PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO YOUR PSYCHE AS YOU ISOLATE YOURSELF
Silence. . Patience .resilience.
These words have learnt to creep into our very lives just like a gush of cold wind. As I write, the world is dealing with one of the biggest pandemic since the origin of humanity. The covid 19 -caused by the corona virus is the dreaded enemy of the 2020 modern world .This uninvited predator is swallowing the world population with its rapid communicability and making socializing which inturn is the most integral part of human existence, into a Sad taboo.
Till date an absolute curative treatment protocol has not been formulated by the WHO or any health organization for that matter. With its first outbreak in Wuhan,CHINA the virus which rapidly paved its way to rest of the world has not only disturbed human lives but also the deep core of the world economy.The front line soldiers like the government ,the health department ,the vigilante are working in unison like millennial robots to arrest the spread of this deadly virus.
Human beings,the so called higher race in taxonomy has been put behind the ‘bars of their own houses’- (popularly called as quarantine right now). Adults ,families ,kids,the elderly are confined to smaller spaces and forced to take a pause and do nothing at all for a change . ( the majority of the world population is working from home ,but as its human nature we often tend to slack since we require specific work environments to get the most out of us)
We have started to observe sunsets and sunrises, appreciate our ‘housewife’ moms for whom this situation brings much joy as she gets to see the whole family under one roof .And for those living alone ,have found the time to do all that procrastinated chores and check on their friends. We no longer have to cancel any plans since we are not making any. Our hectic routines have toppled down to wandering in pyjamas and munching all day and attending video meetings in the least formal setups.
A little off the topic, lets take a moment to thank the internet ,streaming contents,social media and everything that technology has to offer .We are grateful to the internet for keeping us updated , helping us reach everyone, instructing about the 20 SEC HAND WASH and most importantly keeping us sane and helping us to drift away from the chaos at least for some time.
We have finally started to appreciate the little things in life . As much as we are concerned about the petrifying situation outside our houses ,we have also started learning to take things slow- one day at a time. Be it attaining that fitness goal, or taking up the long lost hobby or just simply doing nothing or maybe reading a book.
When did we start this rat race? When was the exact point? Most of us will come up with answers like ‘since forever’ . The earth has also been forced to run with us providing us with resources and denying other creatures. Was this pause earth’s deliberate attempt to slow us down? To maybe put some sense into our heads that we are not its’ only inhabitants ?
The question is , have the world and its humans always been like this ,the latter being dominant?
Were humans always lost in this frenzy and meaningless chaos since the beginning of time?
The modern world has evolved to be overpowering with constant ‘desire’. Desire to get that job , desire to buy that expensive thing, desire to be the best ,desire to eat more than your appetite, desire to beat your enemy and it goes on . This emotion might come as a positive vibration to you since you might say “what keeps life going other than hopes and desires?”. But pause right there , what if this very desire takes the shape of a silent killer?
Flipping through the sacred books of one of the oldest medical systems and my personal forte, I did find some answers.
Ayurveda — commonly called as the ‘science of life’ dates back centuries and explains about health,diseases and human nature in a profound and holistic way which did nothing less than amaze me.The millennial world might disagree on the presence of philosophy or excessive psychology in a medical science and find it bizarre. But Ayurveda has so much to offer about the processes happening in a human mind leading to health or disease.
In Ayurveda one of the key concepts being explained is that “Icha”( sanskrit term) meaning ‘Desire’ is something to be kept suppressed or low key and it can moreover pave way for disturbances in your mental and physical equilibrium or as we call it ‘the doshik balance of ideally the tridosha- vata,pitta,kapha’.
Imagine a situation where your blood glucose levels have shot up and all you are trying to do is stay away from that dessert right in front of you. But your constant ‘ desire’ tells you to eat it. So this desire have overpowered your ‘dhi’ or intellect and ‘dhrithi’ or the power of differentiating right and wrong , ending up in having that dessert! This constant desire becomes an overpowering emotion and we end up being diseased . Of course there are so many other factors for a person to become, but the importance of the psyche cannot be neglected.
Imagine a scenario where you are driving and the speed limit is 40km/hr and you’re enjoying the groovy music in your car. Gradually some of us tend to have a desire to match the pace of the vehicle with that of the music and may end up in a dangerous drive. We might find this example relatable.
It need not be something drastic or alarming but it can be a gradual build up of stress out of constant desire of achieving your targets delegated by your boss and this stress accumulation can lead to many psychological illnesses where, depression stands tall among the umpteen others.
This desire or icha has both constructive and destructive ability.Life without desire is drab most definitely . Without the desire to learn, humans might not have reached the place where they are today. So let’s take every moment out of our lives to bring about the constructive part of ‘icha’ .
