TO THE EMOTIONALLY INCLINED

We would not neglect the fact that everyone has a spring of emotions inside of him/her, emotions of love, fear, anger, we could go on and on. We would also not undermine the fact that sometimes, we are unable to control them. The mighty also cry, the number of times we shed tears might differ but at some point, we all have lost hold of our emotions, whether we cried, we were so frightened, or we were uncontrollably angry.

This part of our being calls for mastery of our emotions, the bell of emotional intelligence rings; we need to be emotionally intelligent. It might sound almost impossible but it could be mastered, a little step at a time. The ability to learn about   our emotions and that of others will go a long way in grooming our responses to different situations at different times. Involving our emotions when faced with challenges makes us feel worse than we would feel when we do not involve them. Emotions make you feel the pain deeper, you see the seeming wickedness in somebody’s polite response of declining a request of yours, you miscalculate and judge wrongly. Your sense of reasoning is clouded, you do not think logically. You cannot figure a way out because you are always emotionally inclined, you feel that you shouldn’t have been told “NO” in the first place and that shuts out any other means of seeking an alternative.

Emotional intelligence makes you see the lighter part of the load, the lesson learnt in the challenge and that if it could not be done through a particular person or means, there are a million of other ways through which it could come out well. Some are born masters of their emotions, some learn it through seminars, talks and the likes while some learn it in a more difficult way; through their personal experiences.

Whichever way you learn does not matter much, what really matters is how you have used it to give you inner peace and calm.

OUR INTERIOR

 A young child once asked me about the role of the Ministry of Interior. I told her that the ministry was responsible for maintaining internal security of citizens and foreigners residing within the country as that would ensure and promote good governance.

Many a time, we have heard this saying “What you are looking for in Sokoto is in your sokoto”. We could interprete this to mean that, that which we go far and wide in search of is closer to us than we think”. Our mind is filled with so many answers to our unending questions only if we could internally secure it against negative and demeaning thoughts. Whatever achievement, success or happiness we might crave for, comes first from within. Most times in life, the distractions and noise from outside cause us to neglect or worse still make us unable to recognize the small voice on the inside of us; our conscience. Our conscience, this great judge in the silence of our hearts, speaks to us, it is from there that the spring of our self-confidence wells forth, there, resides answers to our many questions.

The issue is not about your physical appearance or your financial status, it is about your inner mind; your interior. It’s not about being a rat; it’s about having the mind of a rat. We really do not have control over how our bodies mature, but we have a significant role to play in ensuring that our minds are being nurtured to that level of maturity where full knowledge of ourselves comes from within and the opinion of others about what we are and how much we can achieve do not count a great deal.

If we could give ourselves sometime with our inner man, we would see how richly endowed we are. There’s so much in you that you are yet to discover.