There will be moments in your life when you feel so charged that you cannot control your emotions and how you act, only to regret these actions later on. In fact, your entire life might be ruined just because of a single outburst that could have easily been avoided. If you have such a temperamental nature, here are some ways to get a hold of your emotions before it is too late.
4 ways to control your emotions
1. Breathe deeply
When you are emotionally charged, your breathing can become heavy and frantic. This is because your body is stepping into a “fight mode” that puts you in a defensive, conflict-oriented mindset. As such, the first thing you should do when you notice emotional instability is to take a break from whatever you are doing and breathe deeply for a few minutes.
Deep breathing can calm the mind and relax the body, essentially bringing it out from the “fight mode.” Try this breathing technique — place one hand on your chest and the other below your rib cage. Inhale through your nose while counting to four and feeling the abdomen expand. Hold your breath for about 2 seconds and then release it slowly through your mouth. Do this repeatedly for 6 or 10 times a minute. After some time, you should ideally feel quite relaxed.
Deep breathing can calm your mind and relax your body. (Image: Screenshot via YouTube)
2. Replace negative thoughts
“Whenever you are confronted with an emotion which is making you feel or think something bad, force it out of your mind and replace it with a different thought. Imagine the ideal resolution to your problem playing out, think about someone who makes you happy or remember an event that makes you smile,” according to Huffpost.
Doing so moves your mind from negative thoughts to pleasant ones, helping you contain any potential emotional outbursts. However, do keep in mind that this is just a temporary solution. You need to find the root causes of why you feel such extreme thoughts and then deal with them effectively.
3. Think about the consequences
When your mind is in the grip of strong emotions, it loses all sense of rationality. To keep such emotions from coming to the fore, think about the negative consequences of taking actions under their influence and how you or your loved one’s life will be gravely affected by it. For instance, you might feel angry at your boss for some ridiculous demand they make. You might even want to push or punch him.
However, think about the consequences. Once you attack the boss, no matter how righteous you are, you will likely lose all favor among the higher-ups. You might end up jobless, and your family will suffer. In contrast, if you calmly get over the situation, you can report the matter to the higher-ups, who might take sympathy for your situation and punish the boss for any misconduct.
Stop and think about the consequences of acting out of negative emotions. (Image: plicka via Pixabay)
4. Physical outlet
Some people can only relax once they take some physical action when faced with uncontrollable emotions. If you find yourself in such a situation, go to the gym and vent all your frustrations on a punching bag until you exhaust yourself. If you work at a company with an in-house training space, head there immediately. Now, if you cannot take time to go to the gym, just find a secluded space and punch the air a few times or do some push-ups/pull-ups. This can help you calm down to some extent.
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