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| Edited By: Birender Ahluwalia |Source: DNA webdesk |Updated: Sep 30, 2017, 09:09 AM IST
The Olympics captures the fascination of the world like no other event. It transcends race, countries, cultures, language, gender, fame, and income. The Olympics is where we witness an entire spectrum of emotions being expressed. Within minutes, we can go from soaring in hope to frustration and sadness. We see athletes show courage in the face of competitors whose reputations evoke awe in the minds of spectators and fear in their competitors.
Recognising, expressing and acknowledging emotions are a part of what makes us human. Emotions, negative or positive, carry vital bits of information which need to be distilled so that actions are planned accordingly. The key is to recognise the little insight that our brains are trying to give us through an emotion.
There is adequate research establishing the fact that emotions can provide us with energy and power to propel us towards goals that will help us lead flourishing lives. In the same breath, I would even say that emotions could derail our pursuit of meaningful goals.
When we express emotions, it makes people uncomfortable. A tribesman showing fear might demoralise the entire hunting party. Therefore, we found it easier to make someone mask his or her feelings. We did that by saying “take it easy” or “calm down”.
When I lose a contract, it upsets me. The last thing I want to hear is to "be positive”or being asked to calm down. It makes me feel worse. The anger and frustration propels me towards finding out what went wrong. What works for me is getting feedback and changing my pitch for the next client. Now, I am getting better at using my emotions to propel me to both reach out to people and get better at work. Note the phrase— getting better.
The grief over losing a loved one, the news that you can never have a child or having a house destroyed in floods cannot be allayed by with empty words— “it happens for the best” or “does not matter” or, the worst, “it’s okay”.
The Olympics is a terrific primer for understanding the spectrum of emotions. Athletes begin to arrive at the Village where, regardless of fame, every athlete is given the same status. Across the world, athletes bring their own hopes and the hopes of their countries. At the time of writing this article, 4809 gold medals have been won. Forty-seven countries have never won a gold medal in their entire history, a rather poignant indicator of the hopes carried on the shoulders of the young athletes.
This year 207 “countries” participated in the Olympics. I place the countries in quotes because a Refugee Olympic Team was constituted to recognise ten athletes who were displaced from their country of origin. As a country, Kuwait was banned from the Olympics, but its athletes were allowed to participate as Independent Olympic Athletes, underlining the fact that Olympics is a cauldron of emotion-laden inclusion and acceptance. Let’s start with the strongest of negative emotions, grief and sadness.
Grief is an immediate response to severe loss. It indicates a time when someone or something important is taken away. It could even be a long-cherished dream.
French gymnast Samir AitSaid suffered a brutal injury to his leg. The sickening snap reverberated through the entire stadium. His career is obviously in jeopardy. So how did he respond?
Samir Ait Said grimaces in pain after breaking his leg during competition on the vault (Reuters)
The Kubler–Ross model of grieving suggests phases of denial – anger – bargaining – depression – acceptance.
What do you think Samir did? For that let's see the emotion of hope.
Hope is the only positive emotion that needs negativity for it to surface. If everything was going well, you would never need hope. What sets humans apart from other species is the ability to visualise their future.
As Richard S Lazarus said, “Hope is fearing the worst, but yearning for better”. Hope is the ability to see a goal for yourself and build a self-belief in your ability to find a way around the obstacles.
So what does Samir do? He sets his sight on Tokyo 2020.
He is already laughing with his caregivers and medical staff.
Wow! French Olympic gymnast @samiraitsaid1 is up&walking after that terrible injury & surgery. How awesome is he?! pic.twitter.com/gurYJjP7ax — Lisa West (@TheRealLisaWest) August 14, 2016
A socialite tweeted about the woeful performance of Indian athletes at Rio. It set off a storm. We felt our values were violated. How dare someone question the commitment of our athletes? How dare someone belittle us? As adrenaline surges through the body, we experience an increased heart rate and blood pressure. Our body is primed to fight or flee. In this case, we chose to fight. The result was ridicule, ostracism and abuse.
Interestingly, anger could also be used as a response to fear, sadness or injustice. Let’s think about what do athletes when they face a situation where anger can be warranted. Some chose inspiration.
Was India ever an Olympic inspiration? I want to take you back to the year 1928 when the Olympics were held in Amsterdam. You could imagine the contingent that would have sailed from the Indian shores. The hope of India would have been rather slim.
In the entire tournament, the Indian hockey team did not concede a single goal. The tournament also saw the coming of Major Dhyan Chand. This report by a Dutch journalist sums it up rather well. "The Indian ball seems ignorant of law of gravity. One of those tanned, diabolical jugglers stares at the ball intently; it gets upright and remains suspended in the air. It only proceeds on its way when the player has bestowed an approval nod on it."
The hockey team came back with its first gold medal and went on to win gold in Los Angeles (1932), Berlin (1936), London (1948), Helsinki (1952) and Melbourne (1956). India was invincible.
But the era was about to end. Now inspiration has an evil twin called envy.
India was obviously the team to beat. The year was 1960. India had sent their best ever hockey team to the Rome Olympics. For the first time in decades, Pakistan ended our run to win their first gold medal at the Olympics.
After Rome, we regained the title in Tokyo in 1964 and Moscow in 1980. There ended the reign of Indian hockey.
