Living a healthy and meaningful life requires emotional intelligence. When emotions are not controlled, they can influence your behaviour, ideas, and actions. Yet, you may build resilience and improve decision-making by controlling emotions.

It’s critical to keep in mind that emotional mastery is a journey rather than a final goal. You may encounter situations that make maintaining your emotions challenging. But you can strengthen your emotional resilience by practising self-awareness. Emotional mastery will result in a more satisfying life and profound inner peace. Let’s get into the seven lessons for controlling our emotions. 

1) You’re not responsible for people’s thoughts. What people think of you is none of your business.

People have unique ideas, viewpoints, and beliefs influenced by their histories and worldviews.

Imagine you deliver a presentation, and one of your coworkers seems underwhelmed. You can start feeling self-conscious and worrying about what others think of you. You must remember that you have no control over their ideas or viewpoints. They might have had a poor day, didn’t like the subject, or were busy. You may refrain from getting caught up in other people’s opinions. You can do this by concentrating on the aspects of your presentation and your behaviours that you can control. It’s critical to be true to yourself and avoid altering who or what you are in response to the ideas or opinions of others. 

2) Thoughts generate emotions, and emotions dictate your actions.

The statement implies that our thoughts can give rise to particular emotions, affecting our actions.

Take a crucial exam as an example. You start to think negative things like “I’m not smart enough” or “I’m going to fail.” These feelings, such as anxiety or dread, might lead to these ideas and affect your behavior. You might begin to put off studying, avoid it, or feel overburdened, which can harm your chances of passing the test. Yet, if you can think, such as “I have prepared well for this exam”, this might result in positive feelings. It will boost your confidence, which can favour your behaviour. Your chances of passing the test increase if you study more and feel more prepared.

3) Most of us have too much emotional baggage and must learn to let go of it. We must declutter our subconscious and eliminate the negative emotions preventing us from enjoying life to the fullest.

According to the statement, suppressing unpleasant memories from the past can make it challenging to experience the present altogether. We must learn to let go of these feelings to move forward with clarity and optimism.

Take the scenario where you had a nasty split with a lover in the past, and you still harbour unpleasant feelings like resentment or contempt towards them. These feelings might hold you back and make it difficult for you to go on and find love in new relationships. By carrying this emotional baggage, you might find it difficult to trust people, experience rejection fears, or have relationship issues.

It’s crucial to accept these uncomfortable feelings and find a healthy approach to deal with them if you want to eliminate this emotional baggage. 

4) The quality of your sleep and how much of it you get affects your emotional state.

Regulating our emotions depends on getting adequate good sleep. Sleep deprivation or poor sleep quality might significantly impact our emotional mood and general well-being. For instance, if you don’t get enough rest before a big occasion, like a job interview, you can feel agitated, apprehensive, or depressed, affecting your performance. Chronic sleep loss or insomnia can also cause mood problems like anxiety or depression. On the other hand, prioritising good sleep practices, including obtaining adequate sleep, abstaining from stimulants before bed, and having a peaceful sleep environment, might benefit our emotional condition. It can improve our mood, handle stress better, and make us feel energised and productive all day. Therefore, it’s crucial to emphasise getting enough good sleep for the best emotional health.

5) Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.

The quotation advises us to prioritise the important things to us and wait to put them off until it is too late. Only those chores or objectives that are not essential to our sense of fulfilment or purpose should be removed.

Imagine, for instance, that you have been putting off visiting a distant nation even though you have always wanted to. You should prioritise your vacation plans and stop putting them off any longer if it is essential to you. It is acceptable to put off other chores or objectives that are less important to you, such as organising your bookshelf or cleaning out your closet, until later. This assertion highlights the significance of leading a meaningful life. 

6) You become what you think about all day long.

The statement implies that our thoughts significantly impact our actions, molding our reality. It can boost our chances of success if we regularly think about a particular aim or dream.

Consider the scenario where you wish to launch a new company. You’re more likely to act in the direction of accomplishing that objective if you spend your days considering the actions you must take, such as developing a business strategy, networking, and looking for finance. On the other hand, if you spend all your time worrying about the difficulties and problems you might encounter, you might be encouraged to take the necessary actions to ensure your company’s success.

We can raise the likelihood of succeeding in our objectives and desires by continually focusing on them.

7) The first thing to understand is that emotions come and go. One the moment, you feel happy; the next, you feel sad.

The expression implies that feelings are transient, temporary, and subject to alteration at any time. This means that even when we feel bad, it won’t endure forever, and we can control it.

Consider the scenario where you find out some saddening unexpected news. Your initial reaction to the melancholy can be to feel, overcome, and think about anything else. But as time passes, you might feel better and rediscover normalcy. On the other hand, if you get some great news that makes you feel good, that sensation could also pass as you return to your routine.

This phrase underlines how crucial it is to avoid becoming overly tied to our emotions or letting them control our actions. Instead, we should acknowledge that emotions are a regular aspect of life and develop appropriate coping mechanisms.

Conclusion 

For a fulfilling existence, we must learn to control our emotions. By managing our emotions, we can strengthen bonds with others. It can also lessen stress and improve our well-being. This is knowing that emotions change over time and letting go of negative feelings is okay. It’s essential to prioritise mental and emotional well-being. It’s crucial to create effective coping mechanisms. By doing this, we may design a life oriented around our values and goals while enjoying the ride.