Hey guyz this is an article dat was published in today's DNA - Mumbai Edition..Jst go thru it...worth reading...
Mr and Mrs Gopalan are anxious parents, often assuming the worst in any situation. Recently when their two-year-old son got fever, they were petrified. In spite of their doctor's assurances that it was just a viral fever, they took four extra opinions, subjected the child to a host of tests and spent sleepless nights surfing the web for information.
After five days, the child was fine, but had become extremely scared of doctors and injections, and would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. The parents themselves were highly stressed out and had to be treated for acidity and constant headaches.
What if? The commonest question that we ask ourselves. What if I had done this? What if I had not done that? What if so and so had not taken the flight or train that crashed? What if I had got a few more marks in the examination? What if I had won the lottery? What if I had taken that job offer?
Human beings are experts at retrospection and analysis, but very few can plan and think prospectively. As most of us are driven by hindsight; we keep asking ourselves the inevitable question — what if?
If this remained just a question in our minds for a short while, it would still be all right. But the problem arises when we don't get over this 'what if' situation. We know that the past cannot be changed, but we still agonise about it.
When a friend departs, we always blame someone or something else for this. It is natural to do so, but at some point, you must realise that eventually this line of thinking serves no purpose. Instead it tends to make us distracted, guilty and stressed out.
It is a good practice to remember that we are here not out of our own free will, but by the will of someone we know as God. What fate has in store for us is a mystery. The earlier we accept the past and go ahead with our lives, the better.
No amount of asking ourselves 'what if' is ever going to change what has happened. It only spoils our present and our future. It is also a sure-shot way to acquire stress related disorders such as hypertension and acidity.
Try and let go of the past, not only because it is a futile exercise, but because it is extremely counterproductive to our existence.
As a wise man once said, "One can spoil an excellent present, by constantly regretting the past which is over, or by worrying about the future, which is yet to come."
Mr and Mrs Gopalan are anxious parents, often assuming the worst in any situation. Recently when their two-year-old son got fever, they were petrified. In spite of their doctor's assurances that it was just a viral fever, they took four extra opinions, subjected the child to a host of tests and spent sleepless nights surfing the web for information.
After five days, the child was fine, but had become extremely scared of doctors and injections, and would wake up screaming in the middle of the night. The parents themselves were highly stressed out and had to be treated for acidity and constant headaches.
What if? The commonest question that we ask ourselves. What if I had done this? What if I had not done that? What if so and so had not taken the flight or train that crashed? What if I had got a few more marks in the examination? What if I had won the lottery? What if I had taken that job offer?
Human beings are experts at retrospection and analysis, but very few can plan and think prospectively. As most of us are driven by hindsight; we keep asking ourselves the inevitable question — what if?
If this remained just a question in our minds for a short while, it would still be all right. But the problem arises when we don't get over this 'what if' situation. We know that the past cannot be changed, but we still agonise about it.
When a friend departs, we always blame someone or something else for this. It is natural to do so, but at some point, you must realise that eventually this line of thinking serves no purpose. Instead it tends to make us distracted, guilty and stressed out.
It is a good practice to remember that we are here not out of our own free will, but by the will of someone we know as God. What fate has in store for us is a mystery. The earlier we accept the past and go ahead with our lives, the better.
No amount of asking ourselves 'what if' is ever going to change what has happened. It only spoils our present and our future. It is also a sure-shot way to acquire stress related disorders such as hypertension and acidity.
Try and let go of the past, not only because it is a futile exercise, but because it is extremely counterproductive to our existence.
As a wise man once said, "One can spoil an excellent present, by constantly regretting the past which is over, or by worrying about the future, which is yet to come."