Sometimes it happens without warning. You find yourself blindsided by emotion, and it can hit when you least expect. This situation often stems from unsettled feelings, discouraging encounters, thoughts you can’t shake, or circumstances with others. The truth about emotions is that they encompass your life. How can you alleviate this continuous distraction?
Spending time understanding how to take control of your feelings is important. It’s necessary to be intentional and walk through an emotional check at chosen intervals. Although this might lead to difficult areas, knowing the process helps you cope. We’ll take a closer look at some points about emotions including where they come from, what keeps you spiraling, why they shouldn’t be ignored, and how to deal with them.
In This Article
Thoughts and Emotions
We’ve discussed before that emotions stem from thoughts. If you’re suffering from a restless mind, it’s possible to slow the landslide and take control of your emotions. At least some of them.
Remembering that your mind is powerful—and lays the groundwork for emotions—helps you realize the importance of monitoring your thoughts. This basis becomes challenging when recalling how quickly thoughts run through your mind. The longer a difficult feeling stays, it becomes the perfect recipe for emotional issues. This is especially the case when the circumstance replays over again.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, your brain processes around 70,000 thoughts a day. That averages out to over 2,900 an hour. With this knowledge, it’s much easier to realize how emotions run rampant since they’re connected to your thoughts.
Processing this many ideas every hour—and knowing that emotions come from them—explains why we often feel confused, overrun, and pulled apart. It takes intention to comprehend how emotions are directly related and then choose to take control. Personal growth quotes are also helpful in this situation.
Fear Drives Emotion
One of the most common thoughts that drives emotion is fear. It can create a plethora of derogatory ideas and inconsistencies. Fear has a way of convincing you that best efforts are never enough. It also undermines determination and progress.
This emotion presents in numerous ways but is often the root of several related negative feelings. Many of these hinder your steps and in turn spin into alternate issues.
If your thoughts run the gamut from insecurity to incapability, and even shame, it’s possible you’re reacting to thoughts of fear. This process can create difficulties that continue to spiral without understanding how to stop them.
Realizing that fear must be recognized helps you take first steps in managing emotions. Rather than allowing your mind to be ransacked, make the choice to take control. Often, distractions come from an emotional root and send ripples throughout your body. This can disrupt your actions and encourage incorrect steps.
Ideas About Emotional Control
Successful steps involve choices. Don’t try automatically turning all your negative thoughts to positive or try turning off your emotions. It doesn’t work, especially long term. It’s not sustainable to continuously push down emotions while attempting to absentmindedly replace them with positivity.
A better way to combat negativity is with optimism. An optimistic view allows you to become more accepting but in a realistic way. Instead of assuming that you should always strive for positivity, identify an emotion, and move forward rationally. This includes the revelation that things can get better, although a solution may not be immediate.
It is important to feel what you are currently experiencing without sabotaging yourself. Don’t allow emotions to send you into a tailspin or create the sensation of riding waves only to crash on the shore.
Don’t Ignore Your Emotions
Each of these realizations creates more understanding that emotions can trample your drive and lead you to unproductive views. However, revelations aren’t helpful unless you act on them. Leaning into steps that encourage more control of your thoughts and emotions is necessary to break the cycle.
It’s not healthy to allow your thoughts to rush in and out without paying attention to them. Since thoughts are the baseline for your emotions, trying to ignore your feelings is never the answer. This may lead to an outburst, argument, or even worse, a continued onset such as anxiety.
So why do we hide? This concept is basically the same as burying your feelings or lacking emotional awareness. Either way, avoidance can inhibit many other parts of your life. We can’t wish things away. Circumstances don’t magically disappear because we want them to.
If a thought, or emotion, is buried rather than addressed, you’ll often return to the same scene over again. This can quickly create lasting negative experiences. Over time, you may not even realize where the issue began.
Ask yourself what you’re hiding from? What are you trying to avoid assuming that it will go away or somehow take care of itself?
Identification is a necessary first step to making a change. Assessment of your thoughts helps with intentional movement. This becomes more needed when your feelings encompass multiple areas that keep you off balance, especially anger. Let’s look at how to combat this situation.
Using Prompts to Decipher Emotions
One way to determine thought patterns—which leads to better understanding of emotion—is by using prompts. There is much literature that exists on journal prompts and ways to incorporate them daily to take emotional inventory.
However, these are nothing more than a way to assess your mindset. The methods create ability to identify your thoughts, and in turn, your emotions. The goal is to be intentional and have more control. You’ve likely caught on to the idea that this would mean patrolling your thoughts rather than simply reacting to your emotions.
It’s healthy to incorporate a system of checks and balances, especially when facing adversity. Remember, ignoring, burying, or overlooking emotions is not conducive of success. The better route is taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.
Prompts are simply questions that promote direction and emotional thinking. They lead to deeper comprehension, which encourages an intentional pathway to emotion. This inspires a more solid foundation. In addition, this action promotes a healthier journey.
Questions for Finding Your Emotional Truth
- What was the last thought that crossed your mind?
- Do you have this thought often?
- When was the last time you felt this way?
- Does an issue from the past keep coming up?
- What do you need to let go of?
- Do you feel like you’re failing? Why?
- What are you fearful of?
- Do you feel this way often?
- Is there anything specific you would rather be doing?
- What is the hardest emotion for you to shake?
- Do you try to bury your emotions?
Using Affirmations to Take Control
- Think of one thing (or more) you want to change.
- Be mindful of anything that you assume must be accepted. Don’t let it sway you.
- Consider the most important thing to you. Use it as your motivation.
- Think of one action step you know you’re good at. Build on this.
- Think of something that brings you joy. Rely on it during difficult times.
- Remind yourself that you are capable, and success is possible.
- Use declarations to bring weight to your optimistic thoughts.
Efforts won’t always be perfect, but they should continue. Once you gain the correct outlook for taking steps, it becomes more evident while walking through your daily routine. You will more easily take thoughts captive and relate them to your emotions.
Final Thoughts About Emotions
It’s important to remember that thoughts cause your emotions. Triggers, memories, and even fleeting ideas tend to create a gamut of feelings that we want to avoid. Rather than directly taking on a situation, we tend to run or turn any direction to avoid facing it head on. Our human psyche simply wants protection and desires self-preservation.
However, that concept doesn’t promote taking control of the situation. It becomes difficult to oversee the successful resolution of bothersome feelings. Instead, we’re continuously inundated with stress and anxiety from emotions.
We’ve addressed several points that explain necessary actions for taking control and overcoming helpless emotional reactions. Practicing these steps encourages successful outcomes and optimistic results when facing difficulties.
Resources:
Cleveland Clinic (Healthy Brains)