Ask any Indian and eight out of 10 will tell you that the rainy season is his favourite time of the year…and so it should be. The monsoon, bless its watery visage, is our deliverer, freeing us from the merciless importunities of the Sun God, moistening the parched earth and carpeting it in green; bestowing food to all life and blanketing us in its cool embrace. Yet, assuming that the monsoon strikes some of us with dread and fills our hearts with despondency, there should still be no room for despair.

For life is about learning to flow with the ups and downs; the highs and lows; the sunshine and rain. It is about cultivating an inner resilience and adaptability so profound that no circumstance or situation leaves us wanting. It is about being so firmly and strongly centred that nothing can faze us or cause us a moment's sorrow. So how do we achieve this momentous poise?

Looking At The Positive
"Face the sun and you won't see the shadows," Helen Keller said and in doing so voiced a major truth. Most of us are conditioned to look at what's missing, at what does not work, at the irksome and the unbearable. It takes an active orientation of will to shift to looking at the positive, at the opportunity within the problem, at the silver lining in the cloud. The more we focus on the positive, the less energy will we expend in resisting the situation or being miserable. There are fabulous aspects to the monsoon that each of us could cheerfully enumerate each time we get stuck in a monstrous traffic jam, or when the trains won't run, or when we have had to wade through knee-deep water.

Creating Affirmations
How then do we cultivate the all-important positive attitude upon which our happiness and peace of mind rests? One of the most practical and easy ways is to constantly affirm the desired state of mind. The truth is that we can change the way we think. There is precious little we cannot change provided we are willing to pay the price. What might that be? Investing time and energy in spiritual practices, one of which is affirmation.
Affirmations are positive statements that invoke desirable states of mind or qualities. 'I am peace, love and compassion' is one. 'I accept all that comes to me and see the divine hand in all of it' is another. Create your own affirmations to suit the circumstance. Here are a few guidelines.
Always affirm in the positive. Say "I am peaceful" rather than "I am not angry or agitated". The subconscious mind, upon which we are imprinting these commands and which will eventually execute them, is a mechanical entity and is programmed not to accept negatives. Hence, it will read the second sentence as "I am angry and agitated".
Affirm in the present tense as if the required creation is already in existence. "I love the rains," rather than "I will love the rains". If you refer to the future, that is where the quality will be deferred to - in the future.
Put as much feeling into the words as possible. Dada Vaswani, the Pune-based spiritual head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, suggests whispering it, saying it aloud and singing it for greater impact.
Accompany it with creative visualisation. Imagine possessing the desired state of mind. Recreate vividly how you feel about it and how you now respond to different situations.
Give it time. Changing the contents of your mind will take months, even years. Don't give up.

Practising Gratitude
Nothing can send us soaring up from the blues as much as a vigorous exercise of counting our blessings. No matter where we are or in what situation we are in, we have much to be thankful for. If we can bring these to our consciousness, we will automatically see our situation in the right perspective. I had a niggling little health problem which bothered me until a close friend shared news of a major illness that has struck her. In the light of her revelation, I can only be grateful that I have been given something so relatively minor. Think of all the disasters we have been spared; the difficulties that assail others. Make that list now!

Changing Attitudes
You cannot help having a bad-tempered boss but you can change the attitude with which you regard him. If things really become intolerable, you can change your job. You cannot help the fact that your son is not the brightest child in the universe, but you can learn to accept him as he is and help him uncover his potential in countless areas. The more we focus on what we can do something about, the less our minds will be given over to aimlessly brooding over what we can do nothing about. The beauty is that the more we focus on what we can effect, the bigger it grows. Our dynamism is released and we will find ourselves zeroing in on action rather than reaction.

Realising Our Potential
Let's face it. Life is a hurdle race. This is how it's been designed and the runners will tell you that it is the hurdles that have built up their strength, stamina, speed and mastery. Hurdles have made them who they are. So it is with all of us. Problems offer us the challenge and the opportunity to grow and to realise some portion of our limitless potential. Someone wisely said, 'Whatever does not destroy you, will strengthen you.' If we do not buckle under and learn instead to cope and even transcend the problem, we will emerge stronger, wiser and happier.

I, for one, can never be sufficiently grateful for all the bruises life dealt me, for each has been a great teacher. So, take the monsoon on the chin and face it like a trooper. Finally, remember, no matter what situation we face, it will pass away. This is the nature of the material world, so weather the rains… and the sun will soon be here.