When Negative Emotions Become too Great

As human beings we are (blessed?) with a wide variety of emotions. Joy, gratification, happiness, accomplishment and such are all emotions that we tend to enjoy and not avoid. As a matter of fact most of us would prefer to go through life experiencing only good and positive emotions. We only wish life was that perfect. Unfortunately it is not!

Reality proves that life is full of negative emotions, which tend to constantly plague us. Fear, trepidation, low self-esteem, insecurity, worry, doubt and so on, manage to afflict our minds and spirits. We often try to avoid these emotions or merely hold them out so far away from ourselves that the tension becomes unbearable. When we hold them too close to us we are inclined to wallow in them. Neither of these ways of dealing with negative emotions is healthy or helpful.

So what do we do with these wretched emotions that bring us down and create internal stress? We certainly don’t wish to go through life weighed down by them. Often we try and control our negative emotions but that only makes them worse. We can accept them for what they are, but then we reside ourselves to a life of self-pity and doubt. We can avoid them but of course that never works. They will always pop up and strike us down. So what is left? What can we do to deal with these emotions that cause us mental and spiritual anguish and discomfort? As stated before if we get too close to them then we wallow in them, and if we hold them off at a distance we create an overbearing tension. If we try to control them we find ourselves out of control. If we avoid them then we live outside reality.

Perhaps the best ways to deal with negative emotions is to imagine laying them in our laps and engage them with curiosity. By simply letting them go we can experience all the beauty of life, the lovely sounds and the wonderful fragrances that we so often miss when caught up in ourselves. We can carefully observe these emotions and begin to dissect them, discovering what it is that actually gives them life. Once we see how life is breathed into them and how they function then we are better able to cope with them. Developing the ability to cope with life’s problems, whether they are internal or external is absolutely vital in order to live a healthy life. The ability to cope gives us hope. Hope tells us that this too shall pass and we will find joy in life once again.

The bottom line is that we will always experience negative emotions, just as we will feel positive ones. It is how we choose to deal with the negativity that is important. We don’t have to give negative emotions reign over our lives. So the next time we find ourselves on our “pity-pot” due to some distasteful emotions, try letting them go and then become curious about them. Curiosity will disempower them and give us a chance to learn the skill to cope. We often find that these negative emotions are not nearly as bad as we originally thought. Coping with them takes away some of their power over us and creates space for light, hope and joy. Remember that happiness is a byproduct of learning and developing coping skills. So cope, hope and look at our negative emotions with genuine curiosity.