Relieve the mind of stress

This story clearly shows how a calm mind can think clearly and find solutions to problems easily. There are many ways to relieve tension. We can enjoy the beauty of nature, appreciate music, and take part in games and activities that relax the mind.

Spending time with friends and small children can also help to reduce tension. Slow and regulated breathing, yoga postures like the savasana (corpse pose), and meditation are especially beneficial in alleviating tension and becoming relaxed.

But more important than all of these is adopting a healthy approach to life. We must cultivate an awareness that will help us maintain an inner balance at all times instead of soaring in victory or sinking in failure. If we do so, our mind will become calm and peaceful, and we can become more efficient in action.

Life should be like a picnic outing. If we see a beautiful site, a pretty house or a flower on the way, we look at it and enjoy it. We look at all the sites but we do not linger there; we simply move on. When it’s time to return, no matter how beautiful the things around us are, we leave them behind and return home, because reaching home is more important than anything.

In the same way, in whatever style we may live in this world, we shouldn’t forget our real home to which we must return—we shouldn’t forget our goal. No matter how many beautiful sites we see on our way through life, there is only one place which we can call our own, and where we can rest—and that is our original abode, our true Self.

Mata Amritanandamayi

The writer is a world-renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian