Aunt Josephine (quickly opening the main door of her house): “Don’t knock. You might get splinters. This door is made of wood, which is teeming with tiny shards, which in turn is teeming with infection. You must never knock.”
Klaus Baudelaire: “The doorbell didn’t appear to be working.”
Aunt Josephine (while welcoming the children into her home): “It’s disconnected. There is the danger of electrocution. And be careful not to bump into the phone.”
Klaus Baudelaire: “I’ve read quite a bit about electricity, and I’m reasonably certain that doorbells and telephones are safe.”
Aunt Josephine: “Not if you have a faulty pacemaker.”
Klaus Baudelaire: “Does someone here have a faulty pacemaker?”
Aunt Josephine: “No, but you can never be too careful.”
While the Baudelaire children were fairly knowledgeable about various subjects, their aunt Josephine was riddled with anxiety. Or was she? Well, the story and scenes depicted in the time the children spent with their aunt paint a rather tricky picture.
A Series of Unfortunate Events is an amazingly dark comedy-drama. It pictures three orphaned Baudelaire children constantly in pursuit of safety from the fatal perils caused by a greedy man called Count Olaf. While the children hop from one home to another, they meet their aunt Josephine, who was an associate of their late parents. Josephine is shown to be a fearful woman with a constant sense of anxiety about the things around her. From the doorbell to the phone to a simple knocking on the door.
While she warns the children to stay away from such dangers, we identify her twisted sense of self-care as rather interesting. Not to draw a direct comparison but a leader practicing self-care must truly endeavor to enhance their SiQ or Spiritual Quotient.
I think it would be safe to say that Josephine would have benefitted too had she not been so fearful of the consequences. That said, fear, anxiety, stress, and other types of negativities are symptoms. In the manner of self-care, people treat their symptoms rather than looking into the underlying root cause. Where do all of these symptoms come from?
“Real Knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.”
~Confucius
What makes one feel stressed or depressed? What makes one experience the sharp sting of anxiety, panic attacks, and so on? Why does the entire world need to practice self-care?
All these questions can be answered with one word – Unfulfillment.
Most people feel unfulfilled, which produces a sense of incompleteness. And why is this sense of incompleteness prevalent among so many?
Ignorance.
It is what takes us several steps back from finding the truth about ourselves. We try and try to address our pain, stress, and anxiety through self-care techniques. Some go for meditation classes, some try Yoga, and some join a fitness club, while others unfortunately tread toward unhealthy or toxic habits.
The lack of completeness is truly in the way one sees it. If you see it as a problem, then you must find the solution. This solution is nothing more than the part of enhancing your Spiritual Quotient.
SiQ is a journey that transitions from ignorance to innocence. To help one drive awareness with innocence and develop an enthusiasm for living life.
Josephine had not yet learned how to live her life. She simply lived in fear of the dying. She was ready to accept her fate to live in a cave for the rest of her life as long as she was safe from Count Olaf.
Josephine (while hiding in a cave after Count Olaf stranded her at sea): “Well, I am so glad to see all of you. Just let me catch my breath and I’ll help you bring in your things.”
Violet: “What things?”
Josephine: “Your luggage, of course. I hope you brought food. I’m out.”
Klaus: “We didn’t bring any food.”
Josephine: “No food? How in the world did you expect to live with me in this cave if you didn’t bring any food?”
Violet: “We’re not staying here. We’re taking the sailboat back to town, and we’re taking you with us.”
Josephine: “No way, José. I am too frightened of Count Olaf to face him.”
Josephine’s fears were symptoms of an underlying problem. As I said, had she been introduced to the concept of SiQ, living life would have been more meaningful and fearless for her.
Living life with a high SiQ is what reduces child-like innocence and elevates your state of innocence with awareness. You are more aware of the world, unlike a child who takes risks, not fully aware of the dangers. Whereas when you improve your FIT score, your SiQ levels are enhanced and this means that you are impenetrable to the problems of life.
You can face them head-on without feeling anxiety, depression, stress, etc. You no longer possess these symptoms. In the process of improving your Spiritual Quotient, you’ve managed to address the root cause of your underlying problems.
So, if you ever find yourself treating only the symptoms from a sense of incompleteness, know that you’ve always been complete. It is your Spiritual Quotient that needs nurturing to let you realize your fulfilled self again.
It is as Sandra Feldman once wrote in her poem “Our Fulfillment”
Our Fulfillment
We look for perfection,
When there is none,
Contentment is not something,
You can put in a bun,
It’s an inner feeling,
That some other being,
Can produce in us,
That some call Love,
Fulfillment plus.
