How to deal with trauma
There has been an alarming increase in the number of people, especially war veterans, suffering from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The cause of PTSD is [...]
Failing to learn from our failures?
Suppose we try to do something important and make a mistake that leads to our failure. But that failure, no matter how severe, won’t ruin [...]
How to face overwhelming problems
When we face a huge problem, we may feel overwhelmed: “How can I ever tackle this?” What makes a problem seem overwhelming? Frequently, our perception [...]
Spitting at destiny? Bad idea
Suppose we are walking peacefully on a road and are suddenly hit by a hailstone. Suppose we get angry at the sky and decide to [...]
Why we need to transform pain
Suppose we catch an infection. If we aren’t careful, we will transmit it to others. While we are usually aware that physical infection is transmissible, [...]
How dejection can inspire a spiritual connection
The Bhagavad-gita’s first chapter is often titled as arjuna-vishada-yoga, which means the spiritual connection (yoga) that was stimulated by Arjuna’s dejection (arjuna-vishada). How can dejection [...]
Three ways remembering Krishna empowers us to face problems
Our life is often filled with many problems, and so is our world. When we have so many problems to tackle, we may wonder, “What [...]
How purpose makes pain bearable
Suppose a person dear to us is sick and in great pain. Suppose further the only available doctor is in a noisy, filthy, smelly place [...]
When God doesn’t seem to help us …
Suppose we pray to God for help amid difficulty but the difficulty remains. Does that mean God doesn’t care? God does care. However, any care [...]
What does growing up mean?
If someone is whiny, a candid well-wisher may exhort them: “Grow up.” What does it mean? It refers not to physical growth but to emotional [...]
The first application of spiritual knowledge
Suppose a medically well-informed person gets a disease with scary symptoms. If they know that those symptoms are an inevitable and non-lethal part of the [...]
When things don’t make sense …
Suppose in a forest, a huge fire suddenly breaks out for no apparent reason. Most people will flee in panic. When trained fire-fighters arrive at [...]
Are we making things worse than they need to be?
Suppose we find ourselves in a place with fading light. Naturally, we will open our eyes wider to find our way. If instead we close [...]
Winning, whining, wining — or worshiping?
Suppose we strive to do something challenging. If we win, our mind becomes jubilant; if we don't, it often goes into a zone of negativity, [...]
We can’t always move on from grief; we need to sometimes move on with grief
02.18 We can’t always move on from grief; we need to sometimes move on with grief When we lose a loved one, grief can overwhelm [...]
There is a purpose for everything we experience, even the things we don’t want to experience
Suppose we are forced to go through certain experiences that we just didn’t want to go through. When such things happen, it’s natural to feel [...]
The size of our problems is inversely proportional to the size of our purpose
Suppose a truck is moving rapidly on a road on which a tree has fallen. If the truck is large and has high momentum, it [...]
We can’t change our past, but we can change how we see and explain our past
We often have things in our past that we resent. If terrible things have happened to us, we may feel that we are so damaged [...]
Passing blame is easy but disempowering, accepting responsibility is tough but empowering
Whenever things go wrong, our mind naturally looks for a scapegoat. We want to blame others because it seems to be an easy escape-way: “If [...]
Life becomes meaningless not when we tire of life’s problems, but when we tire of life’s pleasures Gita 03.16
When we face many problems repeatedly, we may become disheartened. And such discouragement becomes aggravated when problems thwart us in something extremely important. We may [...]
Resilience comes when we accept what is unchangeable, but don’t accept that everything is unchangeable
What makes some people resilient and some people weak? It’s primarily their vision when things go wrong. Life is tough. Everyone faces adversities. At such [...]