We talk about positivity, optimism, motivation, enlightenment, and so on but the first step in achieving any of these lies in seeding the right thoughts and getting control over your Emotions. The journey begins with self-awareness. It births from within; nothing from external.
Statistical Analysis shows 24 categories of emotions. Thoughts and Emotions are interrelated yet distinct. Emotion is a feeling you experience in your physical state as a result of stimuli whereas Feeling is experiencing your emotion and its context. The result of harmonizing your thoughts and emotions will be the pinnacle of Healthy Living.
As a child, I despised bitter gourd until my dad, a man of few words, stated one day, “Bitter too, like all other flavors, is a kind of taste, savor it”. A shift in perception caused me to appreciate bitterness, and I've been enjoying the taste of bitter gourd ever since.
Similarly, what if we began to relish all emotions in the same way? Relish the positive and the negative, because both are emotions, a feeling. Let me remind you, that you are the one who determines if something is positive or negative, and you are the one labeling it.
Most of the emotions we label as Anger, Anxiety, Fear, Sadness, Distress, Disgust, and Embarrassment stem from delusion, overthinking, and constructing an unrealistic chain of thoughts in response to a specific situation. From the actual problem, we build a variety of dimensions. However, if we zoom in on the root of the problem and defuse it, we will discover that most of the inflation is fueled by generous assumptions that sprouted from our imaginations. Capture and prune any superfluous assumptions.
By savouring, I mean becoming aware, observing the thought process, feelings, doubts, emotional rise and fall, the occurrence of bodily tension, behavior consequences, actions expressed, exhilaration, and interactions. Don’t dwell and get sucked into it rather swim through and feel it from the surface. This will allow you to tell the difference between the actual issue and the built-up preconceptions as clearly as curdled curd and whey.
Identify your emotion, replace a negative with a positive. Consider it as an “Opportunity for a challenge”. If you're anxious, consider it as an “opportunity for a challenge - to relax”. That’s a slight shift in perspective, but it'll help you approach the situation in a new way. The problem is no longer a hindrance, but rather a circumstance. Face it head-on, pondering the best way to deal with it.
Nuggets:
1. Identify your emotion & observe its impact (physical, social & mental effects on you)
2. You label an emotion as good or bad, positive or negative.
3. Savour it, address the core reason, discard all presumptions and preconceptions, and consider it as an “Opportunity for a challenge”