O for…Overcoming Obstacles

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal– Henry Ford

While no one expected life to be a cake walk, each time we encounter something  unusually difficult to deal with, we cower and stress under the looming darkness of an obstacle. And of course they come at us in all  forms..

Personal obstacles are related to our personal state-of-mind like debilitating emotions, crippling fears and limiting beliefs. My own struggles have included lack of discipline and too much complaining. But the good part is, by consciously choosing to take control; we get back in the driver seat

Social obstacles are related to people all around us who do not cooperate, sabotage, or are simply incompetent. For these situations, while trying to be a better judge of people sounds right, forgiveness and not expecting other to run to your aide has proved a more sane option for me

Environmental obstacles are often unexpected conditions and circumstances that you have  little control over. Most commonly called Murphy’s Law into your life, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong at the worst possible time, all of the time when you least expect it. So what can we do?  Just a resolve to keep moving forward without getting bogged down by the possible implications of these issues

In all three situations, we have look at the bigger picture and grow to take charge of the situation.

Again the story teller in me is reminded of  a beautiful example given by Sudha Murthy in a story titled Gowramma’s letter in the book “How I taught my Grandmother to read”

Once a young student asks her in a seminar, “How do you solve big problems in the face of difficulty?” In retort,  Sudha Murthy narrates an age old story from Ramayana, where Hanuman when faced with the problem of  identifying  the life giving Sanjeevani  on a mountain full of plants, grows to an enormous size and carries the whole mountain to bring the medicine in time to save Laxman’s life.

As the girl impatiently asks her how that this answer her question, she gently explains the symbology. When faced with difficulties we need to grow bigger than the problem, then we can easily find a solution. On the other hand , if we let the problem overwhelm us, it will loom over us like a mountain and crush us!”