Are You A Slave To Your Emotions?

Are you a slave to your emotions? When something doesn't go your way, how do you react? Do you calmly step back and assess the situation, or do you start ruminating and let your emotions get the best of you?

When you allow your emotions to dictate every decision that you make, it can have a negative effect on every area of your life.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to be an emotional person. Rather, it is how you regulate your emotions and navigate your way through challenges, that determines your success in life.

Are you a slave to your emotions? If so, I want to show you how to shift that mindset, so that you feel in control of your life. In the words of Oscar Wilde, “I don’t want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them.”

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In her new book, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett suggests that emotions do not happen to us without our willingness.

Rather, we construct our emotions by making meaning of our life experiences. We choose how you feel. That is something that we have 100% control over, whether you believe it or not. It all starts with your mindset.

Our thoughts create our emotions. Oftentimes, neither our thoughts nor our emotions are an accurate representation of what is really going on. Why? Because we all interpret the world through a different emotional lens.

If you are a slave to your emotions, commit to taking the steps needed in order to ensure that your emotions do not get the best of you. Easier said than done, right? Here are 3 ways to help you not be a slave to your emotions.

1. Take A Deep Breath

When our emotions are running high, short and shallow breathing can take over. If this happens, the best way to master your emotional state is to take a step back and take a deep breath.

I know this sounds simple, but it works.

Research proves that slowing your breath calms the mind. Patricia Gerbarg, a clinical professor in psychiatry at New York Medical School and author of a 2009 study on Pranayama, suggests that “By changing patterns of breathing, we can change our emotional states, and how we think and how we interact with the world.”

By learning how to harness the power of your breath, you are better able to balance your emotions. Are you a slave to your emotions? If so, positive habits like these are great ways to change your emotional state.

2. Take Responsibility

You are the only one that is responsible for your emotional well-being. Take responsibility for your life. You cannot control what other people think, do, or say.

The only thing that you have control over is how you respond to the external world. If you don't like how you feel, own it. When you take ownership for your life, you create the momentum that is required in order to change it.

Research shows that taking personal responsibility for your happiness involves, ultimately, adopting a “surrender mindset”, which refers to the willingness to fully accept the outcomes that you are dealt with in life.

Unlike others, who may ruminate when things don't work out the way they planned, the person with a surrender mindset is able to move on emotionally untouched.

Don't play the blame game. Step up and become the become the master of your mind.

3. Take Note Of Your Thoughts & Beliefs

Our beliefs determine what we end up attracting into our lives. If you dwell on the negative, that is what you will attract. Keep in mind that it isn't our thoughts that become things. Rather, it is our emotions that are triggered by unconscious beliefs.

The next time that you are feeling reactive and emotional, take a step back, be an observer of your own mind, and notice what it is that you are thinking about.

The belief systems that we have about ourselves and the world were created by US. If we can create them, then we can just as easily shift them, in ways that better serve our lives.

Will you be able to shift your belief system overnight? No. It takes time to re-write our stories, but when you do, emotional mastery is yours for the taking.

In the words of the late John Milton, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Choose wisely. When you master your emotions, you master your life. 

Do you want to learn how to master every area of your life? CLICK HERE to join my Life Mastery Accelerator program!