3 Critical Facts to Know About Your Emotions

What You Need to Know About Your Emotions

You are not your emotions. Our mind incessantly tries to guide and protect us, so much so that it often convinces us that thoughts are facts and we have an indisputable reason to be sad, frustrated, anxious, angry or any of the whole array of feelings that surface. To protect us, it often judges, overreacts or becomes overprotective, hypervigilant, or defensive, even when not prompted or welcomed. Your emotions don’t define you by any means. You can have a mean or aggressive thought or feeling and not be a mean or aggressive person. Your thoughts and feelings don’t define who you fundamentally are. They represent energy in your mind and body at a given moment.

Emotions are beneficial. We often find ourselves in a loop of wanting so desperately to get rid of the discomfort brought on by the emotions that we inadvertently intensify and exacerbate the discomfort because of the struggle. When you have difficult or uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, growth happens by leaving your comfort zone and fully experiencing whatever shows up. Your nervous system gets accustomed to fear, hurt, and other uncomfortable feelings. No matter how hard the attempt to push them away, it gradually copes and becomes less inclined to reject, disregard, and try to eliminate those that appear. There’s great value in learning how to tolerate frustration and just be with all feelings, especially the difficult and uncomfortable ones. This leads to self-empowerment, self-growth, and personal development.

Emotions inform your behavior. Your sadness can show you the depths of your feelings and care for yourself or others, or your anger can show you what you’re passionate about, where your boundaries lie, and what your belief system is. Emotions inform us, but our values inevitably guide our actions and decision-making. Our thoughts and feelings can sometimes be irrational, over reactive, and misguided. Because of the executive protector nature of our mind, our over activated amygdala, past experiences, and how we were socialized, among other things, we know better than to let our emotions dictate our behavior solely. It’s essential to identify your core values. This is what you treasure in life and drives your behaviors. It is what you would be doing if nobody were watching. Our values are our action guide. Examples include family, self-respect, creativity, and integrity. Our values, rather than our emotions, provide our life direction and help us persist through life’s challenges.

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Reflection:

What are your thoughts on emotions?

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