As part of being human, we experience emotions(feelings) all the time. No one is exempt.

Learning how to handle our emotions is important aspect of being a functional human being. It is expected of a young child to possibly throw a fit, lash out in anger, or break down in tears because something did not go their way. However, the older we get, the more we have learned about behavior and controlling our emotions.

Emotions are often hard to control, not because of what happens to us but because many people do not even understand what is actually causing their emotions.

Did you know that your thoughts are the reason for how you feel?

Counter to what people think, situations (what happens in our life) and/or people do not cause us to feel a certain way.  Nothing and no one cause us to feel a certain way. Ever.

Our thoughts are actually the cause.

Our thoughts fuel our emotions! This is key to understanding our emotions and how to handle them.

Here is an example:

Grape flavored candy (SOMETHING)

My feeling: Disgusted

Grape flavored candy (SOMETHING)

My son’s feeling: Excited

If something (in this example, the grape flavored candy) can CAUSE how I feel, how can it cause me to feel disgusted and also cause my son to feel excited??

Can you see it? It is our thoughts (or you could say, our opinion) about grape flavored candy that caused the feeling of disgust or excitement, not the candy itself.

So if our thoughts cause our feelings, it is no wonder we can feel many emotions throughout our life and even in one day!  We think approximately 6,000 thoughts a day!

This is so helpful to know because our emotions are just visitors with a message. If our thoughts create our emotions, then we can more easily track down the thought when we are feeling a certain way.

Your feelings(emotions) are an amazing tool! As you become aware of your feelings and recognize them as a message or clue for what is going on internally, you will make so much progress!

How quickly do you respond to text messages or messages of any kind?? You probably respond pretty fast, especially if it is your best friend! Your emotions are constantly sending you messages but they are being left unread.

Reconnect with yourself. 

How are you feeling right now? What is your brain and body trying to tell you? Take a look at those messages.

As you do, you will handle your emotions better because you will understand them, you will understand you better.