Don’t blow things out of proportion
The same is true with our emotions. Most
of the problems in our life are because of our inability to put things in the right
proportion. We often hear the term, “Blowing things out of proportion”. It is
so true. Many times, we either tend to exaggerate something that has happened
in our life or sometimes we discount what happened as something insignificant.
In both cases, we are doing something wrong, which can lead to adverse
consequences. So, it is wise to put things in the right proportion.
When people are in extreme anger, they shout or scream. They
even use abusive words or foul language. Similarly, when people are in extreme
sadness, they tend to go into depression mode and even go to the extent of
committing suicide.
Similarly, we see people are
constantly worried about something or other and it is normal. A little bit of
worry is needed, to help us plan and prevent problems we anticipate. At the
same time, we also need to put worries in the right proportion, if we have to
experience peace of mind. For example, there is no point worrying about things
that will happen to us, 10 years from now, or about things that are beyond our
circle of control or influence. That will only create anxiety and stress and go
to the extent of making one paranoid too.
So, any emotion at an extreme level can be harmful. We have to learn the skills of
maintaining our emotions in proportion to the situation or event. If not, our
life and relationships could become a big mess.
I read this quote, “Anybody can become angry-that is easy; but to be angry with
the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the
right purpose, and in the right way-that is not within everybody's power and is
not easy.” Isn’t true? If we don’t learn to express our emotions
in the right proportion, we run a serious risk of damaging our relationship and
our reputation too.
So, it
is important to develop our emotional competence, to express our emotions in
the right proportion. To do that, the first step is being aware of our emotions
and then having the ability to fine-tune the emotion, before expressing it. Like all other skills, this too has to be
learnt by doing and it gets better and better with practice. When we do that, we
will start to see the bigger picture, of the expression of our emotions and
start to use them wisely. By doing so, we will become better at dealing with
others and ourselves.
Our thoughts tend to move like a pendulum between big and small, important and trivial, serious and casual. We must learn to put things in the right perspective, in order to lead a good life.
D. Senthil Kannan,