The emotional blade

One winter afternoon, I was at a café with some friends when the topic of self immolation came up.

A friend said ’Ughhh.. shudder ! how can people hurt themselves ? It sounds so scary. They must be mad to do that.’

The rest of us agreed. You have to be awfully loony to actually take out a shining, sharp blade, look at it and then carefully, calmly start cutting your hand with it.

Why do it ?You know this would pain, you know it would not solve any problem, you know that you will have to deal with the blood and physical pain after this. So why do it ?

Yet, people do it. They even claim to feel happier after doing so. They feel gratified, important and sometimes very righteous.

That got me thinking....

We are so quick to judge those people as loony. But what about the EMOTIONAL PAIN that we, the so called normal people keep inflicting on ourselves, day after day, week after week, sometimes our entire lives.

For example, you know that someone hates you for some reason – maybe you got in their way, maybe you rebuffed them unknowingly, maybe they are jealous of you, maybe they have misunderstood your intentions, maybe you happen to be close to some people they dislike. The reason could be one or several.

But if you are a normal human being, then you will encounter many people who make a career out of hating you and planning new agendas against you. It could be someone in your working place, someone in your neighbourhood or someone you met on the internet, it could be someone in your own family.

So the bottom line is… X hates you and is obsessively targeting you in one way or the other.

And... There is nothing you can do about it.

Now do not disagree with me. Simply because you can only control yourself, not others.

So what are your options ?

Option A : You can either move on, get on with your life, focus on your goals, soar above the trivialities.
I know you would like to choose option A, but let me assure you that since you are a human being, you would actually start practising Option B.

OR

Option B : You could sit and obsess about it, wonder what you could have done to become a target of this hatred, mull over it, and in that bargain, neglect your own life .

You will find yourself thinking about X morning, noon, evening and night. You would worry, you would be troubled, you will agonize at each new attack…and worse, you would contemplate revenge. You would become tangled in the web of hatred that may have been woven initially by X. But what does it matter now ? You are hopelessly entangled too. There is no difference between X and you anymore.

So did you spot the emotional blade in this story ? Yes, your thoughts are emotional blades, whenever you think of X. Your thoughts are like that shining, dangerous, diabolical sword that cuts into your psyche, every time you give in to negativity. You may not see blood over here but the sadness you feel inside is like that unseen blood.

Realization is the first step to salvation. Let go of your emotional blades. If you have to succeed, you have to travel light. Those blades will weigh you down,, hurt you, harm you.

Soar above the clouds and grab the sun. All you need is uplifting thoughts which would become the wind beneath your wings.