Being Emotional Vs Being Practical

A contradiction of ideas is what we often come across in life. May be life sort of compels us to believe that it offers only split ends for us to choose from. This tempts our ego, since it promises our intellect an opportunity to choose. One such contradiction is being practical Vs being emotional. It appears as if these are two immiscible phenomena and we can be gratified by only one. Often do we hear people swearing upon one's virtues over the other.

In the mid 1990s, Daniel Gloeman paraphrased the ‘EQ’ or Emotional Quotient- a step towards being aware of one’s own feelings with reference to others; a motivation that improves the ability to respond. This implies that for being effectively practical one also needs to be emotional.

The quality of water as a perfect blender can epitomise the principle of acceptance: the key to Emotional intelligence. It can take up beautiful colours and impart opulent tastes to all that is added to it. Similarly, Totalitarian ideologies blended with Emotional Intelligence can smartly integrate such colours and tastes to give a sort of finesses to our responses. Equipped with such responses, we can then influence one’s environment in a much better way.

For ex: You call a friend for a grand party and in your usual way thank him for coming. He would surely feel happy about it. But does it need to be told that he would feel much better if you would make him feel that the party would never be as colourful in his absence. Wouldn’t he be touched to know that the party would be simply incomplete in his absence?

Cynics dispose such an approach as exaggeration or even go to the extent of calling it a lie. But if the truth for you is to improve your own ability to respond, make a larger part of you and your surroundings happy, the bargain is still not bad. Flavouring one’s responses with heartfelt emotions can still be favoured, over dry arguments that would only reduce one’s responsibility.

At the steps of a building a blind man sat with a hat at his feet. He held up a sign saying, “I am blind; please help me”. There were only few coins in his hat. A man passing by stopped and put some coins in his hat. He then picked up the signboard and wrote something on the other sign and now placed it as a new one for people to see. Soon the hat began to fill. There were much more coins in his hat than ever. More people were helping him. 

In the afternoon the person who had changed the sign came back to see how things had fared for this blind man. The blind man recognised his footsteps, thanked him and asked him what he had written on the sign. This is what the man had changed, “It’s a beautiful day. Do enjoy it. See it for me as well......as I am Blind.”

When we offer someone else a seat of comfort, we emotionally empathise with our surroundings. Then, the the world around us expands. It then provides more space than one was ever aware of, to accommodate the kindness around him/her. We can surely find our place in it as well. Can that be called Impractical?