can infer something conclusively without getting biased.

Now imagine that 'the cake' is the 'time' in your hand. How do you allot it? It is good to 'give' your time to others, but to what extent? You fight for your own 'Space' and your own "Me time"- now by doing so, do you really become selfish? And imagine, right now you are not having any resource at your disposal other that 'Time'- how are you going to invest it, use it? By any means, any normal, rational, logical being will try to invest it in her own self. She'll invest it in activities that will help her acquire skills or knowledge for that matter. This investment, in return will help her grow as a 'human'. And after she is a transformed person, she can go for other resources. It is this, being a 'transformed person' or 'better-than-what-I-was-before' that will make 'giving and sharing' more meaningful. It will not only help the person giving but also the person receiving such person's time. Such receiver can get to learn and thus 'learning process' will start and that will initiate the 'growth process'.

Talent/skills are essential but it is the 'Experience' that gives real meaning to the talent. It is the experience that turns 'novice/amateur' to a 'professional/master'. And experience comes with 'Time'. It is therefore essential to invest heavily in yourself first. Initially thus you have less time for 'giving and sharing' but once you've had enough experience, the sharing becomes more fruitful for all and you can then increase the time you are sharing.

One cannot fill others' cup when her own cup is empty. Likewise, one has to minimize the share of slice of the cake initially so that one can have it for oneself first, survive, grow and then gradually increase the share of slice for others.

Being selfish is a human tendency. But for initial growth one has to be selfish. That is 'rationality'. Ultimately, you can share or give something only when you have it in first place. Also what matters in longer run, is how well you share it.

Everyone gets daily quota of 24 hours (the cake). It is absolutely in ones own hand how to cut it, consume it, spend it, share it or waste it? Smaller the share to the irrelevant stuff, lesser the negativity, more the share for productive stuff, more the growth, more happy you become. Mental peace and happiness is what one ultimately wants. Consume your cake wisely!