All of us face the situation at times when one is snowed under some or other kind of fear while being on the fringe of making some important career decision? Usually we give in to uneasiness arising as result of these fears when we have to make choices or take risks that could seemingly have a large scale effect on our life. During these times our mind too starts showing us all kinds of possibilities where we might even fail or may hinder our progress in a big way if we made this or that decision; isn’t it?
Why and how does this happen? Let us explore!
First and foremost, we need to understand fear that we go through are of different types. For example, the fear of hurting others while taking a particular decision, particularly our loved ones, could hold us back from advancing in a particular direction, which to our mind, may be helping serve our career goals.
Now, this is considered as healthy fear! If practiced in the right proportion, it prevents us from taking any action which might cause pain to others. And since they are our loved ones, we all the more owe it to them. Also, by taking such care, we foster a strong, healthy and harmonious lifelong relationship with them. So, we can say, such fears are warranted.
There are, however, many unhealthy fears too!
At times, even healthy fear, if pushed too far, becomes unhealthy. When without any due reason, we remain burdened all the time with a sense of fear, pessimism, guilt and worry that, “Oh! will my loved ones like it or will they get annoyed, what if this will hurt them, what if I say this and it makes my person unhappy, what if my action will upset that person, what if my decision gets misinterpreted, etc.” There is actually no end to this! It only holds us back from achieving our career goals, but in the process, we cause much more pain and suffering to our loved ones also.
Further, in every respect fear develops out of one’s ego. For example, the fear of failure, of being insulted, of being embarrassed, etc. In these one always remains fearful of meeting situation where in possibly there is a chance of one’s ego getting hurt.
Fear developing out of Ego is any circumstance or situation where in possible one’s ego might get hurt. Thus out of fear you would majorly prefer to remain in your comfort zone pushing away the opportunities at door step which could have otherwise opened up new frontiers in your life. And thus one coolly sacrifices ones career goals and prefers to sit in their comfort zone instead.
There are also fears that are very subtle and hard to identify, but which are very powerful enough to hold us back from getting to our career goals.
So, How do we deal with all of these fears? And how can mental resilience help us overcome our fears?
One who is mentally resilient is able to analyze and evaluate any situation faced in life justly, without any distortion in perception, thereby ensuring that one makes the right decision. Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan offers a simple two-pronged solution in this direction:
1. First get rid of all suspicions.
Param Pujya Dadashri explains, bad things happen only to those who are suspicious that they will happen. In other words, thinking that something will go wrong inevitably attracts such circumstances where things do go wrong. This is the law of karma. So, taking necessary precautions, one must demiss all suspicions from their mind and forge ahead boldly and confidently on the path of progress.
2. Secondly, Realize ‘Who am I?’
Param pujya Dadashri reveals that we are really a Pure Soul, which by its inherent nature is omnipotent – the all-powerful! By knowing this real Self and the nature of the Self, helps us remain undaunted in any situation. All other identities that we relate ourselves with, such as our name, our personality, our impression, our body, etc. are temporary, and so are the worldly circumstances. The real Self (the Pure Soul) cannot ever be affected by these circumstances, which are purely relative.
But we get to experience this power of the Self only when we attain Self-Realization. And through Akram Vignan, the stepless path to Self-Realization, we can attain this fairly easily with the divine grace of the Living Gnani, the Enlightened One!!! Once we know really ‘who am I?’ we attain freedom from fear! Identifying with the Pure Soul cuts down the influence of the ego and helps maintain equanimity in every situation. It is this sense of equanimity, along with complete freedom from fear and suspicion that naturally builds up mental resilience in our daily interactions.
Thus, in tough times, even the best of us can be assaulted with fear. But by practicing the two-pronged approach suggested by Param Pujya Dadashri, we can face the situation with the right understanding and free our minds from all unhealthy fear.
We can also pray to the Pure Soul residing within, to grant us strength to become free from fear and suspicion, and guide us towards making the right decision. Handing over our worries to our eternal Self helps us overcome our fears, and we can, with a balanced mind, face any situation, whether favorable or untoward, that comes our way then, on the path to attain the desired career goals!