How to Overcome Adversities?
The road to progress and prosperity goes through the asperity of the stony path of obstructions. Anyone afraid of obstacles in life must not aspire to achieve any significant progress. The word progress solely entails elevation towards a higher stage, which requires more effort to grow than working on the same horizon. Deterioration in man's status does not require any specific actions, and it takes fast to condescend. A person who is given the task of moving a specific distance in an upward direction will need more time than the person who moves the same distance in the downward direction. Moreover, the man going downward will do it effortlessly while the one going upward will perspire profusely. The path to progress is always difficult. Had it not been so, every person, whether deserving or not, would find it easy to accomplish outstanding progress.
Man: Divine and Animal
Man is god-like and an animal as well. The primary difference between the two is only that man is a progressive entity and has a passion for amelioration, while animals live their life in a primitive state from beginning to the end. Animals lack the intuitive perception of progress. Till death, they remain in the same state of life acquired from birth. They lack the rational intellect to perceive the obstructions and maneuvering skills against them. They can presume imminent dangers only with the stimulation of their apprehensive instinct.
In contrast, it is man's distinctive quality to execute any task with the decisive skill of intellect. One who executes his work under the influence of intense emotions, provocations, and innate patterns of behavior should be termed as a humanoid animal.
Two Types of Adversity
Adverse situations can impede the path of any aspiring person heading towards his goal. These situations can either be man-made or the wrath of destiny:
- Man-made adversities — hostility, swindling, betrayal paved in somebody's way by another who has hostile behavior of rivalry, envy, or malice.
- Destiny's wrath — sudden mental or physical disorders and accidents.
Such obstacles can disturb the life of any person anytime. Everyone, therefore, should always be ready to face them. Critical moments in life can appear in many ways. Their premonition is not always possible; neither can they be staved off. Therefore, it is preferable to work out a safe defensive mechanism that can protect a person in the event of any critical situation, and that versatile defence can only be man's own attitude.
The Power of Attitude
It is man's attitude that makes him look at a friend as an enemy and an enemy as a friend. Sometimes man loses his courage in typical situations, and sometimes, he takes on severe crises as easy ones. All conflicts of goodness-wickedness, enmity-friendship, wealth-poverty, problematic or easy circumstances, and misfortune-fortune are the reflections of man's own attitude; otherwise, they do not have any existence of their own. If a man develops the attribute of having a stable mind in all situations, all these paradoxes will involuntarily dissipate from his life.
All the adversities visible in life are the outcome of our own standpoint. Our negative thoughts make us feel wickedness everywhere, and a positive attitude makes the world favorable for us. If we switch over to a friendly attitude towards our opponents, it will help us dissipate repugnance against them and will grow perennial ecstatic happiness within our hearts.
Turning Problems into Angels
When we look at problems as our opponents and choose an antagonist attitude against them, we begin to develop arrogance and impatience on their appearance, promoting psychological disorders within us, and we find ourselves incapable of finding their solution. Our failure to sort out the answer to those problems makes them more complex, and they begin to impede our path.
On the other hand, if we take problems as amiable and accept them as an angel wholly committed to making us vigilantly attentive and mentally more responsive, we can use them to present favorable circumstances to us.
Equanimity: The Key
A stable mental state is psychologically most conducive to man. Such a state of mind is accessible only when a man perceives every occurrence in his life as the will of Almighty. Propitious and unpropitious situations appear in life by cyclic rotations, and both play an essential role in driving away crises from life. Those who have a persistent desire for growth should not always embrace only conduciveness and adopt utter hostility against adversities.
A person expecting only favorable situations in life is bound to succumb to the harshness of obstacles and disappointment as well. Those who are joyous in favorable conditions and lament in crisis swing indecisively between the two in a confused state of mind — neither can they proceed ahead, nor can they achieve anything specific in life. Therefore, one should consistently continue to discharge the duties in all the situations, presuming Almighty's deliberate intention in every occurrence in the world.
Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. — Francis of Assisi
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. — Abraham Lincoln
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body. — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. — Anne Bradstreet