Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Theory of Controlled Emotions.

Thank you for taking the time off to visit this piece of junkyard. My name is Nilesh Chhajed. More information about me in the "About Me" section. This is my first plunge into 'unconstrained' writing. So kindly bear with the novice. Formatting may be a problem but kindly bear and let me know how to improve.

Standard Disclaimer: I am no lawyer but what ever is written below is a cocktail of all things I have seen, perceived and understood to my decumbent level of intellect. You may not completely agree to it nor disagree to it. These all things you might have listened or seen in some form or the other in  various phases of life. I may not be the original idea creator of this theory but this is what I believe in and try to follow. It has made a lot of things easy for me. Any references I make in this theory belong to their respective owners. (Thanks dude for making such great philosophical stuff). Now enough of shooing people away. Lets dive!

Theory of controlled emotions:
Before running the horses of your brains in various directions, pause. Just re-read the title. It has 4 words; 3 major. "Theory", "Controlled"  and "emotions". Now I wont go by dictionary meaning of these words since who of us do that everyday. Understand what you already understand of these 3 words. 
"Theory" : Text of something great ( also written by someone great :P) which better be implemented in life in some form or the other.
"Controlled": regulated at will. in short being the master of something
"Emotions":  the very thing that makes us human. Now don't debate on technicality of what are emotions, from where they come, are they just 'chemical lochas' in your brain, something in your  heart. just leave that all away and 'Bhavnaao ko samjho". These include everything about humans which cannot be explained but only understood. These include feelings, urges, wantings, rage, honesty, love, respect and all the possible Abstract nouns we have learnt in primary school :)

Now lets focus on the words "Controlled Emotions". What do we mean by "controlled emotions"?
Lets try to understand from a situation. ( You can change the main object by whatever you want, but I like Chocolates a lot)

Most of us like chocolates and don't like Spinach to that level.( Now don't tell Popeye about this :P). Right from our childhood, we have been fascinated by chocolates in all shapes, sizes and what not. Don't recollect how many times we have cried, threw tantrums all around for that Gems or Stars chocolate or even that Orange Candy. All that we have been told to "control" ourselves. Too much candy is bad for your teeth and health. They will make you weak. And what we did, just buried our feelings and had a deep hollow in our lives. I am sure that everyone one of us made a resolution -"When I will grow up, I will have chocolates for my breakfast , lunch and dinner too".So 'controlling myself' meant killing my feelings for something I want. Anyways. What I want to highlight is the concept of the word 'control' in our lives. What we have been practicing is sadly only half of the meaning of the word 'control' . Let me explain it by giving another scenario.

Suppose you have a pet dog. Lets call him 'Tommy'. (It doesn't matter which breed he is from, OK?) Now if you are the owner and are in control of the dog, what you can do with him? Take 2 cases.
1. A known friend comes to your place for the first time. Our Tommy barks at him like crazy dog since he thinks he is an intruder. But you say "Tommy, cool. He is friend". and whoilla! Tommy listens to you and may eventually shake hands with your friend. 
Observation: The Dog is under your control and obeys your commands.
2.A known friend who has been visiting you frequently and Tommy also knows him. He is playing with Tommy. But you want to play some trick on your friend. You say "Tommy, attack" and whoilla! even tough Tommy knows that the other person is a friend, he attacks him.( hope u stop Tommy well in time :P)
Observation: The Dog in under your control and obeys your commands.

Now why the hell I am telling this nonsense story. Because it highlights the real meaning and both aspects of the word 'control". Now link it back to story of Chocolate and Spinach. (Bhai, I don't waste my words). If you are really in control of yourself,  you can manipulate your brain/heart not to like chocolate as if it were the same spinach you didn't like. At the same time - you could tell you brain to like spinach as if it were chocolate. If you are able to do both the things, then you can say you are in "Control"

Are you getting my point?
Now I leave it up to you how do you implement the same concept with your emotions. If you can behave the way you want to with anybody, then your emotions are in your control. If you are mad at some one and still say "Tommy, he is friend" and the rage gets pacified, congrats. At the same time, if you are really bad to get enraged at someone for a mistake but still u do it successfully (Remember, Tommy attack?), congrats, you have just achieved the second half of the concept of 'controlled emotions'.

Now let me admit it. There are some side affects of this theory. After following it, you may start feeling as if you are an actor and doing what an "Ideal" person must be doing. That 'ideal' person may not be like you at all. You may start feeling as if you are living an altogether a different life which is not like yours at all. And with the ease you can play with your own emotions, life itself starts feeling like a mirage. Something which can be created and destroyed easily. And with more expertise, you might end up with feeling like its all 'Mohh Maaya" but my friend, in the end it is for sure.

I hope you could get some piece of what I wanted to convey. If not, let me know. I love to improve. and yes, even if you were bugged with this nonsense, please leave a comment to let me know that you really read it. and form next time don't look at me as if I am acting on 'controlled emotions'. Use this theory when things are not going fine. :)
Happy Implementation!

8 comments:

Rohan Dixit said...

With the theory of controleed emotions ,a headway into the dark waters of blogging seems to be quite a niche move.......but seemingly when the expectations are so high.u darn dun leave any stone unturned..a gud beginng....though a rococo enthusiast might jusss have 2 slo down on his range of words .in order to go 4 a much wider fan base .still u got ur first follower buddy.

Nilesh Chhajed said...

Thanks dude.
I guess i need to be more clear on WHY aspect.
But its my first time and things will improve with time :)

Unknown said...

We've all felt this way one time or the other... whenever we've felt sad and wanted some one to cheer us up... we've convinced ourselves bout this many times too...
U do relate to a lot of us...real deep thoughts...
With thoughts like these you will surely reach high.
And Sky is the Limit!!

The only question it leave to my mind is 'Do we actually decide what we want in our life, or do we merely follow a Great plan, His plan?'

Nilesh Chhajed said...

Thanks for you comments DK.and about your question. It was the same which Neo felt in Matrix series. All his way, he didnt like the idea that he is not in control of his life. He believed that whatever he chooses will happen. but what makes us choose a particular thing..thats something we need to understand. Frankly speaking I dont understand concept of God. It doesnt mean that I am an aethist. But if God can see future then how he can choose his own actions ?
So in summary, I believe everybody is destined to play some role in the whole big drama. Dont know who the director and producers are :P

Sumit said...

It sounds reasonable that one should be in control of ones own emotions, but… Aren’t our emotions exactly what defines who we are? So it could be said controlling ones emotions actually is conformism. If everyone acted perfectly reasonable, everyone would be exactly the same, like machines indeed.

I think it’s much better to say our peaceful emotions / sides of our characters should keep the destructive emotions under control. Logic doesn’t have much to do with it except that it is only logical there will be less suffering that way.

And regarding suggestions for you, boss perfection ko improve karna mushkil hain. You are too perfect sirgi. Waiting for more of such what you say "NONSENSE". :) Keep Blogging Buddy. :)

Nilesh Chhajed said...

Thanks for your comments Sumit. You've echoed exactly what I meant. Our emotions shape our personality and in turn behavior.

Yes, if we completely control what we feel, thats bad. But what should be controlled is our reaction to a situation.

Thanks once again.
Bbye

Unknown said...

hey nilesh very nice attempt but many of the questions still remain unaswered.

Nilesh Chhajed said...

Thanks.
But may I know which questions ?