Ways to stay calm and joyful

Ever landed yourself in that horrifying situation, where you were trembling and unsure of what to do? And not knowing how to handle them, you start panicking.

But was it the situation that threw you off?

Or was it your mind and its self-imposed limits?

Someone’s knees would shake, addressing a crowd, while another vehemently narrates his speech. One shrivels behind in a war zone, petrified, facing life and death. Yet, another courageously faces it.

Let’s face it, not all of us are equally capable of handling everything the world throws at us.

But what causes us to panic?

What makes our hearts tremble?

And why?

Well, knowing them will give us the 5 hacks. Or knowing the 5 hacks will give us the answers to those.

1. Uncertainty: embrace it

We are people who like to hold onto things, our family, friends, home, business, goodwill, and a lot more. Which gives us our sense of belonging and identity.

And as we get used to them over time, we forget that the only constant in life is change.

If you try to hold on to everything in this seamless uncertainty and constant change that you call life, you will be disappointed.

And if you are not in terms with this fundamental nature of life and seek the comfort of certainty in this ever-changing world, staying calm is a faraway goal.

So embrace change and accept situations and learn to let go.

But why is it so hard to let go???

2. What you consider as yours…

Imagine, you are on a ride and you found a beautiful tree and felt like latching on. What would happen? You will rip your arm off.

So is life.

The tree that you felt latching onto is your possessions. Once you have possessions, the risk of losing them is inevitable. And one day, the loss is inevitable too.

Simply put, Your heart beats for anything that you consider yours. And the slightest danger to any of those, and your life goes off the rails.

Unconsciously, our minds are conditioned to possess the things that we use and enjoy. This cultivates the fear of losing them to the changing dynamics of life. And what you seem to possess today won’t be yours tomorrow, because life doesn’t allow possessions. But it lets you nurture and cherish every passing moment as they come and go…

So stop trying to possess, as nobody can, and enjoy each passing moment and people around you for what they are.

And it leads to our 3rd hack.

3. Got anything to lose??

All of us were born, and we shall die one fine day. But the in-between is the troublesome part.

As we have investment, returns, loses, gains, and a lot more of the morbid give and take to manage. But I can guarantee you. You shall leave with nothing.

All the transactions of give and take and still, you take nothing with you in the end.

But what did you come with to start with? Nothing.

You came empty-handed and you shall leave empty-handed.

All that is to be done is, enjoy the seamless chaotic beauty for some time.

It’s almost like someone offered you a free matinee show. Might be romantic or a horror show; still, it’s a free show. Because in the end, it’s just the same, you got in with nothing and came out with nothing.

In between this journey, if you assume you have something to lose, you don’t need anything more to tip you off balance. After all, it’s a free show. Cheer up.

Now, when you have nothing to lose, but you still want to play, we call it a name: game.

4. Game: where victory and failure don’t matter.

Who wouldn’t love games. Not often do you miss a chance to do something fun.

Probably the only action that most of us indulge in, with great involvement and not expecting anything from it.

No wonder children are so energetic.

They have not yet graduated to the morbid life of give and take. Where they do one action unwillingly for the sole sake of getting somewhere else.

They don’t run around joyfully to stay fit, nor do they jump around to beat the hurdlers, nor paint to become a Picasso. They do it just for the joy of it. That’s often called being playful.

And such activities are never tiring.

We were children once. How did we lose the child in us?

From the malleable and fluid, child-like mind, we ended up becoming concrete blocks of strong likes and dislikes, opinions, beliefs, and personalities. But as we said, the only constant in life is change and if you are a concrete block, you break.

So stop being dead serious and go back to being playful.

5. Perception

You might have noticed all the previous hacks are new ways to look at things. Or maybe let’s say a more appropriate way.

It’s normal for one to be unsure of how to handle a situation, but that doesn’t mean you have to be debilitated to face the situation by panicking. But our minds are conditioned that way. The unknown, for most of us, is our doomsday scenario. Precisely why death is scary.

But why fear the unknown when you can’t hold on to anything known. And why fear it, if you realize you have nothing to lose.

It’s not often hard to decondition your mind. Sometimes it’s just a matter of looking at things differently, maybe in a more appropriate way.

Change your perspective and see things as they are, with more clarity or as much as you can.

They are not just hacks if you ask me; these are the truths that we often forget. The more we embrace it, the easier life gets. And as we move further away from it, closer and closer we move towards the traps we set for ourselves. It took a lot of time to establish and concretize your mind as it is, but it does not take as much time to decondition it if you are constantly in touch with the realities of life.