A week ago, I had one of those days when nothing went right. Critical information that I was seeking was not forthcoming, a consignment that I had couriered to a relative who had sustained an injury was untraceable, not to forget breakdowns which were not being attended to soon enough. I was frustrated and about to lose it. Realising that this wasn’t going to take me anywhere I reflected upon what one could do in such circumstances.
The very first step is to understand that life is not a game where you act and obtain immediate fulfilment. If that were to happen when and how will we get wiser and cultivate patience — minus the struggles and hurdles?
Don’t protest:
When nothing is going right, “do not fight the flow.” Instead watch how it is all panning out and unfolding. In time the knots will untangle and things will begin to move. Do whatever you have to do to address the problem and look closely for the signs that seem to speak to you and point you to the way forward. Is someone showing up? Is a conversation dropping hints about whom you should reach out to or is there another way altogether. Once you loosen up and listen with an open mind there will be progress.
Remember none of this will matter a few days from now. If you are in the habit of journaling and by chance during a bout of spring cleaning happen to flip through the pages of an old diary, you will be both amused and gratified at how enormous some issues looked in the past and how they evaporated or ceased to matter. Of course, there are lingering, persistent problems and soon you learn that some take longer to fix or go away, but that you will have the strength and the wisdom to understand and face that.
Do something different:
A crisis situation is also the time when you should do something different to take your mind off the problem. Go to a place of worship or a music concert or a play or watch a good film, write a letter to God or get out in the open and walk as far as your legs can take you. Answers are bound to emerge. Talk your problem over perhaps once with a trusted, loved one but do not flail it. Get some perspective and reach out to someone in need. Is your situation really as bad as it looks or does your thinking make it so? Could it be worse? As you ponder over this, be thankful for favours you have received and help someone, somewhere.
Never lose faith:
You know the feeling of simply not being able to bear it when you are separated from your loved ones after a lovely family reunion or the loss of an elder? How did you cope? You found the strength from somewhere right? Daily life provided its share of distractions as did technology and little by little you bounced back. You realised that you owed it to yourself to come out of that phase and you did. Change is always a given. The thing is to hang in with hope and faith.
The writer is a Reiki channel, yoga practitioner and a spiritual seeker
