Get To Know Your Emotions By Giving Them A Name
I was taught, growing up, that to be angry was sinful. I was under the impression that the appropriate way to successfully function in the adult world was to be happy, agreeable, and pleased at all times. Anger was a signal that something was wrong with me, not the external world or circumstances.
There was only one problem. Circumstances in my childhood caused me to be angry. So I buried the emotion and refused to confront it—which of course, gave the anger plenty of what it needed to grow into something ugly.
I didn’t know that all of our emotions are natural, normal, and a regular part of life. They come and go. Sometimes our emotions get really intense, but then they dissipate. Sometimes it's obvious why we feel the way do. Other times we experience intense emotions without really knowing why. But the key to a healthy mind with healthy emotions is not classifying some emotions as good and others as sinful. It’s not about letting one emotion boil over while suppressing another. Doing so only makes mental health more difficult to achieve.
But how can you navigate such treacherous and often dangerous waters with our drowning in a sea of emotions and losing control? Learning our emotions starts with awareness. Awareness begins with one question: What is this sensation I am feeling right now?
The easiest way to begin to understand your feelings is to take an extra 10 seconds to think. In fact, do it right now. Take 10 seconds to pause and think about how you’re feeling right now.
I’ll wait.
See, it’s not hard, but it does require training our minds to think before we speak or act. It’s a proactive response to emotions rather than a reactive response. Our emotions are not inherently sinful, but when we simply react to them, we can more easily fall into sin. But when you are proactive by taking 10 seconds to consider your feelings, you can better assess how to respond appropriately.
Click Here to Learn More About the Full Spectrum of Emotion
You’d be surprised how much can happen in 10 seconds.
As you do this, something really cool can begin to happen. Two critical parts of our brains will unite—the pre-frontal cortex and the amygdala.
The pre-frontal cortex is the part of our brain that helps us make sound, wise, and rational decisions. It’s also the part of your brain that doesn’t fully develop until you are in your twenties. An underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex is a big reason teenagers can make such bad decisions. The amygdala is the part that’s responsible for strong emotions like fear, anger, and pleasure.
But here is the fun part. When we take that extra 10 seconds to think, we get the pre-frontal cortex involved in the amygdala’s work creating a healthy curiosity about our emotions that permit us to process them and work through them rather than just react to them.
Click Here to Learn More About Taking Time to Think
The Result
You get to enjoy the full range of human emotions and the ability to process them properly and react appropriately. Emotion is a vital part of the human experience. Don’t ignore them or control which ones you feel are right or wrong, but don’t let them control you either.
