Shon Mehta

In a monastery, there were many student monks . Sojuk was the most pious of them all. Every day, he would get up early, and meditate. Whenever he saw or heard about someone in trouble, he prayed for them. Everybody respected him for his compassion. All the students joined Sojuk in his prayers, except one -- Brima. Many times, students asked Brima to join in the prayers for troubled people, but he would refuse and go away. One year, the head monk decided to declare the name of the "most compassionate monk." Everybody was sure that it would be Sojuk. But the monk declared Brima's name instead. "Brima? But he never prayed for any troubled ones. How can he be the most compassionate one?" wondered the students. The monk sensed the uneasiness. "You all must be wondering, why Brima?" said the wise monk. "See, when you all were busy praying for troubled people, he was busy helping them. When you were busy praying for that sick man'...

The world is going through an upheaval due to the coronavirus pandemic. Most of us have never faced this kind of situation in our lifetimes. Nobody knows how things will turn out. This is leading to anxiety about our health, well-being of our loved-ones, our financial situation, our future, and so on. Here are a few things which are helping me cope with my anxieties: 1) The Rule of One Each day, prioritize and handle one problem at a time. Some of us could already be suffering from an illness, or facing scarcity of money, or even (as is happening to someone I know) getting evicted from our homes. Trying to solve all your problems at the same time tends to overwhelm.  Instead, figure which problem affects you the most that day, then focus on it alone. If you are ill, just focus on getting better. If you are unable to find food, forget the rest and focus on food. If getting evicted, first focus on finding shelter -- other problems can wait. One da...