We are in a difficult and troubled moment for civilization. Economic crisis, pandemic, and loss of loved ones shake any individual’s emotions. Emotions are part of life and come loaded with energies — many of them negative.
Even the most subtle emotion can affect our health. Just observe how a person who has a more positive outlook on life tends to be healthier too. It works like an energy cycle: an illness shakes emotions, which shakes health even more. But the starting point can be the energy that you emanate.
Keeping positive energy does not mean ignoring problems, but working emotions in your favor. See how to identify them and make a real-life change.
Identify your emotions
Emotion is an affective state that arises as an immediate reaction to a stimulus.
positive emotions
Positive emotions are those that stimulate the emergence of equally positive feelings. They are stimulated by attitudes considered pleasant by the individual. In short, they occur when the individual perceives and feels something beneficial in a short period. Some of them are enthusiasm, hope, acceptance, motivation, and happiness.
negative emotions
Emotions considered negative are the immediate reactions to a moment considered unpleasant for the individual. Regret, worry, despair, frustration, disappointment, shame, and stress are some examples.
Remember that both emotions—positive and negative—are natural and necessary. When you find out that someone you care about is sick, it’s obvious that you’re going to be worried. But when the cycle of a negative emotion grows to the point where it’s damaging your life, it’s time to review how you deal with it.
And do you want to build the foundations of your happiness?
Get to know the Workshop of Emotions course and discover the tools that will help you overcome your biggest intimate dilemmas.
Have a moment of self-reflection
We are the result of what we think and feel. It is therefore necessary to understand what emotions are going through you. How do you react to an important situation in your life? Which factor marked so much that it brings an intense emotion to this day?
Self-reflection causes us to get rid of those thoughts considered “inflexible”, of limiting beliefs that never seem to change. However, human beings are naturally flexible — it is this possibility of change that makes the individual evolve.
Here are some tips for self-reflection:
Think about your family’s upbringing
They say we are a reflection of the five people we spend the most time with. However, during childhood and adolescence, we receive more solid influences for the formation of our character. Much of the way we act is a reflection of the education we received early in childhood. Therefore, reflect on how much your creation influences how you see yourself today.
Analyze your real needs and emotions
Every human being has needs and desires — they are our motivations. Emotions, by the way, are also reflections of them. The greater the need/desire, the greater the joy/frustration.
You need to understand what are the real needs in your life and what are just the desires that hinder your development. Much of what is thought to be necessary to be happy is an attachment to something from the past that does not favor personal growth at all.
Understand your defense mechanisms
Another factor that prevents you from dealing with your emotions is being full of defense mechanisms, which do not allow you to see reality. They are activated mainly when we hear something that threatens what we see as identity or when we are exposed to painful information about ourselves.
Knowing these defense strategies helps to face the deepest fears, lacks, emptinesses, and needs.
Know that negative emotions can paralyze
Have you noticed how a negative emotion can paralyze you? Fear keeps you from moving; anger makes you brood over an unpleasant situation over and over again; frustration makes you believe that it is not possible to make a dream come true. All this is natural to human beings, but when you let negative emotions dominate your interior, your exterior paralyzes and stops moving forward.
In your self-reflection, see what emotions keep you from doing what you want. Is it the fear of other people’s judgment? The frustration of not succeeding on the first few attempts? The shame of being someone older and trying something new?
Don’t shy away from the negative
Ignoring negative emotions will not make them go away. You need to understand:
- why they arose;
- what were the triggers, that is, what fact or thought aroused them;
- what to do to deal with them.
do physical activities
Physical activity is fundamental to modify the energy pattern of our emotions. That’s because negative emotions release the stress hormone cortisol. Although it is natural, constant stress spikes do not allow the body to regulate the amount of cortisol released, which ends up causing physical and mental disorders.
In addition to strengthening the body completely, physical activity releases serotonin, the happiness hormone, as well as endorphins, which have an analgesic effect, prolong well-being and mood, not to mention the inhibition of irritation and stress.
Talk about your emotions with other people
Talking to a psychologist or analyst can make all the difference in how you deal with your emotions. He can point out feelings that, at first glance, seem positive, but hide layers of negative emotions that have been stored for a long time.
Another alternative is to look for support groups. They are people who go through similar problems, so each participant can feel safe to vent without judgment.
Finally, there are stronger emotions, which often end up being worked on with the help of medication. This is a mission that can be accomplished with the help of a psychiatrist, who will work with the psychologist and the support group to provide you with a better quality of life.
Having positive and negative emotions is completely normal — the secret is knowing how to deal with them. And we can help you.
