Handling your emotions...

Do you ever have times when you feel like you are backed in a corner and there is no way out? When well meaning people give you advice, and no matter how positive they are and how much they want to help you, you feel like pushing them away? You feel like there is just no way out of your negative state of being?

I understand. You probably want to say, “Whatever you tell me, it’s all theoretically encouraging, but right now I feel depressed, or angry, or jealous, or whatever name your negative emotion has at that moment. But what can I do right now?

Well, it’s actually fairly simple. When you feel negative, first acknowledge that you feel negative. That may seem overly simplistic, but you’d be surprised how often you refuse to acknowledge that you’re feeling angry or depressed. There will always be some deeper, covert manifestations of ignored emotions – such as developing a headache instead of expressing your anger – and as an effective emotion dodger, you’ll say that the physical symptom is due to some other cause. Be very aware that you may have become quite expert at denying emotions, which creates quite a Pandora’s Box of physical illnesses, misdirected reactions, covert aggression, and inexplicable emotional outbursts. Also, ask yourself if you deny your good feelings as well. Many times trying to push away bad feelings causes us to push away all emotion, including our positive feelings.)

After you acknowledge the presence of the negative feeling, next remember that you have three options. Choose the third option and avoid the first two.