Thanks to present day rat race and cutthroat competition, psychological disorders have been part of our daily living. Distrust, uncertainty and petty worries are here to stay courtesy the competitive streak that runs through entire gamut of home, neighbor, office, business and personal relationships.

So complicated has become the modern day living that struggle to survive leaves little space to ponder over what is right and what is wrong. Some thinkers believe that the feeling of desperation comes from ego concerns. Path to material progress these days is so difficult and thorny that to keep treading on it man may resorts even to immoral ways when confronted with difficulties. Official power, status, and an arrogant assessment of self, impels a person to persue his ambition most brazenly. This is what we see on surface, with a cursory look around. How can we overcome this scenario? In an ambiance of declining moral and human values, even an innocuous poser as this may hurt our ego.

Come, let�s have a closer look at what�s happening around us. Today every struggler who is desperate and can�t make it, has just one lurking suspicion; how come people less talented than we are rolling in luxuries? And there he is, working honestly, and to the best of his abilities, and still unable to meet his basic requirements. When in prime of youth, he swears to fight evil and to change cherished norms of society for a better world.

But, then, gradually he tires out. His dreams and hope dash down, like leaves off a tree in autumn. And starts looking at society subjectively.

So, what was earlier an ace idealism, a clarian call for revolution, a resolve to change all things for better, a dogged determination, now changes to a helpless moan. Some thinkers prefer to see this syndrome as a lack of dialogue with the contemporary social conscience. Some others believe it�s their hurt ego wailing behind veil of their socalled crushed-rebellion. Even the memories of their bygone youthful ardour turn painful. Surprisingly he still believes his views and ideals were sacrosant. It�s only to his fate that he pins blame, which, according to his now bruised perception,rewards only those who are arrogant and do nothing.

As our society progress upfront, it gets more complicated in formation. Work opportunities come down as also resources of income and material wealth. This makes man harangued. This holds true not only for a layman but also for the educated and elite cultured people of society. This creamy layer too gets meeker by the day and finally succumbs to cosy compromise. This inconsistency, to an extent, is common to all human beings, albeit it connotes bowing to defeat. Fear of trailing behind in rush of life so demoralises a man that he finds himself phoned into a culde sac of self pity and distorted perception. A broken resolve, tired imagination, sorrow and suffocation; these become his defining parameters. Whatever be the situation, he seeks solace in compromise.

Can this pathos be prevented? According to some, the way out of this problem should mean more than just religion, meditation, and spiritual awakening. Because whereas these better known remedies do temporarily soothe your nerves, they don�t change your core identity, your core conscience. 

Ergo, problems remain as they are because hopes and aspirations are scarce met, and no tangible solution appears in sight. Could suppression of desires be a plausible solution to this? Probably not! What then? Probably a deep introspection is called for.

One, in which we taken cognisance of the sufferings of thousand and lakhs of those who aren�t as fortunate as we ourselves are. They are in situations far worse than ours, poor them! Some one has said : �I forgot my own deficiency of a pair of shoes when I saw one such man who lacked a pair legs itself.� This adage can give a new philosophy, a sanguine logic, a dawn of contentment. Introspections of such nature as this can change the flow of life in a positive direction, and inferiority complex can be kept at bay.

Nevertheless, irrespective of our cerebral preparedness and logical orientation, the moment we face inimical circumstances, our emotions take better of us making us go weak in the knee at crucial juncture.

And that�s what we really are, not withstanding our erudition at relationships, reflections and analysis of anything that matters. Not only that, we even seem to forecast future. No wonder every Tom, Dick and Harry around us seems to suggest what is right, what is important, what is apt and and which policy matter is suitable and sacrosanct.

But even sentience has a measure of it. Often it is the score of others that we are mere apt to read. Sitting on judgement, we scarce fail to indicate what ought to be done, and how a particular problem need to be addressed. We owe, so to say, expert advisors. But like a weather forecast gone wrong, psychoanalysis and statistical jugglary often fail in practical life.

On a positive note, there is no such stage in life where you are absolutely content or absolutely crest fallen. May be this happens in stories and folk lores. But on ground realities it never happens that a chunk of time period is all bad, or all good. Albeit hopes and despairs alternate, making us tick under all circumstances.

Dr. Daniel Gilbert, a psychologist at Harward University has tried to explain flush of human emotions and impact of good and bad news on human mind, with two quintessential examples. In first example, a man gets a message on phone that he is lucky recepient of a token prize. In second, a man informs his friend that he is fired from job. Now of loosing your bread and butter can be horrowing. For a moment one may feel trapped in a blind suffocating tunnel, desperate to find a way out. However, avers Dr. Gilbert, a bad news doesn�t elicit an SOS response, nor a good one makes a person feel on seventh heaven.

Dr. Gilbert cites many examples from daily life occurences to supoort his contention. As in preceeding two examples, excitement of a jackpot winner too lacks for a few seconds only�and thereafter it is back-tobasics. Happiness that stays for long, as a matter of fact, comes from emotions of an altogether different kind. Gaity that comes as a thunderbolt, passes of as quickly as it comes. Behavioural experts concede that it�s a bit difficult to realise that permanent happiness flows from mature relationships, practical wisdom and faith in perennial laws of nature. A lottery, a raise, or an award can�t elevate euphoria for long. A lasting cheer comes from feeling good, easy and being level headed in face of odds.

Emotional upsurges, by their very nature, are potent biochemical reaction in parlance of human mind, trigerred by good or bad life experiences. This upsurge is transitory. When it recedes, giving way to other benign thoughts, a resurge of it on second thought doesn�t carry its earstwhile impact. With time, tempers cool and emotions level off. Most people, thankfully, remain content and poised most of the time, and only temporarily stirred in sanguine situations�only to bounce back to their cheerful self soon after. Thomas Brown, the 17th Century writer famously said : �Of all living beings, I am the most content and happiest of the lot. I have the where withal to change adversity into prospertiy, and sorrows into happiness. Neither the spell of good fortune, nor of bad times can alter my positive state of mind. Such a favourable state of mind, doubtless, is within reach of an overage person.

All sorrows and disappointments related to one�s personal life are insignificant since one overcomes them in a matter of few day�s time. Such resurrection is nothing but man�s innate potential to surmount odds.� 

Be it the arena of science, literature or public life, there have been countless such men in all eras of time, who turned the tide of odds to their very own advantage. They are of the kind who are neither overwhelmed by their success nor sulk in a remote corner when down and out.

Mental tension, loneliness, desperation, feeling of void and being cut off from environment, feeling ill at ease and dejected for no rhym or reason; all these are tell tale symptoms of depression or stress� the second most rampant of human diseases worldwide over.

Source - Mystic India