It's Time To Own Your Feelings!

SAD...GLAD...MAD...BAD...

At a fundamental level, that's how our feeling oscillates during the day. Feelings are fleeting by nature and we can't hold onto any one of them beyond how long they have to last. And how long they last are a combination of external and internal factors. But to a good extent, we can always control the longevity of an emotion/ feeling.

  

Emotions/ Feelings keep occurring in different shades and all that they need to get triggered is a stimulus (internal or external). The stimulus could be big or small, real or imaginary, internal or external. And that's what makes the world of emotions so complicated!

There is a dire need to understand how emotions/ feelings operate at a basic level so that we can be in control of our actions(mental or physical) while addressing the emotions. Being aware of our emotional state is how the entire process of emotional well-being starts. 

Talking about emotions/ feelings in a personal context, here's a small check to gauge the level of our awareness about our emotional state.

Here are the three important pointers:

We experience them all but do we actually feel them? 

we know there's something happening within us, at a physiological or psychological level but do we take the effort to recognize that and understand what's happening inside us. It makes sense to move beyond the level of awareness and into level of recognizing the impact of these emotions/ feelings.

Do we own them and accept them as part of our being or we treat them as something external/ outside?

For reasons known and unknown, at times, we tend to pass on the responsibility of our emotions/ feelings to external factors. Alienating ourselves from our feelings is not going to alleviate them. Rather it will only make the things worse. No one can force us to feel a particular way unless we give ourselves the permission for the same. 

Do we treat them as lasting or transitory?

Research says that most emotions last for only 90 seconds and beyond that its us who let these linger on for as long as we allow them to (through some stimuli or triggers). If we can manage to recognize an  unproductive feeling within 90 seconds of its occurrence, we stand a better chance to avoid its negative impact on us.

A quick self-check on the pointers mentioned above gives a good insight into our perception of emotions/ feelings and this goes a long way in determining the state/ status of our Emotional Wellness. The moment we start to accept our feelings is when we start to treat them as integral to us, something that's an undeniable part of our personality. Once acceptance is in place, the next stage of "addressing the emotions" becomes much easier.

So, first things first - "Have you started to own your feelings?"