John had recently lost his brother in a road traffic accident. He was himself working as an executive and had a busy life. But he found that the more he did not want to feel sad, the more he felt stressed out. As a result he could not hold himself back. One evening on returning home from work, he cried and cried and cried. After sleeping that night, he woke up in the morning to feel much better than he had felt over previous days.

Emotions produce stress in the body and stress produces emotions. A paradox. Yet it is true. The reason mother Nature gave us emotions was to