Masters of Health Magazine February 2018 | Page 26

Here are a couple of suggested practices for initiating the process of greater emotional maturing.

Accept Change

Life, both within and without, means simply change; it is essential to recognize the inherent tendency of life to morph into the new forms, and the transitory nature of everything. However, we may be able to understand that change is inherent in life but still have difficulties accepting it emotionally. Start by accepting whatever happens to you as if you had chosen it to happen that way. Learn to respond and not react. Acceptance does not mean the absence of the appropriate action.

The true answer to accepting change is focus on developing your spiritual nature. Identify your connection with the Supreme Reality, that which pervades the whole creation and which is the only constant thing behind all changes. The practice of meditation and other spiritual techniques are the ways to reassert your connection.

Accepting changes leads us to the next practice:

Develop objectivity; cultivate non-attachment

In reality we own nothing. It is only due to our ignorance that this sense of ‘mine’ and ownership arises in our life. But contrary to what people believe, non-attachment does not mean not having. It simply means taking care of something and embracing change inherent in all things; letting go of needing to control it and letting it change when the time for it to change comes.

In the process of evaluating our own experiences we need to be objective, to create some distance from the very emotions and thoughts with which we identify. Train yourself to create a more positive perspective with every challenge that presents itself.

We are normally quite detached when someone else has a problem. But it is a totally different case when the same problem manifest in our life. We seem to remain in the state of non-attachment as long as we are not affected. Thus all of us are mature in relationship to some things but not all. Therefore, let us learn the art of non-attachment.

Yesterday is but a dream. Tomorrow is but a vision. Live well every day as if it is the last. Swami Sivananda