Many people spend a lot of time trying to control their emotions by pushing away sadness, overanalysing stress, or feeling guilty for not being positive enough. But a comment by Ranbir Kapoor during a conversation with entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath on his podcast titled offers a different perspective on emotional well-being.
In the podcast, he said, “You see, the reason why I’m happy is that I don’t mind what happens. So I don’t mind. If I’m in pain, if I’m feeling sad, I will feel sad, and I don’t question it. I’ll go through the beats of it. If I’m happy, I’ll go through the beats of it. So I don’t mind it. It’s fine. And I really believe in that philosophy.”
For those who often feel overwhelmed by their feelings or criticised for being ‘too emotional,’ this raises an important conversation about what really looks like.
This is where an expert’s insight becomes essential to understand whether embracing emotions without questioning them can genuinely contribute to mental well-being, and how people can practise this in their daily lives.
Dr Sakshi Mandhyan, psychologist and founder at Mandhyan Care, tells indianexpress.com, “Allowing an emotion to run its natural course tends to reduce its intensity. When people try to push sadness away or analyse it too quickly, the mind creates what we psychologists describe as secondary distress. This is the additional layer of guilt, fear or self-judgement that becomes heavier than the original feeling. In my work, I notice that when someone permits themselves to simply feel what is present, their nervous system settles and their body stops fighting itself.”
She adds that many people struggle with this because they were taught to avoid discomfort from a very young age. Some were told not to cry, some felt responsible for holding the family together, and then many learnt that emotional expression is unsafe. “This conditioning creates experiential avoidance, which is the tendency to fear our own inner world. Ranbir’s approach reflects emotional permission. When we stop questioning every feeling, the body relaxes and healing becomes easier.”
A mindset like this typically grows from mindful acceptance, Dr Mandhyan says, which is the ability to acknowledge reality without losing emotional presence. It is not indifference. It is a form of . “People who practice this learn to observe their feelings instead of becoming absorbed in them. This is a central idea in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, where awareness and acceptance come before action.”
Dr Mandhyan mentions, “A helpful approach is to start with very small emotional doses. Instead of pushing themselves to face everything at once, one can spend one or two minutes sitting with the feeling and then return to grounding. This seemingly trivial step prevents emotional flooding and gradually builds tolerance. Naming the feeling also helps.”
Grounding tools like slow breathing, touching a cold object, focusing on the feet, or placing a hand on the chest help anchor the body. Many people also benefit from a brief written check-in. These small steps train the mind to move through the emotion rather than escape from or become trapped by it, states the expert.
