The other day I came across a recent quote by the Dalai Lama (yes, again) and considered it, once more, straight to the point. Even though I do not only consider it as true in it’s original meaning, I also think its message is truth in almost every aspect of life. Lead by emotions we often tend to do things, that neither help others nor ourselves.
Under certain circumstances, you may need to take steps to counteract someone else’s wrongdoing, but it’s better to do so without anger. That will be more effective, because when your mind is overwhelmed by a disturbing emotion like anger, the action you take may not be appropriate.
As soon as you act out of anger you will face anger as well. I guess we all know that and we are aware of the outcome. That’s why we learn to negotiate in our jobs and have seminars on how to handle people and whatever…
Nevertheless emotions are not only an obstacle when it comes to anger. Passion, love, excitement….actually good adjectives can, from time to time, do harm to our aimed achievements.
Further examples might be the passion for a sport or a job that needs to be done. If you are put to much power or effort into something in order to boost your team or colleagues this might even lead to the exact opposite. To stupid fouls, easy mistakes or ignorance of others who might be able to help you in achieving the aimed team goal.
Another example everyone experienced at least once might be love or strong feelings for somebody. You tend to call him/her very often, text all the time, send emails….and in the end it is exactly this over doing what ends the relationship and crushes your dreams. Sometimes thinking before acting is a good idea that can save you from a lot of troubles. Even though I am usually the kind of guy who tells you to listen to your heart – sometimes the heart has to show the direction but still has to wait for the mind to follow.
The last example I want to name is over excitement. It happens when you got a new job, a promotion or even when you just booked your upcoming holidays. You tend to run around and tell everybody how amazing your life is and what great things are going on. That might not be intended to hurt somebody but it usually does exactly that. One more time a little more thinking before acting would prevent a lot of harm from happening.
To come back to the starting point: Sometimes it simply better to allow some time to pass before acting out of emotions. No matter if those emotions are anger, love, hate, frustration, excitement or whatever else. It even does not matter if it is in the job, relationship, hobby….it mostly is the right thing to do – even if it is not always the easiest thing. Decisions that are made out of emotions might sound good at the very moment (very romantic for example) but are on the long run usually not of any good for neither of the affected parties.
