Things I know about emotions

– There’s no use fighting/denying emotions. I learnt this through trial and error. Denying emotions or expecting that you should never feel these particular emotions towards certain people does not help. At all. Sooner or later you will have to accept whatever you have been feeling and just let it be.

– Some emotions are temporary and therefore it hurts less if you don’t react and just let them pass. Again, learnt through personal experience. You must’ve heard of this phrase – you are the sky and emotions are clouds. This is exactly what I mean. While some clouds (I mean emotions) stay for a longer period of time, most of them are fleeting. If you just let them pass through you and maintain a non judgemental and accepting attitude, you will overcome them pretty soon.

– Compassion has many benefits. Speaking of emotions I think experiencing compassion had many benefits. Compassion helps you to truly connect with others. It is a building block for sustainable relationships. Self compassion helps you maintain a kind and non-judgemental attitude towards yourself even when things go wrong. Thinking kind thoughts about yourself will change the way you feel about yourself, from being critical of yourself to experiencing compassionate attitude towards yourself.

– Analysing negative emotions takes their power away. Writing about my emotions has always helped me. But recently I found a research done on this which said that when you write you analyse your thoughts and put them on paper which is helpful while dealing with negative emotions. Just thinking about negative events or ruminating about them hurts more.

– Strong negative emotions have something to tell you. You learn a lot from emotions that don’t feel good. You learn about yourself, what you like and what you dislike. Guilt makes you realise that you have done something that you shouldn’t have. When you are sad you realise how much that thing matters to you. Take a moment to understand the underlying thoughts of a particular emotion.

– Being kind to yourself is much needed. As you show kindness and compassion towards others, remember to feel it towards yourself as well. You deserve your love and your kindness as much as anyone else, if not more. Especially on a hard day, self compassion can feel like a sip of cold water on a hot day.

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