There are times when I get bogged down by things happening around me. Recently on a trip to Kanha National park, we failed to have a good sighting of a tiger. The others on the same day had spotted a male tiger walking towards them on the mud path. I felt, understandably, very unlucky for not having spotted the tiger. We had 5 more safaris in the coming days to no avail.

Why is it so easy for us to feel that we the only ones suffering while the rest of the world is doing great. It has taken me some time to realize this. Self-pity is a horrible never ending space that makes the world a sad place. The moment you are free from it, you will start living life differently. I, for one, fall into this loop of feeling bad about the things around me the moment a single thing does not go my way. And it is very hard to break from these thoughts.

I used to feel the best way break away from these thoughts are to from the situation. Over time I have devised a hand break for myself, the moment I feel the entire weight of my misery, I remember that this moment does not define my entire life. This moment is a fleeting and small part of my life and that tomorrow can be better! After I hit the breaks on the thoughts, I process my feelings and try to understand what triggered the downfall of emotions.

The triggers ranges from something as trivial as long queue in the bank and the teller shutting the window down the moment it is my turn to me not getting recognized for the hard work I put in at work. When I stumble on a trigger my thoughts begin racing and pick memories of misery. But with the hand breaks, I start seeing these memories are of little importance and the emotions were a blip in my life. Once I began treating each misfortune as a trivial one, my self-pity loop has reduced from days to hours.

The other thing I do, is focus on the positives. I make a list of things that are going well in my life- family, friends, work, health and so on. I am so grateful for each sunrise and sunset I get to witness, each meal I enjoy.

As for my trip to Kanha, we did see a few interesting animals that filled our pallet for nature. 🙂