Daily life is filled with a steady stream of problems to be solved, obstacles to be overcome, and conflicts to be resolved. These issues may be as insignificant as traffic-related nuisances or as significant as finding a job or the right spouse.
You do your best to cope with these challenges, with varying degrees of success. Intelligence, determination, and judgment are sufficient resources for challenges that are man-made and even then, you can feel overwhelmed by the accumulation of minor negative events. Frantic recreational activities that are supposed to relieve your stress may only compound the problems. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, you need to retreat to your sanctuary, meditate on God, and feel safe and calm before you are able to relaunch into the world. God is your querencia-the place in the bullring to which a bull can safely retreat from the matadors-where you can pause and gather strength before returning to the fight. You must pause, however briefly, to regain the strength needed to battle the stresses of daily living.
Issues in life that aren't man-made, such as illness or natural disasters, are beyond the province of your intervention. Attempting to find solutions to such problems will generate a sense of impotence and helplessness and often will lead you to incorrect conclusions. Worrying depletes your inner resources and has no redeeming quality. It won't even motivate you. Even retreating into sanctuary and refueling yourself will not bring the solution that you seek relentlessly. This is when you turn the problem over to God and find strength in yielding. You need to give up the equation of "a problem, divided by recognition of it = a solution," and let yourself simply experience your dilemma, and have faith that God is not in a dilemma.
Make a habit of going to the sanctuary of God when you don't need His help. Such devotional practice helps you find sanctuary quickly when you really need it. In times of easy sailing, you may feel that you don't need anyone's help-including God's. But when you hit a tempest, you'll realize how much you need God's guidance. Letting God take the helm is not passive resignation. You are actively bringing your mind to intertwine with the Divine Power. Don't go back and forth to God according to your needs. Stay with God. Let Him envelop your mind in all times, good or bad.
Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thedailyshrink
T. Byram Karasu, M.D. is the author of The Spirit of Happiness
