Advice On Living A Life Without Drama
posted on 04/21/2009
This is why it is so important to master your emotions. Mastering your emotions is completely different from controlling your emotions. When you control your emotions, you simply stuff them down and ignore them. This can result in a major emotional explosion that can cause as much damage or more than going through life being knocked from one emotional disruption to another. People who deny their emotions and stuff them down are the ones who "go postal". You see their neighbors on the news saying, "He always seemed so nice and quiet."
When you master your emotions, you do not deny them. You do not stuff them. You do not postpone them. Instead, you give yourself time to recognize them, honor them, and then figure out how to express them in a positive, constructive manner. For many people, this mastery takes the form of a few minutes of meditation and prayer each day. But what if you aren't a prayerful and meditative sort? What can you do to master your emotions?
When emotions threaten to overwhelm you, there are a number of ways you can take a break and put things into perspective. By doing this, you can prevent emotions from ruining your day and ruling your life. The first thing to do to master your emotions is to give yourself permission to retreat if you feel that you are becoming too angry or too overwhelmed. If you have a disagreement with a coworker or a boss or your spouse, follow this old-fashioned advice. Take a few deep breaths. Count to ten. Politely excuse yourself and physically take yourself to a quiet place to calm down and regroup. You may want to go outside and sit under a tree or take a walk. It may be helpful to you to find a quiet place to sit and write down your thoughts to help you sort them. Whatever you do, avoid the temptation to jump into your emotions by using them to feed a conflict. Many people take a "smoke break" for this purpose. Avoid this. Inhaling poison will not really help you think. It will only get you more wound up.
On a daily basis, give yourself a thought break. You can do this instead of meditation and prayer or in addition to it. When you finish your day's work, give yourself fifteen minutes, half an hour or more to unwind. Take a brisk walk or bike ride, go for a swim, go to the gym and work out, sit in your back yard and listen to the birds sing. Take this transition time to let go of the cares of the day and become your best self to enjoy your evening alone or with your friends and family. Again, avoid using cigarettes or alcohol to accomplish this. Adding chemicals to your relaxing time will really only enhance your stress and will not help you sort out any problems you may have experienced during the day.
By taking good care of yourself, eating well, getting plenty of good sleep, exercising moderately and practicing a measure of self-control when confronted with stressful situations, you will greatly enhance the quality of your life. Just these few simple steps that are completely in your control will help you lower your blood pressure, maintain your fitness level, and live a life that is drama free.
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Previous Comments
Joe_Peppertone says:
(1y 97d 4h 52min ago)
Great Article justmesuzanne!!
justmesuzanne says:
(1y 97d 1h 57min ago)
Thank you, Joe! :)
DarlenePetz says:
(1y 74d 15h 13min ago)
Great article. I'm pretty sure that people who let emotions rule them are very immature and don't see themselves as others do. Joel Osteen did a show on this very topic. I had it DVR-ed but changed from DishNetwork to Comcast and lost it. You would have liked it.
justmesuzanne says:
(1y 74d 14h 2min ago)
Thank you, Darlene! I think we are very trained in our society to let our emotions drag us around. Living an episodic lifestyle often goes hand in hand with reckless spending and moving frequently and addiction and all kinds of costly behaviors that line the pockets of one business or another. I feel very strongly that it is high time for individuals to wake up to this tendency and take control of their lives.