On a visit to the USA I met an Asian immigrant, let's call him SA. He was a man with a difference always happy. His colleagues also affirm that he is quite different from other people. One day I asked him how he was such a stress-free person, while others were living in stress. He smiled and said: "God Almighty made me and threw the mould away." I was lucky to be invited by SA to stay with him for few days. My stay with him helped me discover the formula for his happy, stress-free life.
Once, a relative came to him in an angry mood & said, "Mr. So-and-So is trying to distort your image. He is engaged in negative propaganda against you." The visitor continued in this way, but SA listened to him dispassionately. Finally the man said in annoyance, "I am telling you something serious, and you are quiet." SA said in an unruffled way: "Yeh unka problem hai, mera nahin." -- It is his problem, and not mine!
The next day we had planned a sight-seeing trip to a number of places, & whole program drawn up meticulously. But for some reason at the eleventh hour, I said, "I'm not in a mood to go out. Let's stay at home." SA replied very calmly: "Chalo, yeh bhi theek hai" -- No problem, this is also okay.
During my stay with SA, I discovered these two formulas which everyone can adapt to achieve a stress-free life and live in happiness.
The first principle, "It is his problem, not mine" can described as the art of problem management. In life there are always problems, and the best formula is to try to manage them rather than try to eliminate them. One has to learn the art of problem management, to have no stress or tension.
The second principle, "No problem, this is also okay", can be described as: If you don't get the first good (the ideal), be content with the second good. It is a fact that in every situation there is always something that can be called the "second good". All that is required is to accept the second good and forget the first good.
All problems begin in the mind, and it is also in the mind where problems can be solved. So it is like changing your intellectual gear. If you are able to do that, then you have found the super-formula for de-stressing. You are more precious than everything else. So, save yourself. If in any situation, you have lost something, even then you have something, and that is yourself. So forget what is lost and take that which still exists. This is the best formula for attaining a happy life.
Life is the art of management. You cannot change the world, but you can manage yourself in order to find a happy place for yourself in the world. This is the only workable formula for happiness in this world
