When I was a kid about 9 years old, I saw a chameleon for the first time on a tree in front of our house. I hate lizards but this one was different. My mom told me that it has an unusual ability to change the color of the skin. I was surprised and kept staring at it for quite sometime.
It changed its colors to brown when it was on the bark of the tree, to green when it was on the leaves and to red when it jumped to the brick wall next to the tree. Mom told me that it is trying to protect itself by not being visible. I accepted her version then.
Later, as I grew older, I felt that the chameleon is very wise in adapting to the surroundings. It may be true that it is defending itself, but I see it as it is trying to mingle with the surroundings. The way it perceives its environment is incredible. It is a great quality to have as you can really enjoy where ever you are if you can adapt to the surroundings well.
I observed that people always try to search for some one who are like them - similar ideas or ideologies. They get to be friendly with a similar group. I guess I learnt from the chameleon to match my wavelength with the people I interact with to make them comfortable in my presence.
You never know the true color of the chameleon. May be it feels insecure to stand out in a new place? But it can get along with anyone with its unusual yet great capacity.
16 comments:
What an analysis madhu.. i alwasys knew u look at things very differently , but putting across your thoughts in such a simple but very thoughtful way is just amazing. keep up the good oops sorry great work dear.
As i said Your are full of surprises ( pleasant ones )
Start with a BANG....Wonderful thought..Wish your blog appears in most digged/viewed blog list :-)
Hey! awesome.. I always looked at chameloen in a very different way .. you gave me new perspective.. positive one! I had so much negative opinion about the same thing! good..very good!
Great writing!, I have a follow-up question, How do you find Chameloen's in real life?
Great writing!, I have a follow-up question, How do you find Chameloen's in real life?
I saw them couple of times on huge trees on the street I grew up. Never saw them again. So...not sure.
But a Chameleon changes its color without its knowledge. They possess this ability naturally. Science also confirms this.
1000 Noble prize winners can make out a small plant from a seed with lot of noise and effort which Nature does silently in the midst of the night with out any effort.
We have to learn to live to our natural than adapting things; Probably Chameleons wants to display the same! If you carefully observe there is a big difference between ‘concentration’ and ‘meditation’!
Madhuri, as you learnt from the chameleon to match your wavelength with the people when you interact with, to make them comfortable in your presence.
Try this: Be comfortable, everybody will be comfortable without your effort.
Sivakanth Panchagnula
(Neelima's HUBBY)
I have a set of likes and dislikes. Initially I used to be very particular about the things I dislike and tried to be away from them as I did not feel comfortable with them. So your point of being comfortable is what I define as adapting to the thing I dislike.
I was raised with lots of definitions for good and bad, the right thing and the wrong thing, good friends and bad friends. To be away from the bad things, bad people so that I do not get influenced by them. Satsangatyam and things like that. So I have become opinionated about everything and everyone around me. I used to maintain distance with people because of that.
I did not like it that much. Hence I started following the Chameleon thing. To adapt to any place and surrounding to feel comfortable where ever I am. Now if I am in a group where I do not approve what they do or say, I still get along, well by trying to see something better in them to please me. If I were my natural I would'nt mingle with them. So I am not loosing my identity here but trying to see the best in everything.
‘…If I were my natural I wouldn’t mingle with them…’
My idea of being natural\comfortable is accepting things to the full extent.
Here the word accepting may mislead. Let me explain this:
I don’t like coffee, I like tea. But I’m offered coffee. I will be comfortable with rejecting it, not accepting it. Now another scenario, I’m offered coffee without sugar which I don’t like. But I may/may not accept it.
Being to our natural is the real height which in this world is really not possible. For example I don’t like my wife’s cooking, if is say it, I will not have food from tomorrow!
Again, your Original Post was a good one. Hope you did get my point here :) !
Sivakanth
I guess we both mean the same thing. I do not change myself to make others comfortable. Where is my identity then? I do get along with people without making a fuss or pointing fingers at them if I dont like what they are doing.
An example here is that: I had a bad impression on people who consumed alcohol. I knew a close friend with whom I conveyed my problem. I used to feel that they do not self control, etc etc. I used to avoid those people. But as years passed by I think I have learnt a mature way of dealing with this. Now most of my colleages and friends drink. I dot have any problem not do I have some opinion on them. I just mingle with them with a glass of orance juice. That in my definition is adapting to the surrounding.
thats an interesting and new way of looking at the chameleon..
so does this mean that you have stopped making the discrimination between good and bad?
actually, good and bad are both relative. so the question is how do we teach this to our children?
or to be more precise, how do we ensure that our children know them well without becoming opinionated.
Hi Madhuri, appreciate your postitive thinking. My opinion is that Chameleon changes its color in order to save itself from enemies and not to mingle with the environment. You never know, you might end up to work or to stay with people whose attitude is very negative. In this scenerio, you have to use ur postive attitude skills to defend against the negative attitude, and learn to survive (atleast with some peace of mind) but never change your positive attitude or move towards the negative attitude in order to match :)
Mangala, I think you got me wrong here. I never said to change what you are. One should never do that or else they will loose their identity. My point was in a particular context where in to adapt or adjust or gel into the environment to get along not to do something wrong or negative when the other person is that way.
Read my response post to the previous comments.
And why chameleon changes colors, I said one of my perspectives is that it does so to adjust with the environment. This is just my view of looking at it. Not a fact why it changes colors.
Now when it comes to the point where you have to work with people with negative attitude, I would try my best to get along with them. There will be some positive attitude in every person. So I would try to see that part of them and get along with them instead of avoiding them. Like a good team player. But it does not mean that I will end up acting like them.
Hey,I missed to read your previous comments. From the main comment, I felt that u r indicating to move towards negative thinking...if it's so then I agree :)
mytreyi,
"so does this mean that you have stopped making the discrimination between good and bad?"
I have not reached that wise state yet. But I will try to reach that goal. I am improving every day!
How to teach our kids about good and bad? OK for example, smoking is injurious to health. So I would teach my son not to smoke. Now there is a difference. Rajesh tells me that there is nothing wrong in trying different things just to know how it tastes or feels like. But getting addicted is being weak. I would try to explain it to him in a nice way rather putting a strict order that he can never smoke or do drugs. It is not a very easy task but I guess I would like to try it that way.
So I guess we still have to let them know good and bad but not to be opinionated to an extent where you dislike some one. It is more like raising them with a certain discipline at the same time letting them know that not everyone is going to be like them. So we need to teach them to accept others for what they are and get along.
By the way..good thing u got going here in the form of this blog.Keep it up.
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