The legendary Roshan Abbas referred to himself as a ‘slasher’ in one of the events he hosted. The term may have negative connotations coming from American horror films, but he gave it an interesting twist. It was just meant to describe his various facets — radio jockey (Slash)/ theatre artist (Slash)/TV anchor (Slash) /writer (Slash)/director (slash)/emcee (slash)/impresario.
I was sure, impressed by the impresario. And the various connotations of the word, in describing a personality.
1. The Multitaskers
Do the multitaskers handle several jobs at once, or keep switching from one task to another ? Are we taxing the brain too much, and letting perfection suffer in an effort to be over-efficient ? The neural networks in a part of the brain ‘light up’, when they get involved in a thought, and remain so for sometime. The efficiency of multi-tasking depends on how fast do we get back to the task or thought left behind. The brain has multi-level storage facility, and can cope with the pressure.
This is just a modus operandi, not the method of existence.
2. The Colored Hatters
Edward De-Bono has described the six different angles of the thinking process, as different hats that a decision-maker needs to don. It is like viewing the same valley from different spots on a mountain.
Blue Process Overview
White Facts and figures
Yellow Speculative- positive
Black Caution and critic
Red Feeling and Intuition
Green Creativity and ideas
This is just about the thinking process, not the process of existence.
3. The play of the opposites
There is a bit of positive and negative, black and white, male and female, yin and yang in all of us. Life is a process of balancing the opposites, living with a certain amount of stress.
If we are in a state of perpetual comfort, the word comfortable will lose its meaning. It acquires a positive sense of well-being, in juxtaposition with discomfort. One does not exist without the other.
This is about balance, not the edge of existence.
4. The Role-Players
In its simplest version, the same individual is a boss, employee, parent, spouse, friend, colleague, producer, consumer all at the same time. And practically everybody is doing all of this.
There are artists who can sing, dance, write, paint and do equally well.
This is about co-existence, not the core of existence.
So, what is great about being a ‘slasher’ or multipotentialite?
5. The ‘Multipotentialites’
The slashers or multipotentialites are people who have discovered their different dimensions, and found avenues for expression of the same. They ‘slash’ the myth of destruction and death.
It is about increased capacity utilization of the brain, and still leaving some to be explored at a later stage in life.
It is about learning something new everyday, in more than one arena, and moving a step ahead.
It is about being on an endless journey towards perfection.
It is about measuring the length, breadth and depth of each competence, comparing it with others, and devising productive action plans.
It is about exploring the market for each competence, and deciding what will remain upfront or backstage. It feels treacherous, like dumping one for another — but we are forced to say “Your time will come, dear friend, just hang on a little longer”.
It is about putting different frames on intelligence and creativity, and emerging with different end-products.
It is about wearing a different cloak at different times, and keeping the others within easy reach, to be accessed when needed.
It is about rearranging different dimensions, for emergence of a new shape and form.
It is about a constant search for fertile soil, which will help the seeds grow.
It is about being buried alive, and sprouting again in a new life. The soul never dies, the spark never dies.
This is about the indomitable spirit of existence.
Proud to be a multipotentialite.
This article was originally written in 2016 by Reena Saxena on Medium and LinkedIn.
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