Face your troubles. You will find growth in it. Count your blessings. You will find happiness in it. The blessing is that we have enough for our needs. The trouble is that we do not have enough for our greed. Stop asking, “Why me god?” for all your troubles and start asking, “Why me god?” for all your blessings.
There are millions of species and we could have been born as any one of those life forms. What a blessing it is to be born as a human being? We have shelter to sleep under, people to cry for and cry with, enough to eat, plenty to wear, education to build our life on, we speak, read and write in at least two languages, abundance of technology to make our living comfortable, limitless avenues of entertainment… and the list is endless. Oh, what a blessing life is?
I am not naïve to proclaim that you do not have your share of troubles. There is no such trouble-free life! However, when you view a small piece of wood by holding it away from you, it is just a piece of wood. Hold it too close to your eyes and it will even cover the sun from your vision. Troubles, when viewed in the context and background of your blessings, are mere challenges to be faced and to be overcome. But, when troubles are viewed in isolation, they seem insurmountable.
Aspire for the sneakers, but be grateful for the legs. Aspire for the diamond ring, but be grateful for the fingers. Aspire for the waterbed, but be grateful for your sleep. Aspire for the palatial bungalow, but be grateful to be part of a home that is not build by bricks, but by love. Aspire for enlightenment, but be grateful that you are a seeker.
A boy from the home for abandoned children once said, “Tell your people who complain that their parents shout at them that they at least have parents to shout at. We don’t have that. A day will come in their life when their parents will not more be there to shout at them and then they will realise how stupid they were in counting a blessing as a trouble in life.”
It seems, when the shopkeeper asked a small boy to take as much chocolates as he wants with both his hands, the boy refused stating, “Uncle, if I take with my own hands, only little will come. You give with your own hands and I will have much more that way.” If we honestly look into our lives, the best of everything that we have has been given to us even without we having to ask for it. This very life, as a human being, is a blessing bestowed upon us without we having to ask for it. It seems there is a force that understands what is good for us, much more than we understand it ourselves.
When I asked god for strength
He gave me difficult situations to face.
When I asked god for brain and brawn
He gave me puzzles in life to solve.
When I asked for god for happiness
He showed me how to work hard.
When I asked god for favours
He showed me opportunities to work hard.
When I asked for god for peace
He showed me how to help others.
God gave me nothing I wanted.
He gave me everything I needed.
-- Swamy Vivekananda.
Source: Excerpt from Alma Mater values of “Frozen Thoughts magazine May 2009”.
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