One of the biggest challenges we all face is to know how to manage emotions otherwise they will manage you!
In school and business a person is measured by their IQ or intelligence quotient. Very little is known of our emotional quotient or EQ. I know some very clever people in business who appear successful yet when it comes to managing their emotions they have a low level of emotional intelligence.
Having a healthy EQ is now more important than ever because we live in uncertain times and with that uncertainty emotions such as fear or anxiety seem to be more apparent.
Our emotions have far more potency than our our thoughts. Thoughts mixed with strong emotion create. Thoughts that lack emotion will never create anything lasting.
The person who can manage both is in an advantageous position in life to see life as it is and not a projection of one´s own thinking or emotions or personal stories.
A simple formula for managing emotions such as fear, anger, frustration or disappointment is to..
1) Acknowledge them and know they are signals to make a change
2) Appreciate the message of the emotion and not judge it as good or bad – it is just energy in essence.
3) Ask the question: “how do I want to feel?”
4) Go to a time in the past when you handled a negative emotion successfully and moved through a challenge.
5) Imagine yourself going beyond the negative emotion and see yourself owning some solutions. So if there is a feeling of seperation, image yourself connected to your family or friends etc.
6) Move in the direction of your imagined solution.
The above steps seem like alot but the process can be fast and in moments you can switch out of negativity and into a more resourceful state.
This is not to say that postive emotions are better than negative emotions. All is energy and the key is what are you going to do to take responsibility to make the shift.
Remeber, that every feeling or emotion you have is not based on reality but more your personal view of the world you see. You give meaning to everything.
Why not give meaning to the things that support you in life and start with managing and directing emotions?
0 Responses to “Managing and directing emotions”