Friday, March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 18, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Feel the pain of others, not treat it as a contagious pandemic

Stay emotionally closer to your dear and near ones to tide over the difficult situations
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Whether at work, in a new group of friends, or even in your own family circles, it is normal for individuals to stay away from or stop conversation with sad or pessimistic people. We fear it will infect us like coronavirus.


When we truly love others who are suffering, we can’t pretend not to see their frustration or worries. We can help those we love by accepting them for who they are. Let us accept that others have a right to be their own unique persons. That means having a right to their own feelings, thoughts and opinions.


Emotions are exchanged through facial expressions and tones of communication. Interestingly, you may have found that when you interact with certain people, you open up more than usual, but with others guarded.


In other words, you don't have to tolerate someone because their bad mood is unbearable. Many of us must have come across a workplace wrecked by negative demeanor or bad behavior of one or two persons. That reminds us of the saying, “one bad apple can spoil the bunch.".


If you are happily working from home and are looking forward to not returning to the office, it may be because Covid-19 pandemic has put you out of an unhappy office.


Just like an irritating colleague spoils the work environment, intolerable social media figures or influencers with huge following can spread their negativity to millions.


How can we help others if we ourselves are not optimistic? For instance, during an emergency in a flight you can't assist your neighbour with an oxygen mask without you putting it first properly. So start each day with new hopes and sufficiently build it up to help out someone else.


It is not easy to lift someone out of sadness or pain. But start by gently diverting the attention of those in low spirits to activities that they love. It improves the state of mind.


I think that an individual should realise that the people who love him don't want him to suffer. So, he or she should not withdraw from social circles or pretend to be happy just to make others more comfortable. This won’t help anyone.


The unhappiness of those around us can indeed be contagious, but we don't have to tackle it like the pandemic with physical distancing. Stay emotionally closer to your dear and near ones to tide over the difficult situations.


Life is a mixture of happiness, sadness, anger, laughter, indifference, hatred, envy and other emotions. Sadness reminds us of the importance of happiness in our life. Treat it as a minor irritant. Sadness gives us the opportunity to look inward and strive for a better way of living. It also helps us to feel the pain of others..


(The author is a physician, medical innovator and writer)


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