An Emotional release or an Accumulation ?

“O hateful error, melancholy's child, 
    Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men 
    The things that are not? O error, soon conceived, 
    Thou never comest unto a happy birth, 
    But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee!”

During my schooldays, I paraphrased these lines from ‘Julius Caesar’ over and over again but I recently felt connected to these lines over some of the recent dismaying turn of events. From the play’s point of view, these lines talk about how Cassius resigns to his fate, tries to fight on but ultimately surrenders and ends his life’s journey. But the movie, ‘The Lake House’ made me connect to these lines from a drastically different point of view.  

Ever noticed how we enjoy romantic comedy films on the absolutely carefree days and spend long hours watching back to back films from the drama genre specially the ones which have tragic endings. This particular behavior is not restricted to movies itself. Even our reading tastes consistently complement to our moods. Your days are sunny and you are reading Cecelia Ahern’s ‘The Gift’, Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Five Point Someone’, Sidney Sheldon’s ‘Tell Me Your Dreams’ and as soon as you are surrounded by gloomy blues, you start shifting your reading preferences towards classics like Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’, Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s ‘Love in the time of cholera’, Erich Segal’s ‘Love Story’, Danielle Steel’s ‘Heartbeat’ and so on and so forth. Now, the ones who stay away from books are no exceptions. Their musical tastes go hand in hand with their mood swings. From the songs of ‘Red Hot Chilli Peppers’, suddenly the playlist gets loaded with John Denver’s classic tracks.

Before I proceed with the post further, let me paraphrase these lines the way I connect to them. All our mistakes can be considered as the children of our sad thoughts. These very thoughts blind us completely and messes up with our reality in colossal ways. Ultimately, instead of relieving us from grief, it attracts more sadness and negativity into our lives.

Sounds confusing, isn’t it? Indeed it is!

Now, just think when we are feeling terribly low and depressed, why are we immediately inclined towards listening to sad songs or why do we like watching movies wherein the protagonists suffer at the end?

 This reminds me of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s famous quote,

 “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts”.

Very much true! These fictional characters and sad songs make us connect to them and we feel we are not alone living with pains. For some time, we consider them as some emotional healers and term them as the perfect escape. But, in reality, these movies and books paint our lives with deeper blues during the already blue phases and thus, instead of acting as an emotional release or an outlet, ends up accumulating more and more melancholy in our hearts. So, why do we still let our thoughts be the final decision makers? Let your spirit rise. The blues will indeed make you feel low, desolated and take you away from reality but, it is in your hands to make the final verdict. 

Don’t indulge in any of these forms of literature because literature is more powerful than you think it is. It can take you to cloud # 9 and in the next second instantly make you fall on ground from that height without any parachute and then, you know, where you land, right? The ultimate ‘Land of Despair’. Save yourself from the land of despair and keep yourself engaged with everything entertaining and no serious stuff and see your blues lighten and how magically your mood too brightens.

Cheers!