Beware of these 5 thought stimulants!
Do not seek control over the outside world. Conquer yourself, it’s better than winning the whole world!
Human emotions are temporary. Under the impact of emotions, people take steps and make promises and once the emotions are gone, they are no longer motivated to act! This is why I emphasize on internal motivation rather than external stimulants, which might work in present but make you feel more demotivated in the future.
“We are governed by our moods; should be the other way around.”
― Haresh Sippy
In this blog, I am going to discuss 5 thought stimulating emotions which one must win over, some of these emotions might act as an incentive for doing more and more, on the other hand, some of these might completely ruin your work. Hence, it is important to win over these 5 stimulants and make our thought process rule over them rather than they ruling over our thought process and making decisions for us.
1. Ambitions
Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.”
– Thomas Otway
Everyone has goals, and ambitions, the intensity, however, may vary from person to person. You might see people around you with a burning desire for fame, power, financial gain, money, which is a very good thing to have. But, sometimes these ambitions clutter your mind, you might be standing on a fork of decision where you have to choose between “the good” and “the bad”, and this is the decisive point. Here, in this situation, you need to win over this emotion, termed as “Ambition”, and give the control back to your conscious mind which will help you make the righteous decision.
Ambitions are good as long as they are helping you and your surroundings grow better, but once those ambitions turn into an obsessive desire to achieve something, might be money, or power, or the thirst for fame, it can be destructive.
Stay focused on the reason which drives you towards your vision, instead of being greedy for short term goals!
2. Fear
People’s heart is always ruled by fear! Fear exists in different forms, and each and everyone suffers from it.
Fear limits our capabilities and potential, and disrupts the process of decision making. We overthink before making any decision if our mind is ruled by fear, and many times it even stops you from taking risks, and doing things which might make you grow.
Fear is simply the imagination of some sorrow that may come in future, it has nothing to do with the reality. Despite knowing that fear is nothing but imagination, is it very difficult to liberate oneself from it?
Win over this emotion to explore your full potential!
Read this blog on how to conquer fears…
3. Love
As ambiguous as life itself, love has always been a matter of debate. For many people, their loved ones act as a pushing mechanism towards their goals, while for others, they might pull themselves away from goals.
Love is a very intense emotion which has the power of forcing your mind to do great things, it’s can be actually seen as a thought stimulating drug. Love is not something that happens between a boy and a girl, rather it is a feeling which connects every single living organism in this world. But, people confuse love with attraction and start seeing their whole world in that one individual whom they proclaim to love.
When we are in such kind of love, our thoughts constantly revolve around our loved ones and we are not able to make just decisions. Hence it is very necessary that we don’t let the feeling of love intervene in our decision-making skills.
4. Anger
Anger, without a doubt, is one of the most powerful thought stimulants. It lets you unleash energy to an extent you yourself was unaware about, but the sad part is, we tend to lose control in anger, which makes all that energy destructive.
The life we lead is full of decision making, at every moment we have to take some decision which can affect us directly or indirectly. Having a calm and stable mind is very important to make good decisions, and in turn, have a good life.
Hence, the importance of gaining control over our anger is quite clear.
5. Lust
“If they substituted the word ‘Lust’ for ‘Love’ in the popular songs it would come nearer the truth.” — Sylvia Plath
A mind filled with lust can never make a good decision. Although seemed to be very normal by most people, “lust” can be a topic of huge discussion, but every time, that discussion would lead up to one conclusion, lust blurs your mind, thoughts, and decision-making ability.
Just like greed and ambitions, lust can never be satisfied, it just keeps on growing, which, when not satisfied, gives birth to several other bad emotions like anger, sadness, fear, and insecurity, etc. Instead of dealing with so many emotions, a wise man would choose to deal with one emotion (lust), before it gives rise to these other emotions
Also, it is to be noted that all of the emotions that I have mentioned above, when controlled by your mind are constructive, but when they start to control your mind, they become destructive.
“Hamlet” is one of the finest plays I’ve read, and there’s this excerpt in it which gained a special place in my mind. The first time I read the book, I was highly impressed by how real these lines are, and yet they are put forward so beautifully.
Hence, I would like to conclude this article with this excerpt from Hamlet.
I do believe you think what now you speak,
But what we do determine oft we break.
Purpose is but the slave to memory,
Of violent birth, but poor validity,
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree,
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be.
Most necessary ’tis that we forget
To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt.
What to ourselves in passion we propose,
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose.
The violence of either grief or joy
Their own enactures with themselves destroy.
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament.
Grief joys, joy grieves on slender accident.
This world is not for aye
Here’s the translation [taken from sparknotes] which might be easier to understand,
I know that’s what you think now, but people change their minds. Often our intentions are strong at first, but as time goes on they weaken, just like an apple sticks to the tree when it is unripe but falls to the ground once it ripens. The promises we make to ourselves in emotional moments lose their power once the emotion passes. Great grief and joy may rouse us to action, but when the grief or joy have passed, we’re no longer motivated to act. Joy turns to grief in the blink of an eye, and grief becomes joy just as quickly. This world is not made for either one to last long in.
That’s it, hope this blog helps you!
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