Emotions Are Assholes. And The BEST THING EVER

According to the internet, Dr. Google, and a few things I have researched, emotions work like this: “Emotions work as a combination of your body's physiological responses and your brain's interpretation of those signals, which are then influenced by your thoughts, memories, and past experiences. Key brain regions, including the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, process sensory information and bodily sensations, helping to assign emotional meaning to situations and guide your subsequent behavior. This process involves subjective experience, physiological changes, and behavioral responses, all working together to create the complex feeling of an emotion.”

So what does that mean in a simple way?  Emotions are fickle. We give them so much power and yet they are so fickle!!

The word that always makes me pause when thinking about emotions and how we use them is “interpretation." That what we are feeling may not be real, or the correct feel or even the appropriate one!! I know, I know. You are truly feeling what you are feeling. But what if you are interpreting it incorrectly? That is a thing….

Our feelings change so rapidly that we can’t keep up sometimes but the double edged sword of that is that they change rapidly. Think about it. Have you ever gone on a date with someone or a networking event, you start nervous or excited, you then go to tense or calm or even frustrated depending on the situation. You order food. You are hungry. You get so excited to get your food and the first bite makes you gag. You are immediately irritated, pissed off, frustrated, disappointed or all of the above. Do you see how our emotions can change SO FAST?!?! 

What if we took all the power above and made it into a new way of processing?

I was talking to a friend today about emotions and she was laughing at my OVERLY logical way of looking at them. I am fairly logical. Most would agree. She was asking how I don’t get super overwhelmed often and I told her that I ask myself, “is this emotion actually going to make this better? Will it solve anything? Fix anything? Make anything better?” if the answer is no, I focus on a different emotion.

A moment today felt overwhelming. Everyone else needed something from me and everything felt urgent. I paused before responding to ANYTHING. I asked what I was feeling. It was hungry LOL! I had been working for 5 hours with no breaks and your girl was STARVED. I realized that hanger overpowered the rest in importance. As in that is one emotion I could take care of that made the rest of them seem smaller. It was actually helpful. So I had lunch. Surprise surprise I felt so much better after and then dealt with everything else in a WAY more productive way.

Take back some control. Reign in the emotions a little bit. I am not saying shut them down, just maybe don’t give them the power that you normally do.

Curious how to do this? Reach out!!!!

P.S. For those of you thinking this is all bullshit and feelings can’t change that quickly, have you ever stubbed your toe?!?!