Different ways, same motive

Feelings when accumulated can cause havoc, so they should be expressed. How one does is according to the personality of the person. Our readers share their ways of expressing themselves and add that there is no right or wrong way of doing it

I like expressing myself through my poems. For me, this is an inner world of deeper feelings, self-realisation and understanding that actually helps me explore inwards and to connect to the world. The words that come out through my pen on a particular topic in my poems help me bridge this deep connection and share my feelings with people around me. Often taking photographs capturing a particular mood or event of nature or the surrounding society helps me connect to that myself better while expressing.

— Saikat Kumar Basu, Lethbridge AB, Canada

If and only if we could express our feelings, just imagine what would our life be like — free of tension, no frustrations et cetera. Expressing our feelings is extremely complicated. It’s so hard to express what we feel and find people who understand us. For me, feelings are complicated along with the way to express them. Mostly I don’t express my feelings to anyone. There are a few people who understand and know the real me. Recently there has been a time that was tough for me.

Things were getting messed up as I was staying alone without talking to anyone. Finally I talked to my best friend about my problems, which made me feel like I still can fix problems and make things normal.

— R@IN

My best friend’s name is Karuna. I love to share everything with her whether it is sad or a happy incident. Some days when I cannot meet her I prefer to play guitar which relaxes me.

— Anonymous

I express my feelings through face-to-face communication. There are so many things that I can’t express to others because it’s embarrassing. Face-to-face communication is the best way to share your feelings. I express my feelings through Facebook status also. When I say something about my problem, my friends react immediately. And I become very happy at that time because then I know they care for me.

— Jasmin Khanal, Chabahil, Kathmandu

It’s a well-known fact that people love to express themselves to make sure others know who they really are. Art, songs, conversations, dance, writings are all modes of expressing oneself which we can also call ways of our communication. When it comes to me, I would like to express myself by face-to-face communication, mainly with my friends. Anyway it doesn’t mean that I don’t feel like talking to my parents. I talk to them when they have their own problems, and if possible I try to find solution or give suggestions to them.

— Pratik Shrestha, Buddhanagar, Baneshwor

I would prefer to express myself through art and some creative tools. It has prodigious capacity to deliver the feelings forever as we can see this practice since ancient period. We have seen monasteries, temple, portraits and various forms of sculptures which are still strong and we can still communicate through them.

— Anonymous

Being an introvert person, I have always found it difficult communicating how I feel. When things pile up, there is no peace in your mind and this affects your daily activities. So, I often write about my feelings. When I start writing, it seems never ending and then I realise that there are so many untold stories and eventually I begin to calm down. I find writing as the best way to communicate, it helps me explore my feelings and also sometimes helps me get rid of it.

— Barkha Jallan

Most of the times I express myself through writing articles. Sometimes, I express my opinions by updating various Facebook posts. Recently, I’ve been using terms and languages of politics to express my thoughts and feelings while using various social networking sites. I hardly express my opinions through face-to-face communication.

If I cannot express my feelings, I just try to remain calm for a while. Then, I try to find a way to express my feelings by thinking about it hard and being mentally ready to handle the situation at a particular time. Sometimes, I even sit on the bed with my diary and pen to express my feelings and prepare for my statements and arguments to present in the particular day.

— Sanjog Karki, Tansen-6, Basantapur, Palpa

Expressing what we feel to others is a difficult task. We cannot completely make people understand about our feelings. Somehow, people choose different medium to express their feelings. In my case I use different medium for expressing my feelings depending upon the situation. When I am very happy, I express myself by dancing, singing and thanking the one who is responsible behind my happiness. In case of sadness, I express by crying — it makes the heart lighter and aids to overcome the sadness.

— Zeena Shrestha, Chabahil, Kathmandu

I mostly prefer face-to-face communication or writing my feelings down. It’s almost therapeutic. After I do this, I’m more prepared to confront the conflict with the person because I’ve gotten out some of my anger and frustration. Some other ways are —

  1. Open up a dictionary and find a list of new words that help you express your feelings. Some of the words from my collection are pensive mood, jubilant, pessimistic, optimistic, et cetera.
  2. Exercise, meditate. Express your feelings by releasing your energy and use your body to let your feelings out.
  3. Speak up. Talking about your feelings also helps to bring clarity and put things into perspective helping you understand better and express yourself.
  4. Sing or listen to music that suits and describes your situation. This too will help you a lot to express yourself.

— Anonymous

Usually when I become sad I express myself just by listening to the saddest songs of Narayan Gopal. At that time I feel that the lyrics are written for me. But at the happiest moment I share my happiness with my friends to make them happy.

— Sonika Lamichhane

I prefer face- to-face communication as my first option. Since my school days I used to draw pictures and write poems, I think those were the best ways to express feelings. As we grow, our interest, likes and dislikes change, this is applicable to me too. Perhaps that’s why nowadays painting and writing poems have been pushed aside. When I cannot express my feelings, or when I have no one to share my feelings with, my diary becomes my best friend in which I can write all my feelings. I also prefer listening to music which suits my condition at that moment.

— Safala Karki, Kathmandu

 

I find it difficult to express my feelings verbally or face-to-face. There are instances where I can create a poem and pour out my emotions. It is easier to express on paper. My way of expression is through words. If any emotion or feeling pops up in my mind then I scribble it on a paper as fast as I can. And if I don’t write those things or capture them on paper, they seem to vanish from my memory.

— Rojina Pradhan, Ravibhawan, Kathmandu

It is difficult to express our feelings. Someone who is very close to us will understand our feelings without saying a single word and there are those who will not understand what we feel no matter how long we keep blabbering. If I want to express my feelings, first I will check the situation and make the surrounding calm, and then I will communicate all my feelings, it has often worked for me.

— Abhinay Jayaswal, New Baneshwor

Whenever I need to express my feelings, I prefer face-to-face communication. As it helps us know the reaction of others throughout the communication duration. But if it isn’t possible I generally convey my views to others by sending a message.

— Oshin Chudal, Itahari, Sunsari

I prefer face-to-face communication to express my feelings. Face-to-face communication is direct and what message needs to be conveyed is done without hassle. But in case of art, sometimes the conveyed message is not understood.

— Bishnu Khimbanjar, Panauti-07, Kavre

I think we must express our feelings, when we hide them we become tensed and restless. Sometimes I too hide my feelings but sooner or later I express it knowingly or unknowingly. When I am happy, I express myself by sharing it with my sister and friends. They know it when I am happy. What I mean is when I am happy I talk a lot, if no one is there to talk, then I draw. But when I have sad feelings, most of the time I remain silent. And after sometime I write it on a paper and tear it so that I can easily forget that sadness.

— Niraj Singh

If I were to express myself, I’d simply voice my opinion either by jotting down some fine lines on a sheet of paper or venting it out with a friend who has my back. Whenever something bothers me, my stomach starts churning out of restlessness caused by the endless ripples of the chain of thoughts. That’s when I find the need to communicate about the way I feel. Not necessarily, one always needs to seek a friend’s help to untangle the tapestry of thoughts flooding in their mind. Sometimes, all it requires is introspection. Nonetheless, one must try to think more often about optimistic and important matters. Constantly dwelling on unnecessary stuff would only make you anxious. Also, it’s quite evident that feeding your mind with unnecessary thoughts and subsequently ranting about it on social media or elsewhere (like American rapper Kanye West does) would make you appear more of a doltish person. Ergo, exercise your brain wisely.

— Puzan Reezal (Eva)

Well, there are many ways of expressing our feelings in today’s world but many prefer going digital. It involves all the social media and devices that help to post our feelings and get many comments, likes and dislikes. I prefer face-to-face communication to show my feelings be it good or bad. Going digital is also my preference but I do take care that nobody get hurts for the sake of my feelings.

— RS

Like any other person I carry a lot of feelings in my heart and also I express them through different ways. Being a radio presenter I express my feelings through radio, through my show. I just share my feelings/thoughts indirectly to my listeners and also I write my feelings down. I love to write. In my view people need to be open and express their thoughts, to understand themselves better than anything else.

— Jeena Karki

Feelings are unpredictable for us. Every individual has his/her own feeling, and expresses it through different mediums as per his/her comfort level. I express my feelings by writing different poems, stories and in a dairy. I don’t like to share my feelings through face-to-face communication. As I am an introvert I prefer to keep my feelings with myself because I think others’ thoughts are different than mine.

— Ruby Shrestha, Bouddha - 6, Kathmandu

I prefer to communicate with my family, friends or strangers through casual conversation. In addition to this, I communicate with them by different body languages and facial expressions. They can understand my feelings better when I communicate like this.

— Anonymous

When I was a child, I would just cry for something unpleasant and unhealthy. While I grew up I used to pretend to be sick and cry all day in my bed. I felt uncomfortable to express to any of my family members. Now I am an adult, crying doesn’t suit me because there are people who rely on me. Thus, I just express myself on a piece of paper. A piece of paper won’t laugh at my mistakes or failures. It gives me immense lightness and I feel that I have expressed my feelings to my soulmate. The thing is when I feel comfortable I just tear it so that no one can find about it.

— Nav Raj Paneru, Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur

Sometimes I choose the medium of writing to express myself, sometimes I spend quality time in interaction, sometimes I choose to cook nice food and sometimes I use the medium of gifts to express my feelings to whom I want to. Once my mother was out of town and the day when she was returning home I thought of giving her a nice surprise by doing something new so I planned to prepare a dessert for her. I opted to make Gajar Ka Halwa for the first time. To my surprise the Halwa turned out to be so yummy that my mother was proud of me, she was complimenting me for my amazing cooking skill. Also her happiness had no limits at that point of time and getting such an amazing response I too felt so glad.

— Tejaswi Pahari, Jawalakhel, Lalitpur

Feelings are the raw materials for creating art. Usually, I don’t prefer verbal ways of expressing my feelings. Instead I write and mostly I am into photography. My pictures talk a lot about my mood and the current state of mind. Different shades of photographs say more than words.

— Sailena Thapa, Koteshwor

People have their own ways of expressing themselves. But I express my feelings through singing songs, texting, posting my feelings in the Facebook, virtual communication, writing poems, essays and stories.

— Dip Kumar Chaudhary, Kapan, Kathmandu

I prefer face-to-face communication for expressing my thoughts and feelings to the people around me. Of course, there is no standard textbook format that I can use to express myself so that people understand me well. I adjust my communication according to the need of the hour. I use varied tones, pitches, and choice of words for verbal communication, which I reinforce with appropriate body, ocular and facial expression. I have found that a piercing look can do wonders. I also use silence, knowledge, dancing skill, food, fashion, movies and musical tastes — ranging from Lou Reed, Jefferson Airplane, Rare Earth, Free and Temptations to Ramones, Stone Temple Pilots and Sex Pistols — as potent implements of expression. One tool that I use strongly to get desired effect without speaking a word is my Texan bolo tie, which makes people look at its dangling pair of laces. It earns me friendship and admirers, especially among the expatriates, who never expect a local to walk around in the wild west insignia.

— Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

When I was a child, I used to express my feelings with the help of drawing, where I drew various pictures of my feelings. Nowadays, I have been expressing my feelings through writing.

— Saroj Wagle, Dumarwana, Bara

I mostly express my feelings through face-to-face communication because this can express anything what we want to say. I think it makes it easy to express feelings. But sometimes we can express our feelings by showing some gestures like smiling, being happy et cetera.

— Rojan Pandey, Koteshwor