×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

World of thoughts

Last Updated 15 February 2011, 18:50 IST

In handling stress, in so far as it relates to the world of things if you don’t relate wisely, the world of things is not going to give you happiness or joy. As you are in the world of things - the external - see the internal reality of your thoughts, your emotions and attune them wisely. You would then experience the world differently.

Some time back, during one of my workshops called “LIFE Programme”, I found that a lady seated right at the back was sleeping. So I beckoned her from the back and asked her to sit in the front row. She sat in the front row and I continued the workshops. I found her very annoyed, very upset. I stopped my talk and asked, “It appears you are very upset.”

She said, “Yes Swamiji, I am very upset.” I asked, “Why?” She replied, “You have insulted me.”

I asked her, “How did I insult you?”
“You summoned me from the back to the front and that is an insult, Swamiji”, said she.
I continued my inquiry, “If I call you from the back row to the front - the fact remain that I called you from the back to the front, where is the insult?”

She said, “That is the insult and I am extremely hurt.”

I said, “Please look into the genesis of your hurt.”

“Calling you from back to the front is a fact. The insult is in your interpretation. The fact is not what upsets you. Since you interpret the fact as an insult, you feel insulted. So, it is your internal reality, which is creating the insult, in turn stress. The external reality is - I only called you over from the back to the front”. I also asked her, “Did I raise my voice?”

She said, “No”.

“Did I scold you?”

“No. You only called me over to move from the back to the front.”

While this dialogue was on, another lady, stood up and said, “Swamiji, had you called me over from the back row to the front, I would have felt honoured seeing that Swamiji cares for me.”

The incident of calling her from back to the front being same, one lady feels honoured while another feels insulted. The external reality is the same but one internally interprets it as an insult and another interprets it as Swamiji is taking care!

So, what is creating the stress? External situation very often does not create stress. It Is the internal reality in how you interpret that creates the stress. Friends, Yoga says there is an external reality-you experience life not externally - you experience life internally.

If you become aware of the internal dynamics called the mind, you can handle stress in a much more dexterous way.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 15 February 2011, 18:50 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT