Skip to main content

OVERCOMING OUR WEAKNESSES

We all have areas in life that we need to work on. These are our weak points in life. Many times we unintentionally believe that our strong points will substitute for the weak ones. But it doesn't work that way. As the saying goes - A chain is as strong as it's weakest link. We need to face our weaknesses, work on it, not run away from it.

We don't want to face our faults because we feel it will require a lot of hard work to rectify them. And sometimes we summon all our courage and start to work on them by changing our behavior but we seem to keep failing and lapsing back to our old habits. We finally resign to thinking "I have tried, it doesn't work, this is the way I am." If we want to alter our behavior for good then we need to alter the attitude behind the behavior. What years of struggle and effort can't do, can be done by a small flip in attitude.


 
One such attitude that is responsible for us holding on to our weaknesses is called the 'Chalta hai' attitude. It can also be called 'It's OK' attitude, 'The casual' attitude or 'It's not important' attitude. If something is not the way it should be, probably deep within we feel 'It's not important', 'It's OK to be the way I am'.

Let's see how this casual attitude plays out in different aspects of our life.

For example, if someone is always unclean it's mostly because he or she feels 'It's OK' to be unclean, live in a dirty place. If someone is disrespectful and speaks harshly it's because they feel 'It's OK' to be disrespectful, 'That's the way I am.' Even a simple thing like being unpunctual, it stems from this attitude that says 'It's OK' to be late, after all no one comes on time. Even in spiritual life, if someone is not doing his spiritual practice nicely it's because he or she feels 'Chalta hai', 'It doesn't make a big difference'.

We can practically trace this attitude to almost any area in our life that is not up-to the mark. The best part is once we flip this attitude to 'It's not OK' to be the way I am, 'This is very important for me', then without much effort we will see that we have improved in our weak areas of life. It's a simple technique but a powerful one. It works miraculously. We just need to give it a try to experience it's results.

We should develop a healthy non-tolerance for a life of compromise. A life of discipline is much more rewarding and satisfying than a life of compromise. In conclusion, when we feel uncomfortable about our weaknesses, when we feel 'It's not OK' to live like this, a life of compromise - then we pave way for permanent change.

- Achyut Gopal Das

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GIVING UP PETTINESS to EXPERIENCE PRETTINESS

"The process of Krishna consciousness will empower us when we empower it." The other day as I was taking a bath, the plastic bucket I was using, slipped and cracked. A piece from the rim of the bucket broke off and cut my finger. As I was waiting for the bucket to refill with water, I noticed that even after a long time the bucket wasn't filling up. It's at that time, I noticed a "not so apparent" crack at the bottom of the bucket which was causing all the water to leak out. I drew a lesson from this incident which is applicable to my spiritual life. SEALING THE LEAKS The process of spiritual life or Krishna consciousness which includes the nine fold limbs beginning with Shravanam (hearing) and Kirtanam (chanting) is like filling the container - the vessel of our hearts. For the vessel of our hearts to fill up, it should be leak free. If the container is faulty and contains many holes, the best of content, in the best of quantity will not help it fill. Ana...

FROM THIS OCEAN TO THAT

A few days ago, there was our annual Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath in Panjim, the capital city of Goa. Lord Jagannath rode majestically in His majestic chariot in the most majestic street of Goa. It was a beautiful procession with devotees chanting and dancing enthusiastically for the pleasure of the Lord. Towards the end of the procession, it started to rain very heavily. Most devotees were still continuing to chant and dance undettered by the heavy down pour. But, I chose to shelter myself under the umbrella of one of my devotee friends. As we were standing by a tree and waiting for the rains to subside, I noticed the waters of the adjacent Mandovi river. It appeared very turbulent and agitated. It was a little fearful to look at. I was thinking, "If waters of a small river can be so agitating and fearful, how much more fearful and scary it will be to be in between the ocean with rain and storm in full swing." Even if you are in a huge ship still, in front of the massive ...

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIRE MANAGEMENT

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of, so they can see that it’s not the answer.” ― Jim Carrey, American - Canadian actor Long back, I heard this analogy to explain the nature of the unlimited desires in our hearts. It is explained in this analogy that, even if all the water bodies in earth are made into ink to fill a pen whose nib is as small as an atom and the sky is made into paper to write on; the ink will get exhausted, the nib will break and the paper will run-out but our list of desires will not get over - we will still have more left. Over these years of spiritual practices, I have realized the truth behind this analogy. I have become more aware of the dynamics of desires and it's working in life. Even though our hearts are filled with unlimited desires, luckily just a few jump into awareness every now and then, just like a few fish jump out of the surface of the ocean every now and then even though the ocean is filled with u...