For many of us, life is a constant rise and fall of ‘happiness’. Some days everything is going exceptionally well and others, not so much. If you take a look around, this world is comprised of balance. Both good and ‘evil’ are prevalent just about everywhere—one cannot exist without the other. What happens when a lion attacks an antelope? The lion becomes happy because his family will get a meal for the day, and the antelope will be distraught because he is about to die.
This process of giving and taking is occurring simultaneously with each and every one of us, just about everywhere. Take the stock market for instance; there is only a limited amount of money, so when your stocks shoot up and you start doubling or tripling in profit, just know that there are many out there who are closing in on bankruptcy because of this. Today we may double in profit but tomorrow we may decline in order for someone else to double. There is a wise saying:
“Some days you’re the pigeon, some days you’re the statue.”
Whenever confronted with bad news (when you’re the statue), reminding yourself that balance is required is essential. It takes practice and one must learn to develop the habit of becoming unselfish, but it can be done. You must remember that you are experiencing problems at the present moment, but someone else is not. If you get a raise at your job—that is wonderful, but someone below you most likely got laid off in order to compensate for your higher pay. If you get laid off, someone else who needed a job much, much more probably got hired.
If you were to ask me what I think the most devastating of all ‘bad news’ could be, I would say it’s probably when you lose a loved one. But one must always keep in mind that life and death are two sides to the same coin. They are just different frequencies of the same consciousness. They belong to the process of giving and taking as well—when someone’s body expires and they leave the earth, it makes room for someone new to come and work out their karma. When a flower shrivels away, it leaves seeds to begin the cycle once more. One must learn to develop this universal and unselfish way of thought if they wish to handle bad news well.
Evenness of mind is also of utmost importance. Practice keeping your mind it’s natural, relaxed state. Not overflowing with excitement or rather gloomy with despair. Remain in the calm, peaceful state at all times and when something comes to throw you out of it, stand your ground with all of your might. Learn to look at everything without judgment, without categorization. Instead, look at everything with the mindset that such a thing must occur in order for the world to go on. I remember watching the movie Kung Fu Panda where the wise old turtle told his panicking disciple who came to him with bad news,
“There is no good or bad news. There is just news.”
Learning how to handle bad news is easily one of those things that none of us are ever taught to do, instead we are tossed into the battlefield of life and must fend for ourselves with no practical knowledge. Luckily for us, many saints and sages have come on earth to teach these very basic fundamentals through development of the mind.
Other articles you will find interesting:
How Are We All One
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