23rd October 2005
Feeling lost?
Teen-age” years are the most confusing years. You are no more a kid who can be pacified
with toys and sweets, but you have also not matured enough in emotional terms. A new world
has just opened up in front of you and it’s such a difficult time. On one hand, there are big
highs! On the other hand, there are so many lows including loneliness. A child doesn’t feel
lonely, but a teenager does. Not only that, there are also so many hormonal changes taking
place in the body of a teenager. He/she is becoming familiar with his/her own body, mind,
emotions, urges and difficulties. Suddenly teenagers begin to feel that nobody understands
them because what parents say from their standpoint as parents - good or bad - doesn’t
appeal to them. Long-term plans don’t exist. Teenagers want immediate solutions, immediate
gratification, immediate, immediate… Everything should happen now! Instantly! Teenagers
feel that adults do not understand them. And on the other hand, they can’t connect with
small kids either. They have reached a stage where they find all the toys, all the simple games
that they have outgrown, meaningless.
During these complicated years, teenagers need to have hope. They need to develop an
understanding about life; what they want to do, how to cope with their wants. There is an old
saying in Sanskrit: ‘When your son or daughter turns sixteen, behave with them like a friend’.
Don’t be their teachers; don’t tell them what to do or what not to do. Just share their
difficulties with them. Be a friend to them; a friend who is at their level. A friend understands
them, moves with them, empathises with their emotions and difficulties. If you relate as a friend
with them and not as a parent, they will open up to you.
Usually teenagers open up to their friends much more than to their parents; it’s a common
phenomenon. This also goes for teachers. A teacher should also be a friend - should behave
as a friend, talk as a friend. Then the gap gets bridged. Once the gap is bridged, love flows;
communication happens. And once communication happens, virtually all the problems are
solved. The biggest problem is lack of communication.
Dealing with emotions
How to deal with our emotions? Big problem! Although we have grown older - beyond the
‘teenage’, we more often fail to grow beyond ‘teenage’ mentally. You know, our body grows
in a particular sequence. In the first seven years, the physical body grows but the intellect does
not grow; then up to fourteen years, the intellect grows. The period from 14 to 21 years is for
emotional maturity. So the general belief is that you become physically mature, then
intellectually mature and finally, you become emotionally mature.
However, many do not grow to that maturity at all. Lack of emotional maturity is always
worrying about your emotions - feeling as though you are a victim of your own emotions: “Oh!
I feel like this! I feel like that! What to do?” What will you do? Who cares about your feelings?
Why do you worry so much about your feelings? Your feelings keep changing. Sometimes you
feel bad; but the bad feeling doesn’t stay with you forever. It changes and you start feeling
good once again; but even that ‘good’ feeling does not stay forever. Nobody can feel bad or
good ALL the time; the good and bad feelings come like waves. You can’t stop a wave that
has already arisen; nor can you make a wave rise just like that. Just as waves come and go,
clouds come and go, so also emotions come and go. Waves of different emotion come. And
they disappear. But we make it such a big issue: “Oh, I feel good! Oh, I feel bad! I feel this way,
I feel that way, nobody cares for me…” - all these complaints keep bombarding our minds.
This emotional garbage is so useless; and it is also a sign of emotional immaturity.
Emotional maturity, intellectual maturity, physical maturity; you need all these three ‘maturities’
to be a complete personality. Are you sharp and focused? Are you interested in learning and
in growth? If yes, you have matured intellectually. And once you have matured intellectually,
do not let emotional immaturity cloud your intellect. By the age of 21, you’re supposed to be
emotionally and physically strong, and intellectually sharp. Hence, you acquire the right to
vote, because you are supposed to be mature - an adult. But this seldom happens!
But what is the big deal about your feelings? I tell you, bundle them up and throw them into
the ocean! Once you are rid of your ‘feelings’ you can be happy, in good spirits. Just examine
why your spirits go down? More likely than not because somebody said something stupid to
you. And why did they say a stupid thing? Because they had some garbage they needed to
throw out; and you were there, ready to catch it. And once you have caught it, you hold on
to it so passionately! Come on! Wake up! Don’t let your smile be snatched away by anybody!
In this world, everything cannot be perfect all the time. Even the best, the greatest of actions,
performed with the noblest of intentions, will have some imperfections. It is but natural.
Unfortunately, the tendency of our mind is to grab the imperfection and hold on to it. And in
the process, we end up making our moods, our minds imperfect. Our souls reel with this
nonsense.
It is imperative to get out of these cycles, and to become strong and courageous from within.
And that which gives you that strength, that courage, that smile and that helps you to
become unconditionally happy and loving is what is called spirituality.
Jai Gurudev.
No comments:
Post a Comment