There are times or phases in everybody’s lives when everything happens so smoothly as if we had the magic wands like in the Harry Potter movies and we just wave them around and stuff happens, just like that!

Then there are times when you are constantly hit by metaphorical bricks from all directions and you just can’t figure out which wrong turn you took in life and were now paying for it.

That’s just the thing with life. Sometimes you are riding high on top of a wave and sometimes you are underneath the water, grasping for air, barely able to hold on. It’s just the different phases of life.

So, the question naturally arises. There is not much to worry about in the good times, but what’s a person to do during the frictious times? I mean, there must be something to make it a little bit easier, right?

Don’t Be A Sandpaper!

I recently watched a video of Sadhguru on this matter and he said something that I found really interesting. He said, “If wherever you go, and friction is happening, obviously it’s you!”

Meaning that, often times we are the reason for the friction if everywhere we go and everyone we meet and every situation we are in, turns out to become frictious. It’s just that we are in the habit of blaming others at all times, failing to introspect where the actual cause may lie.

He also compares us with sandpaper during those times. No matter what surface a sandpaper touches, it will create a lot of friction and that’s what we become sometimes and so, friction follows everywhere.

To avoid those outcomes, simply do no become a sandpaper and if you have mistakenly become one, and haven’t realised it yet, just stop being a sandpaper! Be like a soap instead! Gliding over everything with such ease.

If Nothing Else, Just Hold On!!

While in my opinion, this is a beautiful teaching from Sadhguru, I also can’t stop thinking about all the situations/things/people that we just don’t have control over that might lead to friction anyways, even if we are not like sandpaper.

I mean, this is life, and inevitably, some or the other thing might happen that are not favourable to us. What does one do then? Of course, you try to do the best you can but sometimes, you just have to wait it out. Like we do certain storms.

I know, no one likes to hear this advice of “just holding on” because it sounds generic, but trust me, it’s the most realistic advice anybody can give you. And if you are feeling really overwhelmed, just think about this.

How many times have bad times befallen you and you still managed to go through them? How many times did you feel like you were never going to get out of a situation but you did, and here you are? Then why not this one too?