Emotions, Temptations and Thoughts are our personal baggage

All human beings are equally born with mind, body, spirit and soul. We also carry personal baggage of emotions, thoughts and temptations(evils)which make our lives complicated and particularly challenging. The beauty is that these three are the cause of human sufferings as well as the happiness. It is honestly said that “they can be our best friends and our best enemies” thus managing them to our own benefit (WIIFM) is the way forward.

All the avatars or prophets also had to go through the human lives to experience maximum human sufferings and come out victorious to prove their godliness. They are the symbols of all virtues and set an example for us to learn from and humanly put into practice. Both sufferings and death are inevitable in our life, a continuous effort to minimize the suffering and maximize the happiness, to the best of our abilities and enjoy the journey, is the name of the game.

Emotions: Fear, anger, shame, disgust, sadness, surprise, curiosity & Joy are main emotions which play a part in our life, first four bring negativity & last three positivity, we have the abilities and energies to minimize and maximize both with our actions. For example, a feeling of disgust due to an action of others can be given a pass and if it is out of our own action, correct it.

Temptations:  Lust, wrath, greed, attachment, jealousy and ego are our internal enemies. If Adam and eve in spite of warning by none other than God were tempted to eat the forbidden apple, who are we to suppress or avoid them thus the best way is to go through the process of self-realization i.e. Experience-Introspect- Conclude, beware and act consciously in future.

Thoughts: Our mind is a processor and is always in a thinking mode, it churns out thoughts by second. That being a neuro process, they come from anywhere and everywhere. They may be good, bad, ugly, beautiful, innovative, critical, novel, lofty, destructive, constructive and all sorts. Let them come and go but do practice cognitive thinking process and skills to channelize them to acquire knowledge, comprehend, process, remember and apply accordingly. They say that all creations happen twice, once when thought or dreamt and second time in real. Make them happen.

Our life is a long journey, this trio is our preloaded baggage which remains with us throughout the life. Emotions are a mixed bag thus it is in our interest not to overload further by being too emotive over sensitive or insensitive. Learn from each thought and temptation to offload them, let them pass and focus on those which benefit you. This is a continues process to follow with the following natural endowments to manage them as per the best of our abilities and efforts.

Self-Awareness:

We have the ability to reflect on our own selves, introspect the inner self with our intellect so use it to analyze, understand  the thoughts, the emotions, the temptations and act based on the best known idiom ”what is in it for me”. Regular introspection and meditation is the way forward.

Freedom to choose action:

Once you have ascertained the WIIFM through the awareness process, experience the same and act consciously based on your own conclusions to evolve your own baggage policy. Never be afraid of failure and or seek advice. Do trust the source but verify as well, to grow.

Always remember that this personal baggage is a normal phenomenon in our lives, be human and enjoy the game of Rummy(pick and discard) to minimize the suffering, maximize the happiness, take both of them in your stride, a win after a loss is more sweeter, they say!

Satish Shitut

Jai Bharat