Is Your Checkbook More Balanced Than Your Emotions?

Some emotions can be so strong that an event can bring tears to your eyes and your insides feel like everything’s twisted into a knot that won’t unwind.

Sudden sadness or anger must be something you monitor to ensure your emotions don’t get out of control. You’ve heard people talk about keeping your emotions balanced. What does that mean? Does that mean up you feel sad and angry one minute and then joyful  the next? Not exactly.

Sometimes, when you’re trying to communicate with another person, signals get crossed. Before you know it, confusion sets in and your anger and emotions are out of control. But on the other hand, if you repress your feelings and emotions, it could be a great risk to your health. Talking through your emotions can help.

Keeping Yourself in Balance

Keeping your emotions in balance begins by learning which types of things, circumstances, or specific people can trigger a negative response in you. If you can identify one of the things that has happened recently, try to describe the way you felt before, during, and after this emotional outbreak occurred. How did you handle it? Were you loud and verbal or stewing silently? Did you stay in the same room or did you want to run away? Did you reach for food, a favorite beverage, or another comfort object?

When your emotions are in control of you rather than you being in control of your emotions, you have to do something to take your power back. Did you know that negative emotions can also make you sick?

Ways to Control Your Emotions

Here is a short list of things that you can do to control your emotions the next time someone or something pushes one of your buttons:

• Choose to ignore or distract yourself from the person or circumstance.
• If a person is using you as their target, then in a calm and quiet voice tell them the conversation is over; don’t respond to their demands or get brought back in to the discussion.
• When feelings of nostalgia creep in to remind you of a sad time or circumstance, change your thought pattern immediately, and do not dwell on the negative emotion. Tell yourself that was then but this is now, choose to go forward rather than backward.
• If you’re alone, record the feelings that you’re having and let everything out. This could be done by typing on your computer, writing on a sheet of paper, or even recording your thoughts into a little digital recorder. The goal is not to keep those emotions bottled up inside you.

Although having a confidant as a personal friend who you could contact in such a circumstance might be your first reaction, all you’re really going to be doing is escalating the problem by keeping the negative emotions alive.

If you see a pattern developing where your emotions are causing a negative impact in your life on a consistent basis, consider talking to a personal consultant. The goal is not long-term meetings or conversations; the goal is to find the right solution for you. You’re not in this alone.

Help is available.

Kendall Van Blarcom is a senior helping seniors. Contact Van Blarcom Consulting today for help with your personal problems. Or, reach out to provide support for an older adult in your life.