I’m talking about analyzing and dissecting feelings here. Now, you may see it as a worthless obsession or prefer to discover the underlying meaning.
Do you know how we act and respond to our surroundings? Well, usually we’re impulsive and act without giving our actions much consciousness. But a lot goes on beneath every movement.
This impulsiveness, however, pulls us away from our natural ways of dealing with all the ups and downs that we go through.
How can attentiveness rescue us?
Living in an “automatic” way pushes us into a pool of emotional-neglect and ignorance.
This makes it difficult to understand why we act in certain ways and hence it becomes necessary to reason and pay attention to why we act a certain way or feel certain emotions.
Hopefully, this attentiveness takes us closer to our innermost intentions and makes it clear why we’re doing whatever we’re doing.
A bit confusing?
Let’s think about some examples:
It’s no mystery that people respond weirdly to their emotions. They devour snacks when they’re sad, practice self-harm to distract themselves, or smoke a pack of cigarettes when they can’t cope with setbacks.
But they’re the outcomes – not the roots.
Take a look at some more examples:
Let’s say you cook pasta and share a picture of it on social media. No big deal, is it? But unconsciously, you may be telling others that you’ve learned a new cuisine, you could be bragging, or seeking validation while you’re bored.
Similarly, let’s say that you’re stalking your ex. Now, why are you really doing it? Is your loneliness failing you, or have you developed self-esteem issues after separation? Chances are, it’s more than just checking out.
To be honest, we lead frantic lives that leave little or no space for introspecting. And when we finally have time, we’re surrounded by distractions that make it hard to connect with our real selves.
That’s when attentiveness helps
While we live passively, without understanding our intents or unfolding our emotions, the habit of pointedly observing our acts helps us understand ourselves better.
It’s utterly important to be brutally honest with ourselves and figure out every movement of ours, and knowing how we’d want to calibrate ourselves in order to live richer lives.