Me vs. My Emotions - Part 2

Lets dive right in. This part 2 is about clearing up some misconceptions about your relationship with your emotions.

Universal Law #1: You are not your emotions.

Your emotions are separate from your concept of "me". It may seem like "I am angry", but really, its "I am feeling anger".

Allowing yourself to be separate from your emotions is an incredibly liberating process in itself. It gives you the freedom to choose to not be "taken away" by whatever feeling comes up. Instead of being the flag that blows with every gust of wind, you are the sturdy flagpole that withstands any wind or lack thereof.

Just remember, when an emotion comes up, you ultimately have the choice to feel it, respond to it, and/or let it go.

Universal Law #2: You have complete freedom with your emotions.

When you notice an emotion, you have the freedom to do anything with it. You have the choice to use the emotion for a purpose, to feel it as it is, to wallow in it, to use it for motivation, anything! Or, you can decide to not be in conscious control of your emotions, which then lets your subconscious mind react automatically to it, however best fits your subconscious map of reality.

If you are deciding to not approach your emotions consciously, however, you run the dangers of your subconscious mind using the emotion to reinforce your current map of reality in ways your conscious mind wouldn't approve of (if it knew what was really going on).

For example, lets say Bob has an issue with being a "victim". In his subconscious mind, he believes that he is a victim in life. Everything always happens to him, he cant control what happens to him. Life sucks for Bob. So, when someone cuts in line in front of Bob, he has an immediate choice on how to feel. If Bob isn't using his conscious mind to choose (on purpose) how to handle that emotion, his subconscious mind will naturally fill in the gap. So, instead of Bob being able to access the situation consciously, and use his emotion to fuel his words "Hey you, go to the back of the line!", instead, his subconscious mind will access the situation, and use his emotion to fuel his internal dialog "See, I knew it, life sucks. I'm such a victim. I cant help it. This is even more proof."

So you see for Bob, when someone broke in line, he could've used his emotional state to either solve the problem, or to wallow in his depression further.

Anyone that is a human being ALWAYS has a choice, at any moment, how to use their emotions. It just depends on if you are accessing the feeling consciously (on purpose), or subconsciously (avoiding taking control).

Universal Law #3: Emotions can either be Expressed, Suppressed, or Let Go...

Probably the most important section of this entire blog post. Once you have realized that you can let either your conscious or subconscious rule your emotions, this brings choice into your life.

Lets go over the 3 ways to handle your emotions:

1. Expression - This is where an emotion is bottling up inside of you. The internal pressure is building up more and more. Your emotion becomes so intense that your clear option is to let it out, physically. Screaming, crying, throwing, hitting, anything that your physical body can do to exert the emotion outwards.
2. Suppression - This is where your emotion is either too scary to let out, you are scared of the repercussions if you let it out, you think you are tough enough to bottle it up inside, or whatever. The basic idea here is, you are pushing the emotion deeper down inside of yourself.
3. Letting Go - Finally, a sensible approach. Instead of needing to let the emotion out, or to push it down inside yourself... here, whatever you feel is like water on the down of a duck.
   

To learn more about letting go, and to reach the close of this series, continue to part 3.