Friday, September 21, 2007

The Scale

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I noticed the weighing scale in the corner of our closet. Since it had been a couple of months since it was last used, I decided to find out how things had changed ..

"161!!" I told my wife, with a smile on my face. My weight is usually in the high 160 range. "Oh great .." came her reply. She was not happy about it. She resented the fact that I always lost weight without any effort when she on the other hand was trying so hard, trying all kinds of methods, and not reaching the desired results.

Anyways, she pushed me out of the room so she could use the scale. A few seconds later, she came out with a sad look on her face. She refused to tell me how much it was. All she said was she had gained 4 lbs in the last 2 months.

She was still sad as I kissed her cheek and left for work. It made me sad.

5 comments:

Deepali said...

Isn't is so pathetic that we can get sad (especially for someone else) so much more quickly than we can get happy (for someone).

Cosmic Joy said...

I wonder who takes credit for your comment .. your hardcore pessimism or the dark reality :-)

Deepali said...

It's absolutely true so it's not a pessimistic outlook.

And it's not only about happiness and sadness - it's about all emotions.
You get angry faster at incidents than feeling at peace after certain equally important incidents.

Hatred comes so naturally but it takes conscious effort to love everything around.

Nervousness arrives more easily than exhilaration.

Envy consumes faster than does joy for another.

We feel more scared than we do confident.

Take whichever negative emotion you want. They always seem to be more 'natural' where as many times positive emotions needs to be found consciously.

I can't figure why, so I don't ask. If I did ask the only answer I would have to settle for is that we all love everything that is negative or that we have got so used to life being negative that positives need to be bought in consciously.

Not saying that everything is dark all the time but in comparison there is more darkness than there is light.

Cosmic Joy said...

I disagree. In my opinion, negative emotions do not play a bigger role than positive ones. But for sure they appear to leave a bigger impression in our minds than positive ones.

As I reflect on my daily life, I see a mix of good and bad .. but for the most part I see good. It may be that I have been lucky to have had a good life so far, but there have been the bad phases too. In hindsight, I feel more happy than sad.

All of us in this world crave for good things, for happiness, and a better life for ourselves and our loved ones. This is of supreme importance to each of us. We are always scared of the thought of losing these. This causes us to get scared easily, and get nervous quickly. It also causes other negative emotions .. envy, greed, etc. These negative emotions are beneath the surface in the back of our minds and souls. When life is going smoothly, they take the back-stage. However, when the waters get rough, they make a comeback ..

BTW, I appreciate all your comments. They serve two purposes .. one is to make me happy someone is reading my ramblings .. and the other is to show me a different viewpoint and challenge my core beliefs. Thanks.

Deepali said...

Haha having your core beliefs questioned is not always the most ideal thing - sure it helps you to get a more solid understanding of things and creates stronger beliefs but it needs some preparation. You need to be ready to go through hell in the short term. While you know the benefits will always be there in the end, it's not like you can take on hell any and/or every day.

The good thing though is that you are open to someone else's POV. Most people aren't. I am not anymore - or have conditional consideration because I just feel as of now it is better for me to believe what I believe.