The best
way to deal with Life is to have the “bring-it-on-I-guess-we-can-handle-this”
attitude!
Sometimes, Life can be very unsettling. Just when you have been
dealt one blow, a few more punches will be hurled at you. Roll with the
punches. There is no other way. If you start asking why, why me or cry foul or
scream “hey, gimme me a break!”, you
will end up suffering – in addition to having to deal with the pain.
Last evening I was sitting with a friend who knows me and Vaani very
well. He was keen to know how things are with us given that our bankruptcy
endures and we continue to soldier on. I gave him an update which was really a
list of problems, some of them inscrutably complicated and defying any
immediate resolution. From the time my friend and I had met last, a few new
issues had arrived in our fold. So I said, “I have no complaints. Not anymore.
I have learnt to tell Life, ‘bring it on,
I guess we can handle it’.” My friend looked at me and said, “Man, things
are so tough. Yet you guys make it look so easy!”
I replied, asking, with dead pan seriousness: “Vera Vazhi? Is there any other way to respond to and deal with Life?”
Indeed this is so true – for each of us, in our given Life contexts
and situations. You can rave and rant. You can kick and stomp. But Life is not
going to get any easier or better just because you are upset with what you have
been dealt with. I have come to conclude that the magnitude of the problems you
are faced with is directly proportional to Life’s assessment of your ability to
face them and endure them. Life is like a gym trainer who is intent on
increasing your ability to lift weights on a weekly or monthly basis. Yes,
lifting those weights can be tough, painful and impossible at times. But
ultimately they build your strength. Once you have endured a quantum of weights
you can handle those weights easily. And the more you lift, the better, and
stronger, you get.
Your suffering is an outcome of your wishing that your Life is
different from what it is. So, instead of simply wishing, tell Life, to use
Punjabi slang, “Aan De – Bring it on!” And you will soon
realize, like I have, that you can always handle everything that comes your way
– no matter how impossible it seems at first!
The messages and stories you post give me the strength to plough on... I can deeply relate to what you say and the time you and vaani spent with me in Chennai has preserved my sanity...
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