Don’t forget to change the ‘mode’ of your life

Recently while I was giving a talk, all of a sudden someone’s phone, in the audience, rang. You would definitely be familiar with what type of bizarre ringtones people have for their cell phones these days! Some people started to laugh while others gave a cold stare to that person for creating a disturbance. "He must have forgotten to put his phone in ‘silent mode’, I thought but did he purposely choose not to put his phone in ‘silent mode’ was the other question which lingered in my mind.

Mobile has become such a device today that modern man carries it with him almost 24 hours a day. But don't we know that the phone’s ringing would create a disturbance when one attends any meetings, classes, etc. and that one should put the phone in ‘silent mode’? I have seen posters hanging on doors of many doctors informing people to turn their phones on ‘silent mode’ before entering the cabin. Also, we are required to put our phone on ‘flight mode’ while boarding a flight. So essentially, we have to change the mode of operation of our phone which can be either ‘ringing mode’ or ‘silent mode’ or else ‘flight mode’ depending on the situation we are in. 

When people face reversals in life, when life is not moving as per their plans, I have witnessed them entering into the ‘complaint mode’ or ‘blaming mode’ making the life more complicated and experiencing frustration as its outcome. On the contrary, if we can just enter into the 'grateful mode’, and accept the situation as it is as a part of our life then we can save ourselves from a lot of negativity. Arthur Ashe’s story reveals a lot more about the ‘Mode’-

Arthur Ashe was the first African American to win the men's singles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and also the first African-American man to be ranked No. 1 in the world. During a heart surgery in 1983, he got infected by the blood that he had received and contracted AIDS.

From all over the world, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: “Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease when you have done nothing wrong in your life”? 

To this, Arthur Ashe replied: “The world over — 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi-final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD ‘Why me?’. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD ‘Why me?’”

We also have a similar incident narrated in Mahabharata. Around 5000 years ago, when Draupadi was attempted to be disrobed by Dushasana in the assembly, she did not change the ‘mode’ to ask the question ‘Why me?’ rather she chose a different ‘mode’ and asked herself a question ‘How now?” This helped her to surrender to Krishna who saved her from the calamity. 

As we change the ‘mode’ of our phones (ringing, silent, flight) while attending different situations, if we also learn to change the ‘mode’ of our thought process while facing different life incidences (grudging to forgiving, complaining to thanking) then we can truly live life happily without getting affected by any of the troubles, setbacks or reversals life has got to offer us.