DR.FARKHANDA RAHMAN
DR.UMER FAROOQ WANI
Nestled in the bony cavity as a lump of soft slippery flesh crisscrossed with countless meshwork is an organ; the brain which holds biological, medical and psychological mystery. The brain as a well-functioning and dynamic part of an organism has assumed significance in medical jargon as a Holy Grail. There are spectrums of ranges in our body senses from auditory, taste and visual to the range for mental and emotional states. Like an artist mixes up the primary colors to form other colors, mental faculty of human beings is a composition of wheel of emotions. Emotions within the body don’t spring at a particular time period and there is scientifically no water tight compartmentalization of pre and post emotional period. Emotions are the very crux and kernel of body. Imagine a body without emotions. It will be hollow, a zone of nothingness, a vacuity devoid of meaning or a mechanical entity without organicity. Emotions are the lifeblood of sensations, feelings, mood swings and psychic twists. When the body switches off in sleep mode, our mental state and emotions don’t vanish in the deep darkness but are projected on mental canvas in full spectrum of dreams, nightmares and psychological shenanigans. Those dreams reflect our inner psychological matrix which can range from fear to freedom, stress to serenityand hollowness to wholesomeness.
Human body is a complex machine where there is output to every input. The out puts are purely subjective and may be physiological or behavioral. What lends more mysteriousness to the world of emotions is their very subjective experience and abstract nature not amenable to any accurate statistical technique or exact mathematical model by which they can be quantified e.g. it can’t be quantified how much a person is happy or out of sorts. A person’s emotions are truly his treasure trove. When a person is down regulated,the lurch in stomach, the sweaty palms or a racing heart indicate physiological response of emotions. The behavioralpresentation of inner voice like smile for happiness and frown for sadness is of paramount importance.What if one has the magical perception of identifying a smile masking disguise and the frown emptiness?
In today’s high-tech world everyone is in hustle, running a race of no finish. Since childhood Sundays have always been fun days until relatives’ show up and compare their children’s IQ. Intelligence quotient for some may be the Mensa’s reason for existence! But in todays “caring society” a vital parameter to judge a person should be Emotional Quotient (EQ). EQ is to the heart (ability to feel) what IQ is to the brain (ability to think). While focusing on IQ, the concept of EQ has been blurred. The guest speakers in a webinar organized by JKIFTS presented a detailed brain wave of emotional intelligence.More such awareness approaches regarding EQ is the need of hour. Learning a skill and mastering the daily routines is easy but having a control on the abstract part of our lives is a real challenge. Life shows up as an ECG line with crusts and troughs. Our mental state continuously fluctuates, its ebbs and flows like rhythmic beats of musicians flute or strings. Rather than letting our emotions run wild to a stimulus (internal or external), an emotionally intelligent person reins his thinking and actions to the right direction. When emotions are combined with intelligence, magic happens.
If eyes are doors to one’s soul, emotions are its voice. Before mapping to conquer the world, one should pay a visit to his internal states; acquire self-understanding and knowledge of his true feelings. For emotionally intelligent people, expressing feelings is same as using brain is to Mensans. Being able to dominate our emotions, we shake off negativity, facilitate rather than hinder the task in hand, and get back on constructive track for problem solution. We are living in a web of competitions. While walking down the lane of chase, what if we slowdown in empathy and not sympathy for a fellow in need?
On the road side was laying a pup probably hit by a car. It was surrounded by a group of same species, yelling in their own tune and sniffing its nose as if confirming his breaths.Pigeons assemble in pairs, sound emission and perception during social interactions in bats, social hierarchy in bees, feeding mouth to mouth the newborns by a sparrow, do these creatures have emotions? Or are their emotions stronger than the sapiens? Library shelves are flooded with books floating animal emotions.
Emotions are not meant to rule over us nor should they be ignored, pondering to dominate them is the precondition. Acknowledging each other’s emotions and delegating wisely is worldly sense of emotional intelligence.The supreme power gave us gears to cope; the immortal point of supply of guidance and healing, the Quran and the divine spring of inspiration and strength, the stories of Prophets. The transparency and candor in regard to His own feelings and of those around Him signify the grace of personality of our beloved Prophet (PBUH). We can achieve the state of contentment by following his footprints while dealing with ourselves, our families, relatives, spouses, companions, the people who have wronged us and our work places.
Home is the first school for all creatures. Noble laureates are not born but brought up.The most of today’s outgoing parents are emotionally harder. Toddles are left to the mercy of their care-takers (mostly uneducated). To have a control over them, they face suppression and seclusion. The reverberating giggles and the mischievous ways of expressing their emotions fade away.One or both the parents harbor favorite corners in the house to complete their leftover assignments while engaging their children with screens to play games or watch videos. These children build up their shells and learn to hide their emotions. How can the buds sprout when the environs are not favorable? During childhood, bruised knees heal but the emotional traumas leave a permanent impression and amygdala may reflect them in adulthood. Adolescence is the golden inning to be played in the game of life. Rugged childhood, burdening competitions, comparative IQs, unheard screams of hopelessness, overlooked anxiety, lack of self-control and sophisticated parentingbring the fall in youth beforespring lets them to blossom. Substance abuse and other means of temporary pleasure is not their choice but an escape. Productive parenting can spring Juvenile intellect to unstoppable free flowing stream of positive emotional strength.Emotionally intelligent families make emotionallyintelligent communities and hence the nations.
What makes a leader to stand out? A healthy equilibrium between the soft tissues: heart and brain. Constructive criticism, past experiences, gratitude, lessons from wrong moves, accepting flaws and being flexible bolster to build up our cores. Fortunately or unfortunately we are not robots but skin coated emotions. Letting our feelings to spring with a comfortable person can prove a panacea. If humans seem judgmental, one can turn to Allah (The all Hearing) to disclosehis/her overwhelming feelings. In our hustling schedules we should pause once a while to charge our batteries and understand the power of ‘WHY’ in the universe.
(Dr. Farkhanda Rahman is Veterinary Assistant Surgeon at Animal Husbandry Department, Kashmir and can be reached out at [email protected]. Dr Umer Farooq Wani is an Officer at Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Services)
