Mystic Mantra: The fuzzy logic of our emotions

Emotions are akin to dockets within our frame of mind — they are also nuggets of our feelings in a wave. Whatever the type of emotion we may “emote” at a given time, regardless of its causal underpinnings — positive, negative, happiness, distress, grief, angst, or misery — they are all part of our emotional compass and radar. Yet, the fact is emotions represent a paradox — a network of contrasts from one end of the spectrum to the other. This is reason enough for philosophers to suggest that one ought to label our emotions as neither positive nor negative, but simply a metaphor of our responses, or riposte, to commonplace happenings, including a plethora of internal physiological processes that runs us all, day-in and day-out.

The web of science proposes a different “take” on the whole canvas of emotions. It contextualises a wide-ranging approximate that relates to emotions as being a part of a far-reaching, expansive continuum. This delineation also exemplifies the idea that depression, trepidation, indignation or love are states of mind — they are not just emotions. You’d, in the same light, think of despondency and glee as not being essentially negative or positive. They are fundamentally a consequence — of how we deal with our emotions, not to speak of our actions and reactions to events or situations. This purports to our mind-centric fulcrum — one that propels a remedial, or adverse, effect on our physical and emotional health, including optimal wellness.

It was suggested, and rightly so, for a long time, that repulsive emotions have their own unique significance in our life. They project a foggy picture — a casing loaded with the alarm bell that rings relentlessly when we feel that all is not well. It does not suggest that one has to be “smart” to decode the big gap that exists between anger and serenity. Well, the saving grace is — thanks to nature’s sublime balance, if not divine intervention — there’s no need for any of us to be a Zen master for ushering in a sense of equilibrium while redefining or redirecting our emotions to reversing our annoyance into composure, or self-control, to the best extent possible.

“The worst wheel of the cart,” as Benjamin Franklin said, “makes the most noise.” Picture this — purging your ire, at times, is healthy. This is because anger is like the pressure-valve — the more our resentment, the worse the resulting effect. The best thing to do is to weigh or evaluate the basis of our annoyance and attend to it before it goes out of control. This is easier said than done, although it is part of a perpetual thought process. The more you hone its subtle nuances, the better you will be for it.