Ever since Plato, our emotions have received a bad rap. The Hebrew word, nephesh, is both translated soul and emotions. Our souls contain the DNA of our emotions. There is no such thing as bad emotions. Our emotions, which emanate from our souls, were never meant to be at enmity with our minds. Our spirit, mind, and emotions have a consanguinity with our DNA from God Almighty.
I am; therefore, I be. My self-expectation is to be. I am highly appreciative of my senses and my ability to think. Pain is part of life. One can embrace and accept pain, without being masochistic. Having this attitude and philosophy about pain allows me to experience emotions in my life. It also assists me to preempt greater suffering.
Emotions are part of my being. Denying part or all of my emotions is to disclaim my very being. Experiencing my feelings, sometimes to a high degree, allows me to be a hope bringer. With my integrity, both my conscious and unconscious mind embrace emotions, such as, compassion, empathy, and even love, in my organic fashion, so that any individual with whom I communicate face-to-face does not merely receive my language, but also my intersecting emotions.
Attempts to control or repress emotions result in having the Cardboard Syndrome with its classic symptom of indifference. The various attempts to "control" emotions usually lead to more complex emotional failure(s). This abused power becomes manifested during instances of conflicting emotions. It becomes compared to holding "playing cards," whereby each one represents a different emotion and then having one, which is quite out of place, on display. It is almost like whichever put-forth emotion(s) attempt(s) to trump the emotion(s) which could be utilized. Of course, this is a function of self-sabotage, as is often evidenced by moments when an individual is doing well at something and then suddenly he/she implodes without warning.
Consider the example of Fred out with his golfing buddies. He scores an incredible 29 on the front nine. His pals congratulate him and declare that he could break the course record. He responds by saying that it's a fluke because he's not that good. He shoots a 62 on the back nine and goes home pleased that he broke 100 for the day.
With our scenario with Fred, his sensations of confidence and execution were trumped by the fear of losing acceptance by his friends, weak beliefs, and discomfort over a newer or higher level of skill.
Emotion(s) often represents negative values overthrowing the positive feelings meant to drive positive values and their respective relationship to the accomplishment of dreams/goals. Most emotions run along a spectrum. For example, we admire the persistent individual, yet are annoyed with stubborn people.
So now, we can cut through much of the mythology and misdirected concepts about emotions. Emotions work in harmony with an in-tandem conscious and unconscious mind and the body. Emotions are part of our overarching intelligence.
Therefore, we should look to be proactive, rather than reactive with our emotions. If we can view emotions as servants, much like habits, then we can begin to tap into our vast reservoir of potential power.
So we look to have a purpose and an emotional outcome of the things that we want to do. Here's a scenario: someone hurts or offends you. You are angry over the situation, yet lack the push to resolve the issue. Attenuating your anger serves as the motivating why, as you prefer not to flirt with anger for too long. The visualized peace and restored status of the relationship are the real goals: the objective. Accepting your anger assists you in this much-maligned emotion so as to avoid falling into negative territory. The soliciting of other emotions finishes the job. It is almost like an emotional oscillation.
One's personal language and vocabulary usually speak volumes of the individual's real sense of freedom. An individual, who has a genuine self-perceived sense of liberty, readily makes his/her decisions. His/her language abets the decision-making process. Some theorize that an individual, who possesses a high acceptance of emotions, occupies within the spiritual, mental, and physical worlds. Marketers have long recognized that almost all people make their decisions based on their feelings.
Virtually everyone has distorted language and vocabulary via groupthink. A free mind organically exercises the original and natural functions of the mind. Mental activity is always there unless one is brain dead. I will use myself as an example. My conscious and unconscious mind work in tandem. My conscious mind is the ally of my unconscious mind. My conscious mind used to be a gatekeeper and a saboteur of ideas and the necessary activity to implement those ideas. One of the methods that my conscious used to run upon me was detrimental self-talk. I now ask people that with their self-talk, "If any other human being said to you what your conscious mind says, would you consider it an insult?"
My mind does not reside in an ivory tower. I readily accept my mistakes, since I am willing to make them reach decisions and achieve my desired goals. Therefore, the language of my self-talk is now nonchalantly (or casually) saying, "Oops! You blew that. Let's get it right." or "Oh! Oh! That didn't work. What can we try next?" The grammar of my self-talk is such that my soul and spirit beings view my harmonious mind being.
Negatively perceived emotions have their time and season. The individual who embraces his/her feelings is alerted to errors or potential errors. Fear, for example, is like fire: it is an excellent servant but a terrible master. Shame makes one accept the fact that he/she violated his/her integrity.
So let us embrace that our emotions define our essential and unique being. Let us recognize emotions for what they are: God-given tools to assist us in achieving what we put our minds to do.