'It's not the weight of the load that breaks you, it's the way you carry it.' If you were going somewhere by train, when you board the train, would you continue carrying your belongings or place them in the luggage compartments? If you had to carry a backpack plus two small carry bags, would you put the backpack on your back, & have one small bag in each hand, or carry all three bags in one hand? Or perhaps the two carry bags on one shoulder each, & the backpack on your head? 'It's not the weight of the load that breaks you, it's the way you carry it.' Of course, the logical way to carry stuff is to: 1. Evenly distribute the weight 2. Put it down whenever possible! Photo courtesy of Aditya. Any experienced backpacker, hiker or mountaineer would tell you that it is also important how you arrange your belongings in your backpack, to avoid unnecessary strain on your back & shoulders! How does this metaphor of carrying luggage relate to our daily lives? Whenever we are facing difficulties in life, does it not seem like nothing else matters, & the weight of the whole world is upon our shoulders? We tend to think that our problems are the biggest, most important, most unsolvable & complicated problems in the Universe, & that no one else has problems as big as ours! If you look back on things, how much of this is true, though? We managed to solve them one way or another, & in any case, were they really as big a problem as we thought them to be? My dear friend & teacher once told us the story of his grandmother who lived through the 1984 Sikh Massacre. She saw her husband being murdered in front of her very own eyes, & later on single-handedly raised her young children. According to Deep, she was a very strong woman, both physically & mentally. Growing up around her, whenever there would be an argument within the household, everyone would get worked up except her, & she would simply wave her hand & say that these arguments are all small matters, & it's all nothing. Now every time he faces a problem, he remembers her voice, 'It's nothing! Enough now!' & just laughs at himself. Dear friends, most of us have led such blessed, easy lives which we tend to take for granted. My father always says, 'without thinking skills, thinking kills.' The mind can be either a problem-solver or a great enabler in over-thinking. It tends to want to focus on the problem at hand; which is not a bad thing, but there are two lenses which we can use to focus through: 1. Focusing on the problem itself & why it happened to me, out of all the people in the world, what were the causes, how it is negatively affecting me at the moment, how it will negatively affect me in the future. Basically the whole 'woe is me' mentality. 2. Focusing on the problem itself, what I can learn from it, how I can grow out of it & what active steps I can take to remedy the situation & hopefully avoid encountering a similar situation in the future. Both require equal amounts of energy. The only difference is that one just goes around in circles, whereas the other provides a way out. Sometimes, the answer is right in front of us. But the mind doesn't always allow us to take the easy way out. It enjoys being overly active. It always wants to revert to its old pattern, because that doesn't require any effort, although it does not bring happiness. It does not want to change because that requires moving out of its comfort zone. It is difficult, arduous to change its age-old patterns. Another thing to realize is that at the end of the day, you are not in control of anything! If you look back at the movie of your life, everything that happened, happened for a reason - both the good & the bad. Even the bad, because without them, you would never have discovered your strengths! In fact, it is the combination of the good & bad times which have moulded you into the person you are today! When you truly understand this, you know there is an imperceptible force guiding you through it all...then what else is there to do besides have a good laugh? Because you've either been holding all your bags in one hand, or sitting in a train with everything on your head! The Universe always has your back. You just need to know when to put down your bags & rest!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
About Prabh LehriI am a yoga teacher based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I am passionate about yoga as a form of healing on the physical, emotional & mental level. I have been on a yoga journey for almost a decade and have been formally sharing my experience in the last 4 years. Archives
December 2017
Categories |