Balance is important in life. We can’t ride a bicycle without it. When we’re in balance our emotions compensate for each other. We more easily find that space where we feel peaceful. Are you out of balance? Is one area of your life overwhelming all the other areas? It may be time to bring things back into balance.
“In the English language, there are over 400 words that describe different kinds of emotion. Many of them may be synonyms for one another, but it just goes to show how important feelings are to people.” (Source}
Which emotional words do you frequently use? How do these words affect you? Is it time to change the emotional worlds you use?
What if I stopped to think before reacting? That’s another tough one for me. I can blame it on my DNA and say I’ve come from a long line of reactors (LOL – if you’ve ever been to an Italian family Sunday dinner, you’ll know what I mean). Or, I could slam the brakes and stop before I react. We each receive thousands of stimuli each day. We react to the stimuli. Most of our reactions go unnoticed. There are times when our reactions are strong and out of proportion to the stimuli. When we slow the process down, we can hit the pause button on our reaction, let our emotions even out, and then make an appropriate response. How long should we pause? As long as it takes to return to a sense of peace and determine an appropriate response.
A cold front raced through south Texas yesterday plunging the temperatures nearly 30 degrees. The morning chill let my neighbors and me know winter is not going to skip us this year. It will be a short winter compared to northern areas (that’s good). It is a good reminder that things change. There’s not much we can do about many of life’s changes except to adapt, adjust, and learn to roll with it. When we fight things we can’t change, we waste our emotions and energy that could be better spent working on things we can change.
When we toss a ball against a wall, the ball strikes the wall and bounces back to us. When we react without thinking to what others say to us, we are like a ball tossed against the wall. The moment, we stop reacting and take control of our emotions, the person speaking to us no longer can toss us against the wall. We’ve shown that we can choose how and when we want to respond.
Imagine a bowl of bread dough gently rising. If no attention is paid to the rising dough, it will spill over, and the bread will not turn out as well as one hoped. It is the same way with us when we hold things inside too long. Our emotions build up and eventually spill over and it usually does not turn out well. Speak to a trusted friend and talk about things you’ve been holding inside. You’ll feel better.
Letting someone know how we feel when we are angry allows us to vent, but it doesn’t do much else. Venting releases pent up emotion and piles it on to the receiver. It’s better to find an alternative way to let out emotions like running or walking. One could shower and belt out a song. We’re only limited by the level of commitment we have to seek an alternative.
The reality of our world filters itself through our mental attitude of what is real or not real. People will fight until they no longer have strength for a world view that is wrong by every standard but the one created by their mental attitude. What kind of world do you want to see? Create the world with your mental attitude and soon evidence will accumulate faster than snowflakes during a winter blizzard. The kind of world we create with our mental attitude affects our health, emotions, and relationships. Before you create the world you desire with your mental attitude think of your health, emotions and relationships. In what kind of world view will your health, emotions and relationships flourish.
The weather in south Texas changed. Thunderstorms and heavy rains rolled through. Wherever I’ve traveled in the U.S. folks like to say, “hang around, the weather will change.” That’s also true of us and those we know. We never know from one minute to the next what will trigger a laugh, angry outburst, tears, or sense of profound happiness. It’s best to cut each other some slack, our emotional weather changes and changes frequently.
Do you control your emotions or do your emotions control you? When we find a peaceful place where we can examine our emotions objectively we have the opportunity of controlling our emotions and choosing the outcome. Decide whether your emotions will create a positive outcome or a negative outcome. Become the master of your emotions. You are in control.
