There was a famous sage, called Sadat, who lived high up in the Himalayan Mountains, far away from humanity. He chose a simple life and spent most of his time meditating. People from all over the globe would travel for days on end to meet him and ask for his advice.
Once such a group of people approached sage Sadat with their problems, but they were unruly and fought amongst each other, because all of them wanted to speak first.
Sage Sadat, a peaceful man, watched the commotion and finally said out loud, "Silence!"
The people were awe-struck and immediately kept quiet. Then sage Sadat said, "Sit down in a circle on the ground and await my return!"
He went into his little cottage and soon returned with some sheets of paper, pens, and a small cane basket. He passed out the paper and pens, and placed the basket in the middle of the circle. Then he told the people to write down the one most important problem they were troubled by and put it in the basket.
When everyone had finished, the sage shook the papers in the basket so as to mix them and calmly said, "Now pass the basket around and pick up which ever paper is on top. Read the problem and if you choose, make it your own or take back your own problem."
One by one the people picked out a paper and read each other's problems and were horrified. They came to the conclusion that their worst problem, no matter how bad, was better than the next person's problem. Within minutes each of them exchanged their problems, and when they finally had their original paper in hand they felt content. They thanked the sage Sadat and went on their way.

Adapted and reprinted with permission from http://www.zensufi.com/story.htm. For further information, please contact zs@zensufi.com.

Q: What is your attitude to overcoming problems and challenges? How could you change the way you respond to problems?

Q: Do you think it is possible to live life without problems? What do you think of the statement that pleasure and pain are opposite sides of one coin - that we cannot have one without the other?

Q: What do you think about Babuji's statement in Maxim Five that we should take miseries as divine blessings and be thankful?

O, Master!
Thou art the real goal of human life.
We are yet but slaves of wishes
Putting bar to our advancement,
Thou art the only God and power
To bring us up to that stage.