The other day, I came across information in a science journal that stated the reason of motion sickness. Motion sickness is a result of a disagreement between our inner ears and eyes with the motion our body is in. This sensory conflict causes nausea.

I was led to contemplate on another conflict we go through, which causes E-motion sickness; that is the conflict of the head and the heart. We become emotionally drained because our emotions refuse to reshape with the changing circumstances in life. It becomes difficult to accept the things that unfold before us. The inherent feelings disagree with the apparent scenario.

We become emotionally sick because we cling on to situations and people that are no more a part of our life on a conscious plane. We feel attached to the same on a sub-conscious level.

So, there is a conflict between a conscious and a sub-conscious mind. The conscious mind or the brain understands the changes and dictates the heart to move out of the stagnation of thoughts and flow with the flow. But the heart or a sub-conscious mind refuses to snap connections. Such a discord leads to E-motion sickness.

People are left alone due to various factors: demise of a partner, parting ways, changing priorities or children leaving homes; thus, creating an Empty-nest syndrome etc.

It seems harsh to accommodate to a new and sometimes unexpected situation. In such conditions, we reach a level of emotional bankruptcy. As we have a lingering hold on our feelings, our heart become unreceptive to any logic or reason cascaded at us.

Elif Shafak quotes vividly in ‘The Fakir’, “We suck into the wombs of illusion, guilt, self-loathing and madness.”

Life goes on. It doesn’t restrain itself because of our pain. Even the moments of grief keep floating; though, for us time comes to a standstill. We are dragged along with the pace of life.We feel bruised, battered, bent and broken but something within us doesn’t let us give up. We rise like a phoenix after a mammoth struggle.

This dark tunnel of ambiguity and infirmity too culminates in light. We learn to live again. We are more mindful of our thoughts. Such mindfulness can be attained through meditation.

It assists us to align our thoughts and actions. Another way to help ourselves is being occupied in some productive or creative work. Work itself is intoxicating. It contains our mind from digressing to futile perceptions.

Pleasure and pain move in close proximity to each other. It is up to us to how soon we reconcile with the dynamic circumstances lest we rock the boat of our emotional health.

I don’t find a reason to resist relating that I, myself have been through testing as well as anguished times and I am proud of myself as I have been able to emerge from that seemingly bottomless pit of dejection.

What we face in life never gets wiped out. Our honest emotions never get diluted but with lessons at hand and a resolve to better our lives we can reduce the degree of our E-motion sickness.

-Vandana Arora
Noida