Stress, Anger, Frustration. Are they all natural emotions that cannot be controlled or are they the result of a weak and untrained mind? Strong and prolonged negative emotions are known to take a toll on the body, then why do we let these feelings roam freely in the psychical realm causing harm to our physical selves?
"You just can't help it sometimes..." seems to be the most common response to the question and it seems to be the least believable. These emotions create vicious cycles: feeling frustrated hinders concentration, getting angry only escalates the situation, and feeling stressed only discourages you from resolving the issue. In this cause and effect paradigm, the effect only reinforces the cause. These feelings also lead to insomnia, depression, panic and a whole array of irrational behavior. Nothing good ever comes of this, instead we end up causing more pain to ourselves or others around us, and so it is merely not logical to dwell in these states of mental instability.
Something that has worked for me is an intangible concept that I call my Emotion Switch. The idea is as basic as ideas get, but clearly it is effective enough to deserve a post dedicated to it. As the name implies, I feel that given enough practice, one can merely turn a negative feeling 'off'. Depending on the severity of the situation it may take significant effort to perform this mental action but it has always worked for me. Here is an attempt at explaining my thought process when using this 'switch':
- Acknowledging that I am experiencing a negative feeling.
- I may experience resistive thoughts like (i) feeling this way can be temporarily relieving, or (ii) I have the right to feel this way. These thoughts are countered by a firm belief that
- this feeling is hurting me (and possibly others) mentally, physically and spiritually. It is only making matters worse and my negative feelings are growing stronger. I am not controlling this emotion, it is controlling me.
- This emotion is a creation of my mind and if I can create it, I have to be able to destroy it.
- As there is no logical purpose for this emotion's existence, I am able, willing and ready to end this feeling and either resolve the issue at hand with a clear and focused mental state, or be patient and relax if the situation is currently beyond my control.
This is not to be confused with repression. It is vital to 'let go' of the feeling, not to simply ignore it so that when it resurfaces, it is even more intense.
Using this switch has proven to keep me sane, functional and relatively optimistic during the most demanding and/or difficult situations I have faced. Some may say that I have probably led a relatively trouble free life so far which is why I can so easily dismiss such emotions. In response I can only smile, reminisce... and wish that that had been the case.
4 comments:
EMAAAAD! I really like your blogspot :) It's very calming to me... I had no idea you had it. I'll be reading it more often as it seems we thing along the same wavelengths, lol. I often catch myself in moments of deep nostalgia and think I'm nuts. I normally snap out of it somewhere between my first thought and when I remember I really don't care (that latter of which normally comes about when I think I'm nuts for thinking that way, lol. vicious cycle...)
Anywho, you're a very wise person, emad :) I almost feel like somewhere between the lines lies the meaning to life! hahaha
Hi! I like the fish on ur blog lawl.
Sorry Brad, some may find that comment to be offensive and I know either of us wouldn't want that. We should be mindful that this is a public space. Feel free to convey the deleted message over the phone or on chat! ;)
Post a Comment