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Many people go through a phase in their life where they have a meltdown due to their overwhelming feelings and need tips for managing emotions, affecting our well-being if not managed efficiently.
This happens as we all go through life with so many celebrations, festivities, disappointments, and hardships.
What Are Emotions?
Emotions are a state of feeling that causes variations in the body and regulates behavioural changes and thought processes. No one person can experience the same emotions. Similar? Yes, but not the same.
There are so many emotions a person can go through that it is highly impossible to categorize them. But Plutchik’s wheel of emotions is used to get a better understanding of emotions. According to Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions, there are eight primary emotional dimensions:
- Happiness vs. Sadness.
- Trust vs. Disgust.
- Anger vs. Fear.
- Anticipation vs. Surprise.
These dimensions, as mentioned earlier, combine to form many more different emotions. For example, happiness and trust combine to create love.
Importance of Managing Emotions
Feeling emotions can be overwhelming, and not knowing what you are feeling can be stressful. It is very necessary to manage emotions for your well-being.
With all other things going on in your life, giving time for understanding and managing emotions can look like a waste of time, but it is one of the most important aspects that can lead to a peaceful life.
There are times when you feel frustrated and can not find the reason behind it; that is because the underlying cause behind your frustration is not being identified and addressed. The first and foremost tips for managing emotions include asking a question- what are you feeling and why?
When you answer the above question, your conscience will feel at ease, but that is not the end of it. Identifying what you are feeling is the first step that will make you feel in control.
Feeling in control gives you the power of controlling whether the emotions can drag you down or make you a stronger human being.
Sadness or any negative emotions can lead to negative feelings and thoughts that can pose a serious threat to our bodies. It becomes necessary to manage these thoughts as early and efficiently as possible.
Having thoughts like ‘Am I not good enough?’ or ‘I can’t do this’ are normal but ignoring them is not the best option out there as it can affect your mental well-being and take a toll on your body.
All The Tips for Managing Emotions
It is clear that managing emotions are important, below are the six tips for managing emotions that you can practice.
1. Identify and Understand
It can become very stressful for you to manage your emotions if you do not know what and why you are feeling. Identifying feelings is not hard, but understanding why it makes you feel a certain way can be problematic.
For example, your friend of many years has suddenly become distant and has not responded to your messages. What will be the basic emotions that you will go through? Disappointment, upset, confusion, and lastly, worry about your friend.
These combinations of emotions will leave you frustrated, making you do and say things you are not supposed to do. Understanding why you are feeling these emotions can help you calm down a little bit.
The problem is the sudden disappearance of your friend without reason but instead of jumping to different conclusions, take time to understand what could have happened for your friend to act this way. Try reaching out to them in another way.
Considering all the possibilities you are managing and coping with your emotions reduces the chance of you doing something irrational. Identifying and understanding feelings is the first step among the tips for managing emotions.
2. Regulation of Emotions
Regulating is one of the most important tips for managing emotions. After identifying and understanding what you are feeling, regulation is necessary.
Emotions can be either too intense or mild, and based on these emotions, the body reacts differently.
Remember, you can not control your emotions all the time, but what you can do is regulate them. Do not block the emotions voluntarily, and keep in mind that you can unconsciously allow your body to block these emotions.
Voluntarily or involuntarily blocking emotions can cause some serious harm to your body. Some of the conditions which arise due to poor regulations of emotions are:
- Lack of concentration
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Difficulty in falling and staying asleep.
- Leaning toward bad habits like drugs
Regulation of emotions does not mean showing any feelings or showing overwhelming emotions, and regulation refers to finding the balance between the two. That is why it is the most important tip for managing emotions.
Finding a balance between your emotions can be tough, and people who are successful in doing so are considered emotionally intelligent.
3. Express Your Emotions
The most essential tip for managing emotions is how to express them. Knowing fully well about what you are feeling and wanting to convey the same to others but not knowing how can be very frustrating.
Sometimes people think that not expressing their emotions is the best option as they feel that no one will understand their plethora of emotions.
But that is not true, and if you don’t express feelings when necessary, it can create many problems.
If you have difficulty expressing yourself, remember that speaking about it will surely lift a weight off your shoulder.
Take baby steps as there is no need for you to hurry. Try speaking or expressing the emotions that you feel the most comfortable with, which will boost your confidence. Once you are comfortable in expressing yourself, you will realize how much better you feel.
Expressing emotions is indeed important, but just like most things, there is a time and place for it. Be mindful of your surroundings before expressing your feelings, as certain situations require you to hold a strong front.
For example – Screaming at your home when things go wrong is pretty normal but doing so at your workplace is probably not the best option.
4. Distract Yourself
This tip will feel like a contradiction to what we said earlier; expressing and identifying your emotions is mentioned, but exceptions are always present.
It is a well-known fact that managing emotions are crucial for better mental health and physical well-being, but there can be times when you feel drained out and want to break from everything.
Try taking a break whenever you get a chance to focus on yourself is also necessary. Sometimes emotions can be so overwhelming that it can become difficult to control and manage them. That is why distraction is among the tips for managing emotions.
Distracting yourself when present in stressful or overwhelming situations can help you feel relaxed and improve your bad mood. Distraction could be anything, any hobby you can spend your time on like painting and swimming, or just walking around the park.
Do anything that can take off your mind from the stressful situation.
Distracting yourself is a temporary solution, and facing the problem at hand will be inevitable.
Please do not run away from addressing your emotions as it will become a problem in the long term. Take your time, distract yourself, and when you feel that you have reached the point where you are ready to face your emotions, it will not be that difficult.
5. Talk to Someone
Telling someone about what you are feeling and showing them your true emotions can be quite scary. Not everyone has a way with their words, and it feels like no one will understand even if you tried to explain it.
These are your emotions playing a trick on your mind, which makes you doubt yourself.
Talking to someone like your parents, siblings, friends, or anyone you feel the most comfortable with can help you feel good and make it easier to manage your emotions.
6. Exercise and Meditate
Lastly, on the list of tips for managing emotions is exercising. You need to try any physical activity that gets your blood pumping, it would help if you did exercise regularly as it helps control emotions and keeps you healthy.
Meditation is also a very efficient means of reducing stress and managing emotions. It helps you in increasing awareness about the surroundings, expressions, and feelings.
Exercising and meditation provide you with a feeling of self-satisfaction and play a major role in improving the sleep cycle. An improved sleep cycle constitutes a fresh mindset which is the ultimate goal of managing emotions.
When you are in stressful circumstances and feel that your emotions are all over, deep breathing acts as a saviour.
Breathing exercises are very helpful in relaxing your mind. They allow you to avoid making any rash decisions or do actions that can happen in an emotional state that you will surely regret later.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why do I cry so easily?
Our capacity to control our emotions and feelings can be impacted by anxiety, stress, and depression. When all of these get a bit out of control, releasing the pent-up frustration by crying comes easily.
2. Can your mind control your emotions?
The human brain is a tremendously intricate structure. Everything, from the motion of your hands to your pulse rate, is coordinated and controlled by it. Likewise, the brain is essential for controlling and processing emotions.
3. Why can I not control my emotions?
Recognizing that you’re struggling to manage anxiety, depression, or stress is an indication that you can take action to improve your situation. All you need to do is breathe deep and start working on your problems one by one.
Bottomline
Living day to day thinking ill of yourself and others, causing hardships for the people you love, and wasting this amazing life you have can all be controlled by you.
You should follow these 6 tips for managing emotions mentioned above for better mental and physical well-being. Stay happy and as amazing as always!
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Last Updated on by gourvigupta