But when there is envy, the stories of awe overshadow them.
Now we finally arrive at the story of athlete Khashaba Jadhav. At the London Olympics (1948), Khashaba bhau stood sixth. During the Olympic trials for Helsinki (1952), the story goes that the officials gave him one point less to disqualify him. He was enraged and approached the Maharajah of Patiala, who arranged for him to be allowed at the trials.
Even though he had qualified, he did not have any money. His college principal, Barrister Balasaheb Khardekar, mortgaged his own home for Rs 7,000 with a bank and gave the money to Khashaba. Now, is that not an awe-inspiring moment? When a teacher has faith in his student. When a teacher is willing to sacrifice his own well-being for a student. When a teacher is willing to help a student achieve his dream without any hope of payback from a distant city called Helsinki?
Jadhav became one of the first Indian athletes to win a medal at the Olympics.
We are familiar with the ways we can be disappointed. The key is in the response. How quickly do people bounce back from disappointment? Some people can get mired in it and just give up on their pursuits. Some people use it as a platform for growth and mastery. But was it really disappointment?
Barbara Fredrickson calls pride an occasion when we are to “blame” for something good happening. While empty pride may be a sin, she explains, “When pride is tempered with appropriate humility, it becomes a positive emotion”. Pride takes place when we feel we contributed to the success.
We felt great pride when Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik, and PV Sindhu showed us their exploits. We felt our cheers, encouragement and prayers were with them. We felt we were a part of their journey. When athletes thank their audience, it is usually not an empty accolade. They can feel the tailwind spurring them. They can sense the billion prayers. It spurs them the little bit more.
But do read this report from the Government archives—
“But an Olympic medal is an Olympic medal and a first is always special. The victory procession at the Karad railway station was a see-it-to-believe scene. There were dhols along with a 151 bullock cart procession right from the outskirts of Goleshwar to the Mahadeva temple which is normally a 15 minute walk. It took seven long hours that day and no one was complaining. There was a feeling of pride and every villager was basking in that moment of glory. Khashababhau brought the small village of Goleshwar , earlier a dot on the map, to the fore. The whole world knew and recognized Goleshwar as the village which gave India its first-ever Olympic champion."
Let’s now move away from India and to the frustration of global athletes.
Frustration arises when someone places an obstacle in your path. It could be an irrational policy, or someone not supporting you or someone’s ill-placed intent. It leads to feeling inadequate and, therefore, you might withdraw from your chosen path. Frustration occurs when something seems out of your control.
How do athletes respond? Dick Fosbury responded with curiosity.
Before 1968, athletes would execute the high jump using either the straddle technique or the scissors cut.
Ethel Catherwood in the 1928 Olympics. (Wikimedia Commons)
Fosbury was suffering from a weak ligament and he could not jump as high as other athletes. Being a Civil Engineer, he studied the centre of gravity of his body, and invented the ‘Fosbury Flop’.
Since 1977, every world record holder has used the ‘flop’ instead of the straddle.
Sometimes the fear of fear does drive us.
Fear — an expectation of future threat or risk to your life or something that you value
No athlete likes to finish last. That is why the phrase goes, “You don’t win silver, you lose gold”. It drives them harder than ever before.In the 1984 Olympics, even though PT Usha stood fourth in the 400m Hurdles race, she set the national record 55.42 seconds.
How does that happen? When people acknowledge their fear, they take appropriate steps. When there is fear, there is courage. Courage is a choice to confront the reality of the oncoming pain, danger or uncertainty by taking corrective actions.
Fear of financial insecurity after retirement might force you to save more today. Fear of medical bills or physical disability might drive you to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Fear of loneliness might drive you to seek and develop new friendships. The fear of a lost job might drive you to value your current job a bit more.
This brings me to the last positive emotion of gratitude
Gratitude — when someone has gone beyond their usual for you
We saw legends take their final bow. We owe them gratitude. To Michael Phelps, who broke records and inspired awe and yet was an epitome of dignity when he lost to Joseph Schooling. To Usain Bolt, who showed us that you can overcome a hamstring injury to flash a smile at the camera while winning a race.
To Balasaheb Khardekar, who gave an Olympic hero a chance. (To complete that story, after his victory, Jadhav went on to participate in wrestling tournaments and used the winning purse to pay back his debt.)
Finally, we owe gratitude to Yusra Mardini. While fleeing Syria with her sister, they boarded a boat with fifteen other immigrants. In the middle of the Aegean Sea, the boat stopped. She, along with her sisters and two other swimmers, jumped out and pulled the boat for over three hours till they reached Greece. Yusra Mardini was chosen as one of ten athletes to represent the Refugee Olympics Team.
Make no mistake. Life is one big Olympic event where we pit against seen and unseen competitors. We are constantly chasing medals in the form of material goods, validation of our peers and, perhaps, even self-validation.
The principle of Olympism is worth repeating here-
“Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”
Impossible, impractical and idealistic as it may sound, it is a possibility that we can pursue and get better at it. Just as we can harness the power of both positive and negative emotions to pursue our life goals.
The author is the Founder of The Positivity Company, where he helps business leaders become more positive and productive. Birender can be reached on birender.ahluwalia@gmail.com.
