TwIsTeD Reflections

Sorry for not blogging, my schedule has not put me in that contemplative mood suitable for my blogging, and it seems that it will not let up. Damn exams are approaching close and closer. Well, with that...

Emotions are essential in dictating our actions, our decisions. In fact, for some of us, it is the primary driving force of how we act. A study was done on people who do not feel any emotion, caused by damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for it. It was shown that, in terms of decisions, they were indecisive. Worse than indecisive, in fact, since they simply cannot make decisions that go beyond logical thinking, like "do you prefer the red dress or the green one?".

Yet, despite that, our efficiency-driven culture emphasizes on the fact that we should repress emotions, to be detached from yourself, so to speak. It is true, powerful emotions normally deprives the person the ability to think rationally, rendering that person "inefficient". The best thinkers and scientists of our time were known to be abnormally detached.

How we deal with these emotions are also intricately linked to our character that defines us as unique individuals. Do we swallow our emotions? Do we use one emotion to cover another? Or maybe we just wear our emotions on our sleeves, ready to cry, laugh and jump for joy at the drop of the hat? The strange things is that we all have the same emotions, yet, because of our character, react so differently to that same feeling.

I have come to the conclusion that emotion cannot be controlled directly by our will. It is how we truly feel, even if we try to deny its existence. So, to say "don't feel sad" is kinda contradictory of what emotions are.

However, emotion is also depends on perspective, which lies the true form of control. Although we cant change the way we feel, we can change the perspective to alter the way we feel. And we do it so often in our everyday lives that we are not even aware of it. Take the concept of 'sour grapes' for example. We can truly desire for some thing, yet if it proves to be unattainable, we dismiss it as flawed or perhaps not worthy of our attention after all, thereby changing our perspective to change our emotions.

Many would say that it is not being true to yourself. That is, to me, a strange statement. What is this 'yourself'? How do you know if it is truly you. To be true to yourself means to accept whatever emotion you initially feel, good or bad, without exception. Why accept emotions like anger or sadness if it does nothing to help you?

Im not saying sadness or anger are never useful. There are times anger is needed, like standing up for urself for instance. Sometimes sadness is required, to get in touch with another fellow human being for example. Yet, there are times these emotions just leave you devastated, when the issue does not merit such an emotion. For example, a girl who cries when her dress gets torn, or a student that angry when he heard he got AAAB for his A levels (that wont be me, like ever).

The only way to NOT feel emotion is to truly detach your self away from your body. This out-of-body experience is the same as viewing the world with indifference, an emotional retreat. It is probably the ultimate change in perspective. It can be useful, in dealing with problems that affect one in a great deal. However, a word of caution, prolonged use can actually cause damage to a person's psyche. It can create an apathetic view of life, which lead many to suicide.

So how can we get rid of excessive emotions? Like i said before, we cant. But we can alter the way we feel by changing our perspective. We can think "Hey, this dess is just a piece of cloth anyway, why go overboard?" Or "Well, this result just delays me a little further in the long run, it wont prevent me from being successful if I work hard." In fact, most problems that seem to affect us so turn out to be insignificant or inconsequential in the bigger view of things. So while we must enjoy the little things in life, we must also be able to take a step back to get a different perspective, especially when we are down.

P.S. Hey deb, this post is for you. If you are reading this, hope you feel better and give a little smile.