Fortunate are those whose chosen careers intersect with their passion. And passion for one’s job is foundational to a job well done in the “service” sector – that is when your work is healing or shaping the lives of a nation and its people.
Holistic wellbeing expert and educator Urvashi Puri is obviously very driven and passionate about her work and embodies the same outlook in everything in her life, something hard to miss when you are in her presence, as she exudes an aura of serenity and calmness.
What she is also, is gifted to help folks find their own oasis of calm, ignite or reawaken their sense of purpose and passion. We asked her how she does it, and her reply, “From time to time, all of us need to fill our cup, so that we can have something to give. What I do is help people learn the tools to do it. That’s all.”
At a recent gathering in Delhi, Urvashi spoke to politicians and social workers, among others, talking about how important it was to be equipped with the tools needed to navigate burn out, jadedness and hopelessness for the people in service of the public and how to keep their passion and acute awareness of responsibility towards their work always alive.
It’s been a passion project of hers, to focus on providing a learning platform for people in high-stakes jobs, those in the public eye and under constant scrutiny, to have a support system that helps them stay course, and steadfast to their ideals.
While expressing her gratitude for politicians and social workers, she said, “The fact of the matter is that whatever people in politics are doing is extremely tough. While we may think we can, there aren’t many who can survive the pressure and do their job. Theirs is a tough position to hold. What politicians do for their country, not everyone can do that, nor is everyone prepared and ready to do it. At the same time, politicians wield immense power with their one signature. Just one signature can help so many with that one stroke. They need all the support they can get to stay steadfast and hold their position at their office more gracefully than what they are doing right now. I wanted to put out a message that if we could put out this thought without being partial.”
The concept of emotional rejuvenation viz-a-viz politicians and public servants is much-needed but not a new one. And Urvashi has been working on this passion project for a decade now. It started with a group of public servants in Mauritius. “I did a workshop with the Sports Ministry in Mauritius some years back, with members of the parliament and grassroot level government employees. The agenda was to attain a certain level of Emotional Quotient (EQ), understand the power and position they hold and how it affects society. Under ‘power’ we deep dived into ideas of responsibility, trustworthiness etc. It is like EI (Emotional Intelligence) but more on a larger scale and about going beyond just the self,” she said.
She added, “My message is one of gratitude to all the ministers’ holding positions of importance because those are tough positions, and theirs is such a thankless job. You can’t please everyone and people who are unhappy with you do not mince their words before they badger you.”
Urvashi said, “In an ideal world, there should’ve been an institution that would offer a course designed on equipping upcoming lawmakers and politicians with the tools they’d need to maintain their EQ and the same passion for the job when they started, for many years later too. Ideally it should also offer or be a space they can return to for support to maintain the same EQ and the same passion for the job that they had taken. Being in the same office for five years isn’t easy. We all know that passion has its highs and lows and sometimes the lows take away the real reason why you were sitting there. I wish we could have a constant support system for these politicians, for their departments and the ministry to get back into their passion as they started their careers in. It would be a motivational workshop to remind them of ethics, and the power of the position they hold, the responsibility that they have and how many people they are impacting by just one gesture of theirs. They are holding a powerful position and they do need to exercise control over themselves as long as they are holding their officer. They have to remember that they are responsible for so much. So it’s not just motivation but also a reminder of the power they hold. We must strike a balance. Youngsters, who are not getting motivated to join politics, should remain motivated and it should become a well-respected profession.”
