SPIRIT OF ISLAM MAY 2O18

13 Spirit of Islam Issue 65 May 2018 SHOCKS AND SHOCK ABSORBERS Personality Development H UMAN life is such that one time or another one suffers a shock. Shock, instead of being a negative phenomenon, can be a great educator. If looked at with this perspective, it sets off such a process of brainstorming that a whole new mindset takes shape and as a consequence a new human personality emerges. But shocks, great or small, generally tend to make people negative and they miss out on the lessons from them. Shock is not an accident; it is the language of nature. If one saves oneself from becoming negative after suffering a shock, one’s creativity will surface to face the experience with positivity. It will stimulate the mind and unfold its hidden potential. It will help one to take better decisions by bringing one from a state of total derailment to getting right back on track. In other words, it makes one realistic in one’s approach. Shock is the greatest positive factor in one’s life provided one responds positively to it. History is replete with instances of people who received shocks, but were able to face them with a positive mind. These shocks then proved as a booster for their upliftment. According to the law of nature, life is not a smooth journey; it is a journey through shocks. One has no option but to accept this as a reality. Indeed, the course nature takes is determined by shocks and challenges. Anyone who seeks to make himself successful should understand this reality and consider the shocks as stepping stones in life. One can draw inspiration from a thing like a shock absorber fitted in a vehicle. Vehicles while moving up and down over the bumps on the road surface take the entire brunt of the bumps while the passenger is saved from the rough movement. This is because of the mechanism of the shock absorbers that the rough movement remains confined to the wheels and does not reach the passenger. This is the actual method of how one can remain positive in spite of facing a shock. The human equivalent of a shock absorber in a vehicle is ‘spirituality’. A spiritual person is one who has an in built ‘shock absorber’. Such a person will be able to experience any undesirable event he faces If one saves oneself from becoming negative after suffering a shock, one's creativity will surface to face the experience with positivity.