The Little Monsters

I am sure you are familiar with the little monsters we all face. I'll call them 'little' because they usually end up affecting our day-to-day life...
I imagine them sitting on my left shoulder and whispering (not so heart warming) thoughts in my ear.
This is also yet another reason to call them 'little', coz otherwise you'll start walking funnily if you imagine a huge monster landing on your left shoulder :P (a pathetic joke...agreed :-P)
The best way to fight them is to notice them, recognize them for who they are...acknowledge them, brush them off...and then shrug as if nothing's the matter at all!

The little blue monster with its drooping face, and a smile that looks at you as if you are the most utterly helpless creature in this world.
Its big round eyes shine like a mirror and seem to say, "Look at you, you poor old dear...why do only you have to suffer..?"
*Sigh*'
You know what its called?
Self pity.
Sometimes it comes disguised as 'Sadness', but you'll find that mostly, it is indeed self pity masking itself.
Its dangerous.
It gnaws at your heart, makes you weak and feel 'oh-so-helpless'.
It brings tears more easily than any other thing...and takes you on a thankless, never ending journey in the sea of woe, on a shabby boat titled 'Pity' in big bold lettering.
Look at it in the eye, give it your 'sunniest-ever' smile and shove it away with a brush of your arm.

The monsterly red creature with devilish horns, wielding a spear, that sends fiery sparks into your head and you can't think straight.
All you want is to destroy/hurt the thing/person who's provoked you (no matter how small a reason).
All sense seems to leave you, and you often end up hurting the people you love.
There's a name for it. Anger. Hatred.
And Regret/Remorse is the best friend of this little red devil, who often follows in its footsteps to enjoy the aftermath.
Send off the red devil with cool, calm, firm blows (the kind you use on those magic birthday candles that glow up every time you blow them off) and watch it melt away.

The orange, plump (actually cute looking) dwarf who lands on your shoulder and doesn't seem to leave you alone...who pesters you and waves a huge post-it in front of you all day long, to remind you of 'what you didn't do' or 'what you did do', every time you go about your day-to-day work.
Who drives away peace of mind and is the worst enemy of your self worth.
It's better known in our world as Guilt. Remorse.
Trap it as soon as you sense it landing on your (left) shoulder.
Although, do read and 'act' on its post-it note. Its never too late :)

This one needs no introduction. Its Green. Its familiar. And is thought to be an oft visiting one (or so everyone says) and yet, no one claims familiarity with it.
It makes the grass always look greener on the other side. (Needless to say, it hides the "other side's" sky high water bill too) :P
Yeah, you guessed it right.
Jealousy. Envy.
Hmm...just remind yourself of your 'decent', 'managable' water bill and your garden will start looking much greener ;)
This monster tends to leave by itself if you just ignore it. Don't pay any heed to its taunts. Act as if its not there.
And it goes away from the lack of your attention. Whoosh!

Another "red family" colour monster comes most times by invitation. i.e by our own doing or mindset.
It paralyses.
You go absolutely numb.
Fingers cold. Toes as stiff as icicles. And the forehead as hot as burning coals.
Fear.
Way to fight it? Acknowledge it, give it a warm welcome, and watch it lose its power as soon as it realizes you have recognized it and are ready to tackle it.
Yes, easy to preach. Really difficult to practice.

The black monster. Its weapon is smoke. It silently comes and puts a hood of thick big black smoke around you...
Your vision blurs. Your senses go numb.
All you can see is what the monster wants you to see.
Black.
Pitch black.
Depression.
You need a lot of willpower to remove the hood and shove off the monster with all your strength.
Then it vanishes and the sun shines through.

There's yet another li'l monster, although people often get confused whether to call it an Angel or a Monster. ;)
This monster is extremely good looking, and with purple robes and a golden crown to boot; it has the attitude of a king. And it makes you feel like you own the world too!
Ah, Ego.
Entertain this one too much and it will surely get in the mood to partyyy away. It then becomes a most generous host and invites all its friends - Jealousy, Anger, Hate and Fear - to party at your expense - literally! :-|
And if you don't entertain this one at all, it will still call its friends - Self Pity and Depression to party (again) at your expense!!
Beware of this one, that's all I can say, coz I struggle to keep too little, or too much of this one on my left shoulder :-|

There's another one. Probably less scarier than the others, but equally dangerous.
And I can already see it just trying to land on my shoulder, because I can't seem to think of a colour for it...and suddenly am thinking of ending this blog post right here.
It ventures around people who look 'busy doing nothing'.
Hah! Laziness.
It also often drags along its best friend too - Boredom.
You can never say who visits first. :P
Want to drive it mad? Go get something done.
It dares not venture around people who are busy 'doing something' (meaningful, if you might)

I think I barely managed to drive off the last mentioned monster.

However, an angel called Sleep beckons me now and I would really love to go along and drift off in lands far away, dream onn...and may be fight some monsters of my own ;-)

Happy Monster Fighting to you! :)

Adios.