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Handling problems

Porus P. Munshi

Sometimes monumental problems come from out of the blue and hit you between the eyes -- problems you've never faced before and never imagined you would. They could be problems at work, a personal crisis or a tragedy. Nothing in your exper ience or cognitive map prepares you or even gives you a clue as to how you should cope. At such times we lose courage, feel alone, depressed, and often don't know where to even begin -- the problem seems so monumental.

But take the example of a little four-year-old girl who contracted double pneumonia, scarlet fever and polio that left her paralysed. Doctors said she'd never walk again.

Every day her mother drove her 72 km for therapy. Every night her family of 10 brothers and sisters took turns at massaging her legs. It took five years but she did start walking at the age of 9. By the time she was 11, she began playing basketball with her brothers. And finally in the 1960 Rome Olympics, this little girl, Wilma Rudolph, who was supposed to never walk again, won gold medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres and in the 4x100 metres relay.

How did this family and this little girl cope so well with a monumental problem? It could only have been through a Zen-like acceptance of the problem -- it's there and it won't go away. They gave themselves time and actively worked to solve the problem w ithout setting any time-frame. And then focusing on the means, through unceasing effort like water flowing over a rock wearing it down, they wore the problem down.

The first step is to accept the problem and work with it. Take it into your life because it's now a part of you and your existence. Denying it will do no good. Once you've accepted it, shift focus from the problem and its immensity to what you have to do today to cope with it. And having done today's share, get on with the rest of your life. Do your other work as well as enjoying the things that come to you.

The Buddha told a parable in a sutra: ``A man travelling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him fro m above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away at the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near h im. Grasping the vine with hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted.'' That man sure had problems and Buddha was making a point here that He didn't see fit to elaborate. Make of it what you will.