How To Stop Suffering And Take Control Over Your Life

By Mayukh Saha / Truth Theory

Imagination and memory are two powerful tools in the hands of humans. They can be used to achieve the greatest of things but often, they lead us down the path of suffering. We tend to live either in the memories of the past or spend our time imagining the future. And there begins our suffering.

Suffering is a prolonged and often endless experience that is exclusive to us as humans. We suffer because we resist life. We cling to that which is transient and subject to change such as people, relationships, promises, personal identities, and ideologies.

When we stop clinging to and resisting things, we stop suffering and begin to experience only pain, but a pain that is fleeting and temporary.

Unfortunately, we tend to define suffering and pain as the same thing, but they aren’t. One is unnatural (suffering) and one is natural (pain); one is a product of the mind and ego (suffering) and one is a product of existence (pain).

So why do people suffer? Because they cling to and resist the natural process of life- change, decline, death, and pain. People suffer because they believe they have to protect their sense of the self against “outside forces”. But the sense of the “self” is an illusory construct of the human mind that smothers the true reality of who we are.

Read: What Is The Purpose Of Life?

Managing your emotions is very much a question of choice. Do you want to control them or not? So much has been written about emotions and how to deal with them effectively, yet many people can’t control this area of life. Why? Managing emotions effectively is actually like developing a skill or a habit. It is a way of doing something better, and as humans, we struggle with change the most.

Changing the way you usually do something is not easy and it is even more difficult when it comes to emotions. When we are feeling ‘emotional’, the last thing we want to do is calm down and try to deal with the situation. We just want to rant about what is upsetting us.

If we understand a little more about how our emotions work, we are in a much better position to use this information to our advantage. Learning how to control your emotions can be one of the best skills you will ever develop in your life. Your emotions lead to the actions you take and therefore, create the life you are experiencing now.

Your emotions will naturally hijack your thinking but there are still ways to deal with this.

Many people have blamed someone for their own feelings of anger, sadness or even happiness, but it’s their reaction, not other people’s actions, that causes these emotions. Emotions can be fleeting and changing continuously. If you cannot control these emotions, you can hurt yourself or even someone else.

You need to feel these emotions but also have control over them. Know them, feel them, accept them, and move forward. Asanas, breathing techniques, meditation, and even a well-balanced diet can be of great aid. Once you can control your emotions, you can also control your actions and reactions. This will bring about a sense of balance within.

It is important to have control of your body, you have to be conscious of your senses, your mind, and your body. You need to have an understanding of emotions and when and how they affect you. You should feel emotions by not holding them back. But make sure you don’t let your emotions take control of you.

What is the solution you can see in the video: