When Health Becomes Last Remaining Problem

“Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get,” Forrest Gump says in a movie, as he narrates the story of his life. The movie went on to win several Oscars, and these iconic lines have often been quoted by those seeking to understand life.

Life is, indeed, like a box of chocolates. There are some milk chocolates and some bitter dark chocolates. We think we can make our bitter chocolate sweeter — by resolving all our problems — and enjoy richness of life. And so, we set out like knights in shining armour, battling our problems. We hustle, we overwork, we chase impossible deadlines; we are ever-present to our problems because we think problem-solving is the only way to be.We see life as a room full of chaos and clutter, and we think that if we somehow neatly arrange all scattered materials and file things into smart compartments, then magically all our problems will disappear. However, life seldom works that way.In trying to resolve all our problems, we run a never-ending race, like a hamster on a wheel. We think that if we get past the finish line, we will win and our problems will be defeated.

We push harder, run faster than our legs can carry us, our lungs can support, and our hearts can sustain. Consequently, we collapse in the middle of a racetrack because we are overworked, chasing dreams that vanish like morning mist.Suddenly, only problem left is optimal functioning of our bodies, which we forgot amid our ambition to resolve all issues. We ignored signs our body was sending us while we were aiming for the finish line.When we are in a race, our mind overpowers our body, for it wants things for itself — pride, family name, ambition, promotion, and expansion. The body relents and lets mind dominate, for it knows that it will have the last laugh. Finally, when the body is ready to drop the baton — soul readying to exchange old body for a new one — that’s when mind registers that it has overexerted for far too long and ignored subtle signs — creaking of knees, heart pressing the panic button, and giddiness.Our minds are so focused on the final lap of a relay race, where victory lies, that we forget that our bodies, ignored for too long, will withdraw. When our body decides to let go of a race, our ambitions take a backseat, our unmet expectations disappear, and our will to problem-solve plunges. Our body’s health becomes our major concern. It becomes the only crisis worth facing. For without good health, nothing can be achieved, no race can be won, no problem can be resolved.

Buddhist nun Pema Chodron, reminds us, “A thoroughly good relationship with ourselves results in being still, which doesn't mean we don't run and jump and dance about. It means there's no compulsiveness. We don't overwork, overeat, oversmoke, or overseduce. In short, we begin to stop causing harm.”And to stop ourselves from causing harm, we must know when to expand and when to contract, when to work and when to rest, when to chase dreams and when to be content — just as Rumi says, “Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes. If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed. Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds' wings.

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