If you had $86,400 in an account and someone stole $10 from you, would you be upset and throw all of the remaining $86,390 away in hopes of getting back at the person who took your $10? Or would you move on and live? Right, move on and live. See, we have 86,400 seconds each day. Don’t let someone’s negative 10 seconds ruin the remaining 86,390. Life is bigger than that.
Don’t think that there will be additions of 10 dollars to your account either. No emotion lasts longer than you keep them. It’s mostly fantasy, human life. Fantasies evoke emotions, but they’re not real you see. Don’t let your emotions control you. Why don’t you let it go? Why do you get overemotional?
What is an emotion? Emotion is a form of communication. Anger, fear, joy, disgust, admiration… are types of emotions and therefore they’re social reactions, signs for other animals. A meaning is conveyed to the other animals and particularly other people through your attitude, gestures and facial expressions. This form of communication originates from our social foundations, stemming from ecology of all life.
We’re extremely sociable, we’re too attached to other people and other elements of nature. we’re and will be inevitably social because our existence depended on it. We also communicate with other elements of nature but we have an expertise on humans. Relying on each other for survival brought communication and we have got many forms of communication: Verbal, written, non-verbal gestures and emotions that are reflected on our bodies, especially our faces.
Emotions, social reactions; in other words psychological states that depend on the environment are essential for our social existence. What is not essential is excessive use and dependence on it. Try to create a balance, keep the amount in a conceivable manner. And don’t suppress it either.
We’re not alone, nobody is alone and independent either. We’re together with our kind, with our planet, with our existence. Therefore you also can’t erase emotions from your life. Moderate amount is always required. Think about non-personal activities such as driving, speaking, playing. You have to have moderate amount of relax and anxiety in all of them. You can’t let it lose or condemn yourself. You need balance.
A student went to teacher and said, “My meditation is horrible! I feel so distracted, or my legs ache, or I’m constantly falling asleep. It’s just horrible!”
“It will pass,” the teacher said matter-of-factly.
A week later, the student came back to his teacher. “My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive! It’s just wonderful!’
“It will pass,” the teacher replied matter-of-factly.
It will always pass, emotions are not there as torture. Moderate amount is always required and it’ll cool by itself when you give it time. Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone. And water won’t be crystal clear in the community. Move along.
In addition, you should not block your emotions likewise. Your emotions communicate with you and your environment. They’ve emerged from the objective world. They might be interpreted wrong but their emergence originates from the fact. It’s a great way to know yourself. When, what, how these emotions occur to you? Write it down, try to speak to someone about it. Avoid complete suppression, find a kinder way to express and experience them. Otherwise they’ll emerge in ways that you’re not aware of.
A student asked a master how to deal with his emotional bursts happening to him on occasion. The master asked, “can you show me those emotions?” The student said “it comes and goes unexpectedly.” “Well,” said master. It’s not you then, if it was you, you could be able to show it anytime. It wasn’t with you when you were born, where do you get it? It doesn’t belong to you.
Don’t get overemotional or emotionless, It doesn’t seem hard but it’s hard. Just like we ask for simple, direct answers in a fluid, ever changing universe; we ask you to be moderate in a wave function with ups and downs. Everybody overreacts, everybody overreacted in their childhood. Most of the people stay childish, they never grow up to greet the events as they’re. They instead have ideals, expectations and desires that fill their moments with reactions and conflicts.
Embrace your faults, try to recognize your emotions. Be moderate, give it some time, let alone and get along. If you fail to succeed, try to analyse. It’ll be over when you understand.
The Buddha once asked a student, “If a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful?” The student replied , “It is.” The Buddha then asked, “If the person is struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful?” The student replied again, “It is.” The Buddha then explained, “In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. And with this second arrow comes the possibility of choice.
