The uncertainty of the world can brew a concoction of conflicting emotions within you. You might be feeling frustrated about your finances, impatient to get back to work, outraged over police brutality, or just exhausted with the present situation.
It’s natural for emotions to flare up from time to time, but the important thing is to not let your emotions get out of hand. To help you keep your emotions in check, try following these four steps.
Recognize that no emotion is wrong: Your emotions aren’t right or wrong; rather, they are a part of you. Understanding this is key. Once you recognize that all emotions are normal, it becomes easier to return to a more positive state of mind. The key is to allow your feelings to come and go like visitors: welcome them, get to know them, then show them the door.
Transform what you feel: Humans have an incredible ability to take a feeling and change it into something more productive or enlightening. To change emotions, you must apply logic. Reasoning through your feelings can help you differentiate between rational and irrational emotions and dissociate yourself from unhealthy ones like fear, worry, and anger. For example, it’s rational to feel disappointed for being fired from your job but irrational to feel disappointed in yourself if it wasn’t your fault. And if you remember that harboring negative emotions will only hurt you, it might help you turn those negative emotions into something more positive.
Balance your ego and higher self: While the ego can protect you, the problem is that the ego disregards the “we” and emphasizes the “me.” If left unchecked, it can easily push aside empathy to spotlight personal ambitions, which can spark emotions like intolerance and selfishness. To keep your ego in check, try doing something good for others. It’s well-known that when you do something good for others, you encourage emotions that make you feel good, thus helping you achieve your goal of mitigating negative emotions.
Take actions that encourage healthy emotions: Like the last step suggests, doing something to help another can encourage healthy emotions. That said, there are more things you can do to encourage healthy emotions, such as journaling, exercising, or doing something you genuinely enjoy. When you take action, you take control.
