Ravi Shankar
India
Question
Hi,
Two years back I had a breakdown. At that time, I felt intense fear, of losing my job and peace of mind. I felt myself mentally "fall down".
Since then, I’ve been living the life of a lesser person.
My concentration has come down, so has my memory, my attitude is one towards a fear of failure.
Through meditation, I’ve been "recovering" myself. I’ve made good progress, but still don’t feel my previous self.
How do I expedite this process ?
Answer
It seems like you are well on your way in the healing process. Patience is a very important part of your recovery. There’s a saying that “patience is the shortest path to God.”
Swami Kriyananda writes in his book, Affirmations for Self-Healing, “Patience means also adjusting to whatever is in life, rather than wishing it were something else. Patience is a prerequisite for every type of success. For it is when we work with things as they are that we can change them to whatever we might like them to be.”
Beyond developing patience, the teachings of yoga give us many helpful tools to speed up our growth, including such things as right diet, working with energy (prana) and breath, positive attitudes, affirmations, chanting, visualizations, yoga asanas, and meditation techniques.
It is also very helpful to have satsang, which means to be in the company of like-minded souls. The magnetism of other devotees can be a tremendous boost for spiritual growth.
I would suggest that you find an Ananda community or center that is near you and seek out the blessings of both the satsang and the teachings.
In divine friendship,
Nayaswami Pranaba
