Once I was speaking on the subject of ‘Stress Management’ at Hardoi. The talk was well-received and there was a delightful interaction session at the end of it. The essence of my address was that each one of us is a mixture of positive and negative traits. Our effort should be to increase the positive and the negative will reduce on its own. This is what we call positive attitude or positive thinking. To do so is possible for all of us provided we make an effort. This way the journey of our life would be from darkness to light.
During the interaction, one elderly person rose up and said that he was a cent percent negative person. He wanted to know whether it was possible for him to become positive. For the first time, I had come across a person who considered himself to be cent percent negative. I responded by saying that according to me no living person can be cent percent negative. If so, either he was not alive or he had some element of positivity. He seemed to agree with this statement. Then I gave him two examples: one of a terminally sick person and the second of a nearly dead plant. In both cases, I said, there are chances of survival and no good doctor or gardener will declare them dead as long as there is even a trace of life left in them. They would certainly try to revive them, though they may ultimately fail. Their approach would be to improve the situation bit by bit.
For example, if there is a plant most of the leaves of which have dried up but one or two leaves are still green, it will not be called a dead plant. A good gardener will nurture it with a lot of care and hope and if he does so, there are chances that more new green leaves will grow. The same is true with man also. As long as there is some breath present, there is every chance of recovery. What is required is to have faith in the laws of Nature. The law of Nature is that it does not disappoint us beyond the point of no return. Even the seeming disappointments of life are for our welfare provided we understand this secret or conspiracy of Nature. There is a silver lining in every disappointment. The need is to identify that silver lining and build upon that bit by bit like a good gardener in the case of plant and like a doctor in the case of man. This way, we are our own gardener and our mind is a plant, which has to be nurtured with care.
Certainly there can be no magic in recovery. It has to be a natural process and the fact is that only natural recovery is sustainable. Motivation or positivity, which comes in a shortcut manner, is equally short-lived. What is necessary is to know the principles of our life, to understand them and gradually, let them reflect in our lives. Once on this path, our negativity disappears on its own and we become more and more positive. This is the only way of turning cent percent negative into cent percent positive. However, both the extremes are only an imagination and we must strive to remain as close as possible to cent percent positivity. The elderly gentleman took my counsel soberly and promised to follow.
