From our side, we should sincerely wish well for others and extend love for all. We should open out to others and make ourselves accessible to them. Then there is better chance that a bond of love will be established, and misunderstanding will be reduced.
The best way to love others and be in joy is to love oneself. Whereas we mostly see the external world we hardly care about looking at ourselves. Devoting some time of the day to looking at your face in a mirror and appreciating it is a useful tip for instilling love for yourself. Once we learn to have genuine love for ourselves we would naturally love others. As a result, instances of discord in our relationships will be minimized.
We should keep ourselves busy both at the workplace and at home. We should carefully design our daily routine in such a way that there is a definite place for creative and constructive activities. It is better to remain engaged than leave the mind idle. Remaining engaged in planned activities reduces the restlessness of the mind. Our actions influence our subsequent motives. Therefore, the motivation for visualizing and pursuing higher goals will be reinforced by what we do now.
It is better to face a situation even though it is painful rather than escape from it. If we face the problem and go through its fall out, we will be able to face a similar crisis in a more balanced way next time.
A common source of tension is our tendency to compare ourselves with others. Comparing with a better placed person for drawing inspiration may be useful. But we should guard against the feeling of jealousy that arises when we compare ourselves with others. We should learn to accept reality and the prevailing conditions of life rather than suffer by imagining what we might have achieved.
For those living their lives under heavy pressure of work at the workplace and at home, it would be refreshing to spend some time at a different location in isolation and, if possible, in the company of someone who loves and appreciates you. This would help recharge their batteries and prepare them to face the ordeals of life with fresh energy.
Finally, we should constantly discriminate between good and bad. What is apparently good maybe bitter at the end. We should also discriminate between the real and the unreal and take good times and bad times as passing phases. We should not permit ourselves to be forgetful of the fact that the world is transitory and that the ups and downs of life are not as important as we make them out to be. Keeping such a perspective, we can treat the worst crises in our lives as eminently manageable.
Source – Excerpts from article titled 'Living with Tension' By Dibakar Chakrabarti in October 2005 issue of Prabuddha Bharata Magazine