Let us
monitor the thoughts that pre-occupy our mind most of our waking hours. What
sort of thoughts dominate our minds all day? Thoughts related to the
differences we have with the people around us, I would say! Be it personal or
professional. Or, there could be worries related to the imaginary situations
that we create for ourselves (Instead, shouldn't this creativity be used on
something more productive?). We often think that the people around us are our
enemies, always trying to hurt us, or waiting to take advantage of us in all
possible ways. We feel no one can be trusted - maybe it is a learning from our
past experiences. We think we need to keep ourselves armed (mentally, more than
physically), ready to defend the behaviors and verbal attacks coming from the
people around us. Within our homes, we feel our spouses are being
too mean, parents and in-laws do not even treat us as humans, our children
do not give us the respect we deserve after all the pains we have taken in
bringing them up. At work it is even more challenging, with our bosses trying
to squeeze out every bit out from us, and the peers trying to stab at our back
if we are not alert.
In the mist of all these thoughts, how do we find peace? How do we live a satisfying life? The mentally ill people who we see on the roads, blabbering things - how different are we to them? Only that they tell out things innocently, but we have to silently suffer all these thoughts going on within us! How can we even relax for a few minutes? Our mind keeps pouring in with all the suggestions which is perceived to help us. Some of these suggestions we think are very comforting, giving us satisfaction at the possibility of getting a score over our 'enemies'. We feel elated for a few minutes devouring pleasure from these scoring thoughts, but that is all what it lasts for. The endless loop of worries and anxiety still continues, and we feel drained out by the end of the day, not even getting a peaceful sleep at the end of it all.
How can we put an end to these endless cycle of worries that we have to go through every day? The numerous experiences I have gained from my life have taught me that Gratitude and Love are the sure-shot magic bullets that can take out all our worries. In fact both gratitude and love originate from the same feeling; they are inseparable. For each and every worry that we have, the prescription is to identify and invoke a feeling of Gratitude and Love that can free us from this worry!
Whenever we catch ourselves worrying about something (yes, we need to be alert and check what is going on in there as frequent as possible!), stop for a moment. My secret weapon to stop my thoughts has always been the Question - "So What?". This really helps me to anchor myself back in the present - take me away from the past and future. The present moment has the power to stop our endless worries. Take a moment to look at the beautiful things around us. Aren’t they all perfect? - the trees, the clouds, the wind that is gently soothing us. Being at that place to enjoy the beauty around us is truly a great blessing, isn't it? Be grateful for the good things we are in possession at this moment. Whatever we are worrying about is just a possibility. Why don't we deal with it when it is required? Believe and know that we will be equipped the best way to deal with the problems at the right moment.
What about the people in our life? People's behavior are often situational, and is transaction based. One instance - maybe a behavior, or a word, need not define who the person actually is. Think about the stress that person maybe going through which made him/her react in the way that hurt us. What about the numerous instances which had earlier made us enjoy his/her company? Be grateful for those moments. Be willing to give people around us a ‘break’ that they deserve. Don't we also face such situations which make us go past our limits and hurt others?
Love and Gratitude will always come to our rescue, whenever we allow it to. It is the power we have within us, the one we can use to turn things around, in our favor, always at our disposal. We can be liberated from the un-necessary worries if we just decide to take help from these powerful feelings, that we already are in possession. There has not been a single exception when this hasn't worked – try it out for yourself. If the entire universe works on this principle, who are we to defy it?
In the mist of all these thoughts, how do we find peace? How do we live a satisfying life? The mentally ill people who we see on the roads, blabbering things - how different are we to them? Only that they tell out things innocently, but we have to silently suffer all these thoughts going on within us! How can we even relax for a few minutes? Our mind keeps pouring in with all the suggestions which is perceived to help us. Some of these suggestions we think are very comforting, giving us satisfaction at the possibility of getting a score over our 'enemies'. We feel elated for a few minutes devouring pleasure from these scoring thoughts, but that is all what it lasts for. The endless loop of worries and anxiety still continues, and we feel drained out by the end of the day, not even getting a peaceful sleep at the end of it all.
How can we put an end to these endless cycle of worries that we have to go through every day? The numerous experiences I have gained from my life have taught me that Gratitude and Love are the sure-shot magic bullets that can take out all our worries. In fact both gratitude and love originate from the same feeling; they are inseparable. For each and every worry that we have, the prescription is to identify and invoke a feeling of Gratitude and Love that can free us from this worry!
Whenever we catch ourselves worrying about something (yes, we need to be alert and check what is going on in there as frequent as possible!), stop for a moment. My secret weapon to stop my thoughts has always been the Question - "So What?". This really helps me to anchor myself back in the present - take me away from the past and future. The present moment has the power to stop our endless worries. Take a moment to look at the beautiful things around us. Aren’t they all perfect? - the trees, the clouds, the wind that is gently soothing us. Being at that place to enjoy the beauty around us is truly a great blessing, isn't it? Be grateful for the good things we are in possession at this moment. Whatever we are worrying about is just a possibility. Why don't we deal with it when it is required? Believe and know that we will be equipped the best way to deal with the problems at the right moment.
What about the people in our life? People's behavior are often situational, and is transaction based. One instance - maybe a behavior, or a word, need not define who the person actually is. Think about the stress that person maybe going through which made him/her react in the way that hurt us. What about the numerous instances which had earlier made us enjoy his/her company? Be grateful for those moments. Be willing to give people around us a ‘break’ that they deserve. Don't we also face such situations which make us go past our limits and hurt others?
Love and Gratitude will always come to our rescue, whenever we allow it to. It is the power we have within us, the one we can use to turn things around, in our favor, always at our disposal. We can be liberated from the un-necessary worries if we just decide to take help from these powerful feelings, that we already are in possession. There has not been a single exception when this hasn't worked – try it out for yourself. If the entire universe works on this principle, who are we to defy it?
