Our Emotions, Our Quietus

 

To live by emotions is to have a Quietus. I’m going to be sincere with you all today. No pretense and no deceit.

The human mind is very composite. When I say ‘mind’, I am in no way referring to the cerebral cortex. The mind is profound, it’s flustered, most of the time it’s perturbed, but the emotions which are liberated as a result of our heavy notions, are real.

Emotions have always been real. Emotions are dangerous. Emotions are our quietus.

Quietus.

The word seemed a bit uncanny to me, when I came across it for the first time. Shakespeare pens down these remarkable words in his world-renowned publication, Hamlet.

He says in his perchance to dream,

“The widow being oppressed, the orphan wrong'd,

The taste of hunger, or a tyrants reign,

And thousand more calamities besides,

To grunt and sweat under this weary life,

When that he may his full Quietus make,

With a bare bodkin, who would this endure,

But for a hope of something after death?”

This is one of the most widely known and quoted lines of modern day English. But let’s be real here. Most of us probably didn’t understand the context of what was written. I don’t blame or judge you all in any way because we all have our personal preferences about what we choose to read. It varies from person to person and I find that fascinating.

In this passage, Hamlet perceives the harshness and brutality of the world and contemplates on committing suicide. He pours his heart out in the famous “to be or not to be”, dissolves in what he’s beheld, comes to a position of heavy thought and he blurts out a question.

A question we can all dwell on.

“Is there a hope of something after death?”

And if ur a deep thinker like me,

“Is there a hope of something in life?”

The answer to both questions in my strongly held opinion is yes. The truth is there are days where we will experience happiness at its pinnacle, days where sadness and disappointment overwhelms us and empty days where we just don’t feel. And that’s okay, don’t let anyone tell u it’s not. For this is life and what makes life beautiful isn’t just the carefree memories and beatific moments, the hurt and trials of life make it exquisite it as well.

Life is beautiful and life is a gift. Some of us have it easy and others have it hard. I know of several people, having gone through ordeals that are enough to have you breaking down in tears. Yet they strived to survive and thrive, taking intelligent steps to success. Their minds are perspicacious. That’s the word. Life is full of hope if we choose to look at it in the right way. In order to do that we have to be in control.

In control of what, u may ask?

Our emotions.

I know a few people, classmates to family friends who have this one perception about a set of circumstances and they let the negativity of those occurrences get the best of them. They spend years wallowing in that experience, fantasizing about a probable eventuality. This does not help and it never will. If you’re one of those people, I pray that you’ll overcome this hurdle, by taking small steps at your own comfortable pace but don’t stop trying to overcome the former matters. The purpose of our lives and our existence in this world is something that we all are yet to discover. For what is life and what is living, if we only live for ourselves? May selfishness never be the attestation to our value as human beings.

Rumaya stop talking in circles.

The battle is always in our minds. If we are able to bring our rising turmoil of emotions into subjection, we win at life. How you proceed to overcome retaliation in momentary hurt and confusion could save you years of remorse and regret. But if your soul isn’t able to dominate your emotions, your emotions become your quietus.

What is a quietus? Let’s take look at the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

1. final settlement (as of a debt)

2. removal from activity (especially : DEATH)

3. something that quiets or represses

"Our emotions are our debts. Our emotions can kill us on the inside. Our emotions can quiet our inner beings."

Now before you greatly oppose my above statement, you must know that I’m only speaking of pessimistic, obstructive and defeatist emotions. This blog is for those of us who feel deeply and are yet to master the art of controlling our quietus. To feel deeply isn’t wrong, in fact I’d say it’s a sign of having a big heart. And people with big hearts are usually taken advantage of. My word of advice is that you never let your emotions overpower your intelligence or beliefs. Because a single jiffy of uncontrolled emotions is all you need for your world to come crashing down on you. Negative emotions are natural, they give us a counterpoint to positive emotions; without the negative, would the positive emotions be of value? It isn’t a matter of what you feel (to feel is a good thing) but how you control your emotions.

So my dear brothers and sisters, my friends and my close friends may you, in your own unique way learn to conquer your quietus. Be it anger, frustration, anxiety, fear, disgust, melancholy, rage, sadness or annoyance. May you find the route to be the best you in this beautiful yet confounding journey called life.

If your emotional abilities aren't in in hand,

if you don't have self-awareness,

if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions,

if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships,

then no matter how smart you are,

you are not going to get very far.

-Daniel Goleman

(Author and science journalist, Harvard University)

May you never forget that emotions are the language to our souls.