We gravitate towards our likes and move away from our dislikes. On the face of it, it seems like the natural thing to do. And yet there is a deeper impact of this oscillation in our minds.

The same object is liked by some and disliked by others. Clearly it is not the object itself, but our emotion associated with it which gives rise to our world of likes and dislikes. But interestingly, the emotion itself is not consistent. An object of desire at one point can give us unhappiness at another point in time.

This makes us realise that very often we don’t see things as they are but the way we want to see them. We miss out on enriching relationships when we brand people, deciding we dislike everyone from that background. And we blindly support people we like. Our dislikes can make us judgemental and our likes can cloud our judgement.

When objects of desire get impacted, we experience a low and when events are favourable, we experience a high. When we allow our minds to start mirroring the volatility in life, we have sacrificed our tranquillity and peace at the altar of our likes and dislikes. 

The answer lies in our ability to stand equidistant from our likes and dislikes. When we develop the ability to witness the emotion rather than become the emotion, we suddenly discover a self-awareness within. 

And we start viewing and experiencing life differently. We become open to change. We allow others in our lives we have closed our minds to. We see events as events and not as calamities. We enjoy the moment. We learn acceptance and enjoy that which is with us now, rather than running away and mentally longing for something different. We live with the experience and not the emotion attached to it.

We are fooling ourselves if we think we can rid our dislikes and only live with what we like. They are two sides of the same coin.