Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I Speaking Tree Website, TOI I June 29, 2014

Thomas Alva Edison was among the most prolific American inventors of all time. With his inventions, Edison exerted a tremendous influence on modern life. More than a thousand patents are registered under his name.

But the early history of Edison presents a very different picture. After a few months of schooling, his teacher declared him 'addled' and claimed that he wouldn't be able to continue with his education in school. Edison's mother had no option but to take him out of school. She then decided to teach her son at home.

The Positive Side

This proved to be a great moment in Edison's life: while the door of one school was closed to him, at the same time, the doors of two other schools opened up- home-school and mind-school. As a result, Edison's mind was triggered further and he became motivated to learn on his own.

This incident presents an example of that miraculous factor in human beings, known as nature. The principle we derive from here is that when someone denies giving you something, nature comes into play to compensate for your loss on a far greater scale.

Let It Be

According to the law of nature, there is always a positive aspect of every negative experience. The only condition is that one should not become negative or succumb to despair.

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Life is full of unpleasant experiences. There is no escaping them. But negative experiences are not evil phenomena. They are, in fact, a kind of blessing, a sort of intellectual challenge. In such situations, it is better to wait rather than opt for a reactive approach. If you save yourself from becoming the victim of a negative experience and opt to do just one thing- that is, do nothing- and let nature take its own course, it will serve as a positive factor for your mind. It will certainly increase your thinking capacity and unfold your intellectual treasures.

If you have developed a strong personality and an intellectually awakened mind, then every shock will prove to be positive for you and you will automatically absorb the shock as a new opportunity. This is because the law of nature stands above all else and when you choose to remain un-offended by an unpleasant experience, you invite the law of nature to come to your rescue and initiate a process to compensate for your loss.

Life is full of opportunities. Even if someone takes away something that had been given to you by someone, what nature gives you can never be taken away. For example, if a person gave you a man-made torch and this is taken away, no one can take away from you that divine torch, the sun. Knowing this principle brings about a feeling of immense hope.

The only fit response when you find yourself in a negative situation with others is to forget the unpleasant external experience and on your own, take a fresh decision to improve your abilities. Very soon, you will find that you have gained more than what you had lost.

Eternal Life

There is no full stop in life, only commas. No event is the final chapter of your life's book, for every day, you are in a position to add a new chapter to it. This is due to the enormous capacity of the human mind. Don't underestimate your mind. It is when you underestimate your mind that leads to frustration.

If you discover the capacity of your own mind, it would give you great courage and unending strength. You will be able to take a new leap into your future from the very point where you thought that your life's journey had come to an end.