If we want to climb a mountain that is very tall, we have to know our capacity. If we are weak and we want to climb the mountain all at once, we will be doomed to disappointment. We have to climb up a little and then take rest. Then we climb up a little more and rest again before we go on. If we try to climb the mountain all at once, we may ruin our capacity.
We can either overestimate or underestimate our capacity. When we underestimate ourselves, depression comes. If we have the capacity to climb up three or four miles, but feel, "I cannot do it; I can only climb a little," then we are depressed because we feel that we have no capacity. But when we overestimate our capacity, we also become depressed because we cannot accomplish what we expected to accomplish. It is always better to aim just an inch higher or lower than our capacity. If we expect too much or too little, depression will come.
The best way to free ourselves from depression is to bring light forward and illumine it. If that is difficult, then take depression as something quite unimportant that is a little bit dirty and throw it away. By dwelling on it, we can't conquer it. It will come back again and again to bother us if we give it undue importance. For two days or two months we will be free, but again it will come back unless and until it is illumined.From:Sri Chinmoy,Problems! Problems! Are they really problems? part 1, Agni Press, 1974
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