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.
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
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
Post a Comment