How to take control of your emotions
Like a silent bee emotions can sneak up on us and bite us anytime, its part of having a body. The true experience of emotion is quite exhilarating. Intrinsically there is nothing wrong with an emotion, they are all wonderful.
Emotions can bring you into the present moment
Emotions can be addictive, the mind is conditioned to roll in emotions, roll and roll and roll, because to be in an emotion is to intensely feel the body. Emotions can be a powerful reminder that we are experiencing life now, at this moment. An emotion can surface suddenly or it can slowly sneak up on you; either way, through their shear force they bring us into the moment.
If the mind is good at one thing it is good at labeling. This is that, and that is this, is one of the central components of language. There is nothing wrong with labeling as it can be useful in society. The problem arises when we forget that labels are just labels and void of meaning. Sometimes we actually think the labels are the things in themselves, this sort of forgetting is especially harmful when we forget that our labels of good and bad have no intrinsic meaning.
Yet, most people believe that an emotion can be intrinsically good or bad. Generally we tend to label “good” emotions as happy and “bad” emotions as sad. To label emotions this way is very dangerous, because its quite impossible not to experience what our culture labels as “sad” emotions in life. Through the inevitable experience of sad emotions, and the labeling of these emotions as “bad,” we are bound to feel that we are somehow bad, or that what we are feeling is wrong. This has been our conditioning.
When we believe that our mind made labels are true we begin to push away the moment. When we believe that what we are feeling is actually “bad,” and forget that this is just a label imposed through culture, we begin to push away what we are feeling right now. From this pushing away much stress is created in the body and mind that creates more feelings that can push the mind into a self propelled spiral of stress.
How to take control of your emotions.
Luckily the way out of such a spiral is easy. All we have to do is stop labeling our emotions as good or bad. No matter what emotion we feel and how much we believe that it is a good or a bad we must see the labels for what they are; i.e, just mind created and without substance. I am inviting you to simply notice your emotion, to just experience the beauty of it without the need to label. Even labeling emotions as this or that emotion might not be necessary.
Emotions are meant to be felt. Truly feel your emotions, but be aware of the tendency of the mind to label. The minds tendency to over indulge in labels is bound to cause stress. Furthermore when we label our emotions we are more apt to react to them.
How liberating! From now on you don’t have to label, to judge, or think about your emotions. From now on you have permission to completely feel what you are feeling at this moment. It is completely within our power to feel whatever we are feeling right now.
To thoroughly feel an emotion is one of the greatest pleasures of life. Why turn something so amazing into stress if we can avoid it?