Positive Health Online

Originally Published in: India First September 2023 Page 42

https://indiafirstepaper.com/epaper/

http://indiafirstepaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230916-web.pdf

Don’t sweat the small stuff is a common adage. The fact is – small, or little, things upset us greatly. They disturb our life’s tempo and trigger stress. Studies show that your heart reacts strongly to small, unexpected trifles of daily life. When you don’t listen to your heart, or pay attention to it, or teach it to slow down, unsavoury events are bound to happen – they may also disrupt your life. In other words, you may pay a big price for being unmindful – frenzied heart beats, or dangerous rhythm disturbances. It’s believed that sudden cardiac events are often caused by small hassles – not major stresses, or anger.

Pouting Woman, from India First September 2023 Page 42

Agreed that anger is a normal and healthy emotion – annoyance at something not fair; or, protecting yourself, or someone. Anger is an emotional response to anything you find threatening, or frustrating. This can be mild, or strong. This does not relate to hostility, which is a personality trait – it is often unfriendly. A combination of the two could be risky to your heart health. Picture this: trying to manage anger and hostility may not, of course, help you to get rid of them, especially when you ‘lock them up inside’ – also, they are either way not good for your heart. The best thing to do is to strike a balance – manage your anger and express it in a healthy way. This works, because it doesn’t hurt your arteries and heart.

All of us go through 30-35 little heart ‘hassles’ each day – you may call them ‘annoying, irksome, stressful’ – the ‘mini-chaos’ of our existence. If you don’t attend to such ‘alarm’ signals of your heart, as it were, you’ve asked for trouble. It’s always best to sit down, relax, meditate, and listen to the ‘warning’ beats of your heart, as our philosophers suggest. When you unwind, and let go of your anxieties, also angst, at regular intervals, you’ll avoid a latent storm wait- ing to wobble your heart and, perhaps, its overall health.

This isn’t, of course, as easy as it sounds. Because, the nature of our emotions is sometimes warped – thanks to sudden emotional upsurges that surprise our brain’s best prepared plans. Remember, such ‘prompts’ could quietly reside in your shirt pocket, provoking your heart to ‘jump-start’ with a fit of heightened, frenzied gusto.

You cannot outsmart such a latent ‘trigger-switch’ by using your judicious brain, or mind. If you plan your move, the slippery customer gets more adept and speedy than your intent. In other words, the smarter, or cleverer, you get, the ‘pretender’ is equal to the task. It pulls the wool over your eyes, as it were – and, you are now hapless and helpless at, and with, your own ingenuity.

It’s here that some of nature’s most basic tools work best. They tell you to go along with the prankster – although you may have no clue as to what it is – by sharing a joke, or hearty laugh, even at your own expense. This will help you to slow down, or cop out of a situation – and, say no. Remember, when you pause and ease your pace, you also become more alert – this is called ‘life’s uplift.’ It could emerge in the form of life’s simplest pleasures – a smiling kid, an exquisite flower, or water wending its way through the rocky crags, a lovely sunset, or soft, enchanting melodies of soulful music.

You’d do well to keep cool too – not be over-smart. Remember, it is always good to play the waiting game – because, the wily trickster has a liking to ‘settling scores.’ It’s appropriate too to get the better of its crafty aims by being friendly to its memorandum – “Okay, I accept that the truth in me isn’t always beautiful, or alluring.”

Don’t you misjudge the ‘con artist’ again – because it’s often one better than the ragged philosopher. It may be partially stupid, partially logical, partly human and partly divine too. It’d visit you impromptu, anytime – during an important meeting too – when you

spill sauce on your boss’s suit. Likewise, it may remind you that life is not a feast, or spectacle – it’s something that needs to be fully experienced rather than be-ing just led, or dictated, by situations, or circumstances. Put simply, the prankster is like that street car named desire – it’s meant to beep, or honk, for your attention, and help you slow down

when you’re going crazy. We all need such tricky messengers. They are life’s small, big reminders – to holding aloft the great gift of being alive.

Acknowledgement Citation

Originally Published in: India First September 2023 Page 42

https://indiafirstepaper.com/epaper/

http://indiafirstepaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230916-web.pdf