Ishan Shivanand describes carrying his 1.5-year-old and groceries at a market until his hands burned and frustration set in. A one-minute pause to sit and relax would have eased the pain and let him finish without anger. Brief, intentional rest is a simple fix for physical strain and mental stress.
Long ago, my wife and I, when we just had a child, were walking in a vegetable market. In one hand, being the husband, I was carrying the child who was about 1.5 years old, and on the other hand, I was carrying all the vegetables that my wife asked me to carry. After 5 minutes, my hands started to pain. They were under immense stress. After 10 minutes, the muscles of my hands were burning and intrusive thoughts started to appear in my mind. I wanted to throw away the vegetables. After 15 minutes, I started to think, why did I have to have the child? Because I had to carry it. And all this time, when my hands were in immense pain, all I needed to do was find a chair and sit down for a minute and relax. You see, my body is very forgiving. Even 1 minute of relaxation would have healed my arms and I would have had at least 15 more minutes of walking around the market buying the vegetables I need. The solution would not have been to throw away the vegetables and run away because I need the vegetables. I need to work. The solutions would not have been complain about my life and my child. The solution would have been finding a minute of relaxation.
