What are the reasons for sadness?
In Mahabharata, there is a conversation between Bhishma and Yudhistir about
Why do we experience sadness and what are the sources?
There are several reasons Bhishma explains and lists the sources and the list is exhaustive.
We tend to get overwhelmed by the feeling of sadness and our critical thinking ability goes for a toss.
Instead of discussing sources of sadness whatever they may be, why cannot we ask ourselves how to manage the feeling of sadness?
The keyword for Life is “Manage”, We have no other choice than to extract the best or come out of every situation.
Having said above, it will be cruel to say do not grieve about the death of your nearest and dearest.
In most situations, we unnecessarily experience it for a period longer than necessary.
It is not practical to say do not experience sadness at any cost, our biology does not allow that.
Beyond biology, we have been gifted with a critical ability called “Awareness and Self-reflection”
We don’t use our ability of awareness and self-reflection to the full extent, however, if we practice the mindfulness technique we can make our mind deviate from the feeling of sadness and slowly forget.
In any situation of sadness? Try asking the question yourself “What are the reasons I am feeling sad, are they valid justifiable reasons, and why? and talk to someone who is more experienced or approach a counselor.
It is like feeding our monkey mind its own food, when we ask the above questions to our mind, it will stop throwing tantrums at us and will get busy finding answers for us during this course of action, another critical ability of humans will kick in that is “Forget”.
Please note if you experience continuous bouts of sadness, please consult a doctor and take advice, don’t think every problem will be solved by self-help.
Image courtesy
Max Braun, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
