Human chemistry is important, says Choudhary

POSITIVE THINKING is considered to be a vital ingredient for personality grooming. But wisdom guru and mental coach Pavan Choudhary feels otherwise. He candidly asserts that positive thinking is a farce. ?When we nourish ourselves with too much positive thoughts, we negate the negative thoughts and lose the energy that negative thoughts bring forth,?? he said in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times.

POSITIVE THINKING is considered to be a vital ingredient for personality grooming. But wisdom guru and mental coach Pavan Choudhary feels otherwise. He candidly asserts that positive thinking is a farce. “When we nourish ourselves with too much positive thoughts, we negate the negative thoughts and lose the energy that negative thoughts bring forth,’’ he said in an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times.

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Illustrating with an example he says if a person has a puncture but continues thinking positively about the car the end result will be a tyre burst or a broken axle. “What most of us do not realise is that positive thought is mostly thrust, is done compulsively and is therefore lesser energised,” he said.

Choudhary is mind trainer to rifle shooting sports-star Gagan Narang and world billiards and snooker champion Pankaj Advani. Known as Vivekacharya and Starcoach, he is also an internationally sought after speaker. For him happiness in a nutshell is “simply a balancing act. Just learn to balance yourself.”

After completing his B (Pharm) from Sagar, Choudhary did his MBA from Shimla and then made a foray into the corporate sector. A brief stint with small pharmaceutical companies and ad agencies was followed with a job in Cadilla, Dabur and now as CEO of French company Vygone.

“When I entered the corporate sector at 23, I realised that chemistry was very important in the pharmaceutical sector but not the chemistry inside beakers and crucibles. It is human chemistry that is important for the success of an organisation,” he says.

He adds if any catalysts are needed, they are to transform human beings. “If any alchemy is possible it is an alchemy of flesh, blood and spirit, that is your will, your capability and your inner motivation,” he said

Initially Choudhary wanted to develop himself and bring about positive changes in his organisation. Then he wanted to contribute, a miniscule amount, towards the growth of knowledge in the wisdom section. “Wisdom is a like a staircase. I just want to be a small step on the staircase,” he says.

On defining wisdom, he says, “It is a simultaneous progression on all important facets of life. Mental growth, emotional growth, spiritual growth and psychological growth- all this together churns out the juice of wisdom. Wisdom means the ability to see the true nature of things and then make the choices, which are true, right and lasting. Wisdom is knowing yourself and others, enlightenment is knowing the universe.”

What is his take on managerial science? “I think it is a little superficial. The pillars on which management science stands helps you see only the surface without delving deeper. I feel that a manager should be exposed to broader subjects like psychology, sociology and even political science.”

For Choudhary transformation is important and it entails a change in the spirit and psyche of a person. “You should plough your soil so that there is ample space for planting. Inspiration is transformation. But how can one transform oneself?”

According to the wisdom guru Namashkarmantram, in which you salute five types of people is the best way to transform. Bathroom singing is another way to transform. When the song flows, it is a true hymn, a bhajan and has a hidden power to transform. Wearing loose clothes and sometimes taking time out to look at the stars is also transformation as breaking the pattern techniques.

About his book ‘When You Are Sinking Become A Submarine’  he says he has tried to delineate that in the world of power, there are broadly two kinds of people, Viles for whom only the end matters and Naives for whom means are as important as the ends. This book asserts that the path of goodness coupled with creativity and wisdom is the only way to an enduring victory. 

With real-life examples and practical tips this book enables the Naives to come to terms with the Viles and build enduring bases of power. It also propels the Viles into understanding that riding roughshod over others may take care of the present but has no future.Anymore wisdom writings on the anvil and the guru says, “No, not right now. I am counselling and listening to thoughts of big minds.”