Click media button. Nothing. Click media button again. Nothing. Ok. Don’t panic. Close the window and reopen it. That should work. Click media button again. Nothing…With each click my emotions swelled. Like the tide coming in, a mighty rush of fear, dread and panic swept over me. “What’s wrong? Why today? How will I fix this?” Then doubt crept in. “Am I really supposed to be doing this?” For half a second, I was ready to quit before even coming all the way out of the gate.
This was my status on Saturday morning as I attempted to do more tinkering on this website that had just launched. After testing, restarting, troubleshooting, nothing seemed to work. In fact, it still doesn’t. This post was sent using my phone. I can’t do anything to my site at present.
The capacity to experience a full range of emotions is good, even necessary for survival. It is when our reactions are overwhelmingly negative that we put our health in danger. Chronic occurrences of fear, stress, anxiety, anger and the like disturb cognitive functions. If left unchecked, allowing emotions to run free can actually damage your brain. When emotional outbursts become our baseline behavior, we wire our brains to default to that. Instead of having survival mode instinct for emergencies, it can become our norm.
Yet we live in a culture that says let your emotions be your master. Go with what you feel. Do what makes you happy. Whatever makes you unhappy, get rid of it.
So what are we to do? How can we control our emotions?
Surely I can give you some advice like breathe deeply, meditate, count to ten before reacting. Those are all great. But…if the negative emotions are chronic, there is a deeper, underlying issue. I pray that the next time a situation arises that causes you to be overwhelmed by negative emotion, you pray for God to expose the root of it. The power of the spirit at work in you is capable of mastering your emotion. “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such, there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
We are also better able to control our emotions when we KNOW who we are.
Karen Ward, Founder of Beyond Two, LLC helps people maximize their potential by understand their personalities. Karen says when people understand who they are, they make better decisions. You can find out more about Karen by visiting her on the web at beyondtwollc.com
What can you do today to master your emotions?