Mental Health and Psychology
Here’s How to Regulate Emotions in Three Steps.
Key points in our journey to emotional maturity for a healthier body and the brain
The Importance of Emotions and Regulating Them
Accept it or not, we have many emotions as it is part of our biological system, and it defines humans. Our emotions bring essential messages from our inner world caused by biochemical and electrical signals.
Feeling various emotions and understanding them can be invaluable for our physical and mental health.
Thoughts might lie, but emotions don’t. Thoughts can be false, but emotions are real. They are biological and physiological, manifesting as psychological constructs.
Emotions communicate to us what is going on at a deeper level. However, emotional toxicity can be detrimental to our health.
By observing and understanding our emotions, we can regulate them. Emotional regulation can reduce our vulnerability to emotional situations, empower us in dealing with impulses, and reduce our suffering.
Chronic stress is harmful to our health and well-being. However, emotional stress is the more significant part of the iceberg in our stress profile.
Emotional stress is caused by destructive emotions such as fear, anxiety, grief, worry, anger, frustration, dissatisfaction, and even boredom.
In addition, many debilitating health conditions are linked to emotional traumas coded in memories in younger years when they got suppressed due to vulnerability.
The opposite state of emotional regulation is called emotional dysregulation. People cannot describe emotions in this destructive state and have difficulty coping. Consequently, they have constant mood swings causing them to suffer.
While emotions come and go transiently, some emotions, if not addressed, can remain in our memories leading to chronic stress.
However, we can reduce and even eliminate emotional stress by using therapeutic techniques. In this post, I highlight three approaches covering several therapeutic approaches to emotional regulation.
1 — Mindful Approach to Thoughts and Emotions
Mindfulness is an effective tool to address amygdala hijacks for urgent emotional bursts. Recognizing amygdala hijackings as soon as possible can empower us to put our psychological situation in a better position.
Observing thoughts before they trigger emotions, accepting them while entering our consciousness, and mindfully addressing them can give us psychological power.
Awareness of our thoughts and emotions is critical for emotional regulation. Some thoughts might create strong emotions if we don’t notice them and manage timely. Once we become aware of emotion-generating thoughts, we can use our cognitive system to assess their validity logically.
A logical assessment can give us breathing space and put us in a better emotional state. For example, this approach can decrease the intensity of emotions.
The observation of thoughts and naming them can prevent intense emotional states. This approach is effective in normal conditions. However, sometimes the primitive brain might hijack the thinking brain. It stops rational thinking, putting us in a vulnerable state. As a result, we get flooded by undesirable emotions.
When our thinking brain stops challenging situations, the best approach is to make physiological shifts, such as breathing exercises to activate our parasympathetic nervous system. Taking a break and resting the body can quickly start the thinking brain, which gives us the power to deal with emotions logically and mindfully.
2 — Boosting Emotional Intelligence and Maturity
Emotional intelligence is a preventative approach to emotional regulation. This vital intelligence prepares us for dealing with emotional bursts.
This capability also helps us avoid harmful situations that put us emotionally vulnerable. Some call this capability “emotional mastery.”
Emotional intelligence is understanding our own emotions and recognizing other people’s emotions.
While observation through mindfulness practices is the crucial technique for self-emotions, empathy, and compassion, which are also part of mindfulness practices, are essential techniques for understanding other people’s emotions.
Thus, the mental health discipline highly regards mindfulness practices as therapeutic avenues.
Emotionally intelligent people understand that denying and ignoring our emotions can be very dangerous.
Therefore, they always accept positive or negative emotions without judging them. Once emotions are accepted, they give us valuable clues about what is happening in our bodies and minds.
Hiding and abstracting emotions can also be risky for regulating them.
For example, some people use the term tired or exhausted when they feel sad or upset. Using the actual name of the emotions instead of replacing them with abstract words can better regulate emotions.
The more specific we are in articulating our emotions, the more knowledge we gain about our internal system as emotions communicate needs the body and the brain desire.
More importantly, self-love and self-compassion for regulating our emotions can be invaluable.
Emotional regulation with increased emotional intelligence and emotional maturity can empower us to reduce emotional stress.
When we behave with these capabilities, we can experience abundant energy and vitality to cope with our negative or positive emotions.
3 — Rewiring the Brain for New Habits
One of regulating our emotions is rewiring our brain for new habits. Doing the opposite of emotions is an intervention technique for regulating emotions. For example, finding a way to smile or laugh can reduce the effects of sadness when we are sad.
When we feel lazy, just taking small action can energize us by changing the biochemical reactions, so our laziness gradually disappears.
Via simple lifestyle changes such as exercise and time-restricted eating, we are capable of rewiring our brains. One of the mechanisms is creating more Brain-Derived Neuropathic factors (BDNF).
It is a signaling protein for brain plasticity. BDNF is active in brain regions like the hippocampus, the cortex, the basal forebrain, and the cerebrum. These regions enable us to learn and build new memories.
Interestingly, Alzheimer’s patients have significantly reduced BDNF in these regions. Scientific evidence indicates the effect of chronic stress on BDNF, linking it to psychiatric disorders such as anhedonia. For example, this study points out that “the hippocampus is altered by prolonged exposure to aversive situations.”
I provided ten practical tips to keep the brain young and healthy by increasing neuroplasticity and rewiring the brain by initiating neurogenesis. I also provided insights into cognitive flexibility.
Conclusions and Takeaways
I observed emotionally mature leaders and learned imperative lessons from their lives, giving me valuable insights and perspectives. One of my observations is these emotionally mature people feel the emotions like everyone else.
However, these remarkable people process emotions so quickly that they can neutralize them speedily and fall back to a balanced state of mind. I also learned significant lessons about emotional regulation from the lives of centenarians.
While healthy people can regulate their emotions, some medical conditions require qualified professionals’ advice and therapeutic interventions.
Hiding our emotions and fearing to express them can be dangerous for our health. Asking for help and support is essential for our well-being.
If we meet the foundational requirements such as sleep, nutrition, exercise, and recovery, a large part of the iceberg is emotional stress.
Living a mindful and meaningful life can help, but there may be times when we need professional advice and support to deal with emotional stress.
One of the crucial lessons in my life was to learn to slow down. I suffered from ambition and constant agitation toward perceived success.
Yet, paradoxically, I became more creative and productive when I learned to slow down. Slowing them helped me feel and express my emotions, gaining more emotional maturity. When I slowed down, I entered to flow state faster and stayed longer in it.
When we are in a flow state, we are more emotionally powerful. In addition, replacing envy with admiration has significantly contributed to my emotional regulation and maturity.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
Related Mental Health and Psychology Articles
Unbearable Feeling of Anhedonia: How Can We Enjoy Life Again?
Emotional Stress As Larger Part Of The Iceberg In Energy Deficiency
How Not to Be Cracked by Toxic Emotions and Chronic Stress at Work
The Importance of Self-Compassion for Physical & Mental Health
The Role of Sex & Emotional Intimacy In Reducing Chronic Stress
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