Channeling Our Emotions
We all possess strong feelings. At each point in time, our emotions denote our mental state. This includes happiness and sadness with all other sensibilities in between.
Emotion is common to all human beings and animals. I can even say plants because you hear a tree express itself by the way it shakes its branches under strong wind or shed its leaves at the turn of a season.
Our ability to emote is fundamental to communication.
Since we feel a type of way each time, what we do or say controls our emotions. There is no separating ourselves from emotion. It is part of what makes us human. Different factors contribute to emotions. There are internal and external factors.
No matter what the factors are, how we channel these emotions affects our mental health.
My principal way of channeling my emotions is through writing. I will list the types of emotions in the subsequent paragraphs, but let me share a personal experience first.
I love to write and I also like to talk about writing. Expressing my emotions is part of what attracted me to Medium. I have always kept a journal or written in different places, but I thought if I could collate all these feelings and make them public then, I could aim at two targets with one shot. I could practice my craft while working on my mental health by properly channeling my emotions.
Last year June, I was going through lots of things and most of all I didn’t know how to share them. A problem shared is half solved, but I couldn’t open up. People I trusted hurt me badly. I nearly died. My self-worth decreased. My mental health started degrading. I understood I had to let out these tight feelings of hurt, sadness, disappointment, and inadequacies, so I can embrace joy, fulfillment, success, and love.
That was when I launched this blog. Today, I can tell you this writing therapy is working. Using this beautiful platform that I have always admired for the level of vulnerability the writers tap into, I learned to share my own story. I started to unknit the entanglements that held me down. I claimed a level of personal freedom I wasn’t aware existed before.
In channeling my emotions, I also try to inspire. Positive energy is contagious. People’s lives change over the course of a minute encounter with a story, a paragraph, or a sentence. Part of the topics I write about is evidence of this bountiful vibes that we all share.
The most educating discourses are usually from the perspectives of those we don’t usually agree with. This is why it’s important to listen in disagreement. With every story I share, I increase the points of these interactions.
Happiness is one of the truest emotions to channel and express effectively. We do more good when we are happy. We share the things we have when we realize we are responsible for our happiness. With every gesture, we make the world a better place. I cannot start telling anyone what to do with their happiness. Give your best. This is a simpler emotion to channel.
On the other end of the spectrum are anger, hatred, hurt, grudges, and guilt. Whatever feeling that steals your smiles falls into this category.
These emotions can destabilize what took years to build. These emotions can stagnate your progress. These emotions can completely hamper growth. One feature of not channeling this emotion properly is that it connects with other similar emotions worsening the situation.
Ways to curtail the dangerous effects of these emotions are keeping silent when angry, mastering patience, and choosing effective attitudes to overcome negative thoughts.
Timing is also important as well as admitting we have a problem. Be aware of certain situations that steal your joy.
When we identify these negative emotions, we can decide to avoid the occasions and people that bring them about. We cannot waddle in a place that doesn’t avail us of growth and expect progress. This place can be mental or physical.
There are many ways of channeling our emotions although it always seems artistic ventures take the lion's share.
You might ask, what if I don’t have creative talents? There is what is called writing therapy. Just putting words on paper and not caring much about syntax and pitch can heal. That’s what I do here mostly although as a professional, I input verified data and references. Freeing your mind in this way can lead to a breakthrough.
Work also can be used because when we focus on tasks, our minds have less time to wander away into harmful emotions. Exercise is also important. But giving in and allowing pent-up anger to boil up can lead to uncontrolled implosion.
