Responding Wisely, Rather Than Reacting Emotionally

In life and in your everyday activities, in your family, workplace, relationships, etc, there will be situations that will arise, which may want to challenge your emotions. In these situations, you will need wisdom in order to respond, rather than react. One of the things that I have understood is that most of the reactions that people do out of emotions will not be worth it. This is why, when things happen, you can choose your peace of mind over having an emotional outburst. This is not weakness but it is actually a demonstration of self-control, maturity, and strength. More so, when you are supposed to react out of emotions (like out of anger), but you choose not to, you are rewiring your brain to better adapt to situations - which is wisdom.

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Your response to the issues of life is determined by your level of wisdom. Wisdom, simply put, is the ability to put to application what you have known and understood, in a practical and thoughtful way. For example, if you know what to do to make money from the farm products that you have just harvested from your farm - like to sell them, process them, etc, you still need to go ahead and do it for it to profit you. If you did not act on it, even though you know what to do, you may not get profit from the farm products, and they may spoil when kept for long. In life, it does not stop at knowing what to do and even knowing how to do it, there is a need for you to go ahead and do it.

What differentiates wisdom and emotions is that the former relates to acting on knowledge and understanding, while the latter is a natural human response which is often sudden, unplanned, and unpredicted. Just to be clear; emotions are not bad, but allowing them to determine your actions and influencing your decision is what is not good because it can lead to destructive actions and responses. But wisdom demands that when confronted with situations, you have to pause, take a moment to think and reflect, then act in a constructive way that will build, not destroy.

Over the years, and in my experiences in life, I have come to understand that one of the real life applications of wisdom is in your ability to keep calm when confronted by a tensed situation. There are points you will get to and you will understand the phrase "silence is golden." For example; if someone comes to you and starts to shout at you and behaving madly, if you join the person to shout and behave in the same manner, both of you will be labelled mad people. But in that event, wisdom demands that you should hold yourself back from shouting back and reacting, instead you can take a walk if you cannot act objectively. Wisdom teaches one to consider the effects and consequences of their action (which includes the long-term effects, the feelings of others) before they even take it.

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In addition, responding wisely also takes "timing" into consideration. There are things you may say or do, which are not bad themselves, but the time at which you say or do them may negatively affect their overall result. Know when to act and when not to act, when to talk and when not to talk, when to respond and when not to respond. Always have in mind that what you say can stand against you later, without a recourse to whether you were angered or not. There are sometimes that even a no response will be far better than a response. When you are faced with an argument, maybe with your friend or a loved one, you will understand that the ultimate goal is not to win the argument but it is to preserve the friendship or relationship. I mean, what is the point of winning an argument and then sacrificing the relationship you have with the person?

Responding wisely also means relating with people on the basis of empathy. That is, you should get to understand why the person acted or spoke the way they did, and know what prompted it, then you will understand better how to respond to them. Wisdom makes you to see things beyond just your own perspective and learn to see things how others also see them. When you understand people's point of view and where they are coming from, even if you do not agree with them, you will be more compassionate and less angry with their actions, which will help you to respond to them better, constructively, and more peaceful.

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