The river

It is normal for us as human beings to respond to situations with emotions. When we get slapped in the face, for instance, the urge to return the slap arises almost instantly. Our logical reasoning skills plummet and our rational mind becomes fuzzy. When we act on impulse, a domino ensues where one thing leads to another and strains relationships, our health deteriorates or we lose our mind. This sort of response is highly likely to occur if we live life in a past-paced environment where we do not have time to quieten our mind and think to ourselves. We disregard the fact that we are ultimately human beings and not robots who do not need a break to cleanse ourselves from within. It is then that these negative emotions we exude on a daily basis form an overall negative thinking progress and ultimately a foul attitude towards life and others. We fail to realise that it is in fact ourselves who create this negative nature through repetitive negative thinking.

If we try to slow down our pace of life and take out some time for internalization, this situation can improve significantly. Slowing down means our reaction time gets lengthened and we react on impulse much less. Slowly but surely, the mind starts to take in the situation before us and thinks before we act or speak. It is a gradual process that comes from training the mind through meditation or simply giving some time to ourselves to process information. As this thought process sets in, we start to accept any given situation and think of a logical, practical solution. This is synonymous to two contestants in a boxing, sumo-wrestling or judo competition - they shake hands or bow to each other before engaging in combat. Similarly, if we 'shake hands' with our problems or a situation causing distress, we would be able to gauge it better and we would better know how to handle it as well. That is, without causing any explosion. An explosion would not only hurt the opposite party but us as well; something which we tend to overlook.

Ultimately, we need to remember that life is like a river. Sometimes it flows slowly, sometimes it flows faster; sometimes it dries up while at other times it overflows. Trying to change any given situation and using the 5 W's and 1 H to analyse it is like attempting to dam the river and control it. If we do this, there would be a pressure build-up on the other side, which would cause our health to deteriorate from stress or even create tensions in relationships. 

On the other hand, if we flow with the river, that would lead to us compromising on ourselves. For instance, if someone slaps us, we end up slapping them back. That would be like flowing with the river and thinking that that is the accepted mode of conduct. Similarly, if one thinks that their emotions are valid in a certain situation and stay attached to negative emotions such as hurt or distress, that would be like flowing with the river as well (i.e. letting the situation control you).

The best solution would be to plant our feet firmly in the same position while letting the situation wash past us. In this process, we come into contact with the situation, acknowledge it, accept it and think of a solution so that we can overcome it. In this scenario, we neither try to change the situation nor let it control us.

We stay rooted to the soil and emerge as a lotus from the river.

The Treasures

I am blessed to have people in my life who have never weighed my love, nor questioned my intentions. My friends, my family and now my husband - these people make me complete and enhance the person that I am. They reminded me throughout everything, that I should stop punishing myself for things I cannot change. They reminded me that I deserve to be loved and picked me up when I had fallen. They made me realize that I am strong and brave and have been all along. When I get lost, they act as direction signs to get me back to who I am. This is all because God made it so - He makes sure we go along the right path and sends signals to show that.

If we look long and hard enough, we will come to realize that the answers we look for, are inside us and either loved ones, our own efforts to look inside ourselves or the course of time will bring them out.

I recently read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It is a remarkable tale of a young shepherd who has a recurring dream about buried treasures near the Egyptian pyramids. In pursuit of these treasures, he sets off and meets several people along the way who 'guide' him towards the pyramids. Each time, he is faced with stages where he needs to make decisions - whether to sell his sheep, whether to split the treasure, whether to give up and return and so forth. The thoughts are never-ending, but he follows his heart nonetheless. He even sells his beloved sheep. Eventually he reaches the destination, only to discover that his treasures are hidden where he first started off.

This tale spins a truthful picture of how life is in reality. We are sent down to earth with the answers already embedded in each of us and slowly but surely the problems we need to face unravel. But it is a necessary journey - we need to face these and we need to make difficult decisions and take risks along the way to gain that ultimate realization. There is no easy way out. Along the way, one will be judged, ridiculed, misunderstood or slammed down, but those are just tests. We need to focus on our ultimate goal and with a clean conscience and we will reach it as long as we follow our heart (or gut). The journey is to teach us lessons and with each step we will only get closer to God, so that we realize that the treasure was with us all along.

God will see to it and God will catch us when we fall,

and then sudden realization will strike, that we had the answers after all.