EVERYONE, young or old, complains of stress or tension a common
phenomenon of our times. There are several centers established in order to
enable de-stressing but these provide, at most, only temporary relief. None of
them offer any permanent solution. Tension is only the negative term for a
positive phenomenon. What is generally called tension is, in fact, a sign of a healthy
life. It is not an evil but a blessing in disguise.
Your mind has unlimited capacity, but this capacity, which is a gift of
nature, is in the form of potential. You need to turn this potential into
actuality. How should you go about doing this? Your potential can
be realized only through being exposed to different kinds of stress or
tension. Stress awakens our mind; stress activates the natural processes which
lead to intellectual development. Stress plays a role in developing our
personality. In volleyball, there are two players — the spiker and the setter.
The spiker has the key role of hitting or spiking in this game but he needs a
setter, for without a setter, no spiker can play his part properly. It is this
process of setting or boosting which is going on in the life of every human
being. When you face stress of any kind, don’t despair. Take it as a challenge.
Take it as an intellectual booster. Stress is a positive sign, a healthy
activity. It unfolds your mental potential. All great men have been faced with
great problems. But these problems only increased their creativity, and became
the source of revealing a fresh dimension to their personality. The English
poet, John Milton, has several major works to his credit. His masterpiece was
‘Paradise Lost’ which he wrote after he had lost his eyesight. Almost all creative
people have had to surmount similar difficulties. When you come face to face
with stress, don’t take it as a negative phenomenon. Look upon it as a
challenge and try to meet it. You have to activate your mind in a positive
direction. Don’t lose your positivity; don’t resort to the language of
complaint.
Stress awakens our mind; stress activates the natural processes
which lead to intellectual development.
When there is stress in your life, face it as a normal phenomenon and
try to continue with your normal routine. Then, very soon, you will find that
your stress has propelled you towards your betterment. And you
will surely find that your post-stress situation is an improvement on
your pre-stress situation. Mahatma Gandhi was once subjected to humiliating
treatment in South Africa. Prior to this, he was an ordinary lawyer, but as a
result of this incident, he went on to become the ‘Father of the Nation’. When
you perceive an opportunity, and you try to grasp it, and for some reason you
fail to achieve your goal; then you might suffer a feeling of tension. But you
should know that there is no end to opportunities in this world. If you fail to
avail of one opportunity, then don’t take it as the end of everything. There
are many other opportunities in life — in fact, the world is full of them. So,
if you fail in the first instance, then try to avail of the second or the third
opportunity, and so on. There is no full stop to opportunities — only commas!
So, instead of allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by tension, adopt the
formula — ’try, try, try again’. This is the formula for de-stressing yourself.
Living in worry or stopping your creativity is not the solution. Instead of
stopping your thinking processes, enhance them and you will soon discover that
the stress you felt was, in fact, acting as an intellectual booster in your
life.
There is no end to opportunities in this world. Keeping Calm In The Face Of Adversity
“It is only if he does not lose his nerve and keeps his mind
open to what is practical that he will be able to overcome the obstacles in his
path”.
