My best strategy to deal with the issues that come into my life is to write them down. Anytime I have problems or challenges, my go-to place is my journal. It never lets me down and is always there for me, patiently hearing about all my struggles in devotional service, challenges with people, and all the good things that happen to me.
Writing things down and then looking at them from another angle is a powerful technique that helped me to change many of my bad habits and learn from past mistakes.
Journalism became a fantastic tool for me to face challenges and learn from them.
Relationship issues, emotional struggles, health problems or challenges in a service, or whatever it may be, I find the time in the day when I can carefully reflect upon and write about all those experiences. Many good things happen to me daily. I write about those as well.
Once I write down my daily experiences and then read what I wrote, this helps me to see the problems from a different perspective. When writing about challenges and then reading the same, often a solution is revealed to me.
The same applies to all the good things that I write down.
Writing about and then reflecting on all the good stuff helps me to appreciate the gifts I received that day.
Writing about my daily experiences became a routine that helped me understand life situations more deeply and learn the necessary lessons.
Last weekend was a busy day for me. The day after the festival, the deity department rooms were in chaos. After the festival, all the rooms require cleaning and most paraphernalia is misplaced. It usually takes a couple of days to bring things back into order. That usually falls on my head.
As I was cleaning the rooms and at the same time hearing the complaints of devotees about different things they didn’t like or agree with about the festival, I decided to sit and write down all the drama going on around me. I took a pen and paper and started writing the word “drama”, “drama,” “drama”. I kept writing the same word all over the notebook page.
“So much drama is going on in my life at the moment”, I thought.
As I was thinking like this, I wrote down again the word drama, but this time the letter “D” I wrote in upper case and the rest in lower case. I emphasised the letter “D” by making it bold.
As I reflected on the drama around me and the word I was writing, I realised something.
Whilst emphasising the letter “D”, I had unintentionally separated it from the rest of the letters. Suddenly the word “DRAMA” turned out to be “Rama”.
The moment I realised this, my mood changed. Suddenly there was no drama around me anymore. I felt instant peace and joy in my heart. Everything became perfect.
I felt the presence of the Lord, indicating to me that he is always there for me, watching over me and ensuring that he is taking care of me. He is perfectly orchestrating everything for my benefit.
Despite all the chaos and drama, I took a moment and wrote about and reflected on my experiences.
By writing and reflecting, I received much clarity and peace in return.
My vision of the experience changed -I was able to see the situation as an arrangement of the Lord, I was able to feel his presence, and most importantly, I was able to see him manifesting in his name, Lord Rama.
Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 9.32-”[Lord Śiva addressed his wife, Durgā:] ’O Varānanā, I chant the holy name of Rāma, Rāma, Rāma and thus enjoy this beautiful sound. This holy name of Rāmacandra is equal to one thousand holy names of Lord Viṣṇu.’
Ananta Gopal das
8.2.2023
Bhakti Wisdom 