We are in a difficult and troubled time of civilization. Economic crisis, pandemics, and loss of loved ones shake the emotions of any individual. Emotions are part of life and are charged with energies – many negative.
Even the most subtle emotion can affect our health. Just observe how a person who has a more positive outlook on life is usually healthier too. It works like an energy cycle: an illness affects the emotional, which affects health even more. But the starting point can be the energy you emanate yourself.
Maintaining positive energy doesn’t mean ignoring problems, but working your emotions in your favor. Here’s how to spot 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 of time. 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 love is sick, it’s obvious that you’re going to be worried. But when the cycle of a negative emotion gets extended to the point where it takes a toll on your life, it’s time to review how you deal with it.
Take the time for self-reflection
We are the result of what we think and feel. It is therefore necessary to understand what emotions are going through inside you. How do you react to a serious situation in your life? Which factor marked so much that it brings 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, the human being is naturally flexible – this possibility to change makes the individual evolve.
Here are some tips for self-reflection:
Think about your family upbringing
They say that we are the reflection of the five people we live with the most. However, during childhood and adolescence, we receive more solid influences on the formation of our character. Much of the way we act is a reflection of the education we receive early in childhood. Therefore, reflect on how much your upbringing influences the way you currently see yourself.
Analyze your real needs and emotions
Every human being has needs and wants—they are our motivations. Emotions, by the way, are also reflections of them. The greater the need/desire, the greater the joy/frustration.
You have to understand what the real needs of your life are and what are just the desires that get in the way of your development. Much of what is thought to be necessary to be happy is actually 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 mainly activated when we hear something that threatens what we perceive as identity or when we are exposed to painful information about ourselves.
Knowing these defense strategies helps you face your deepest fears, needs, emptinesses, and needs.
Know that negative emotions can paralyze you
Have you ever 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 fulfill a dream. All this is natural to the human being, but when you let negative emotions dominate your interior, your exterior paralyzes and stops moving forward.
In your self-reflection, see which emotions prevent you from doing what you want. Is it the fear of judgment from others? Frustration for not making it on the first few attempts? The shame of being someone older trying something new?
Don’t walk away from the negative
Ignoring negative emotions will not make them go away. It is necessary to understand:
- why did they arise;
- 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 essential to modify the energetic pattern of our emotions. That’s because negative emotions release cortisol, the stress hormone. Although it is natural, constant stress peaks 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, in addition to endorphin, which has an analgesic effect and prolongs 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, seem positive, but hide layers of negative emotions that are 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 with the help of medication. This is a mission that can be done 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 both positive and negative emotions is completely normal — the key is knowing how to deal with them.
