Are emotions ruling your house?

Think about how you react to frustrating events in your life. A careless driver cuts you off. Your employee makes another mistake. A customer asks for a “better deal” when your margins are already slim. You shoot from the hip, flip the bird, or come back with a sarcastic remark. Your emotions lead the way. While you might get some short-term energy from the immediate gratification of an angry outburst or pithy remark, it’s an expensive fuel. And not very nourishing - like a steady diet of junk food.

Dan Millman, past World Champion gymnast and sports and life coach, comments about emotions:

“I treat my emotions the way I treated my daughters when they were young. I pay attention to them, learn from them, and honor them – but I don’t let them take over the household.”

What emotions are you letting rule your house? Anger? Fear? 

When you respond to an event, you’ve allowed yourself the opportunity to let the immediate surge of emotion come and go. Next time you find yourself in one of these situations, deliberately give yourself a “time out.” Some questions to ask yourself: “What’s the greater truth here?” For example, if your immediate emotion is anger, ask yourself, what (or whom) am I really angry at? “If I wasn’t feeling ______(fill in the emotion) what would I be feeling?” (A very wise person once told me that behind anger is fear.) The trick here is not to try and “fix” your feelings and thoughts, but to coexist with whatever is arising and learn from it.

If your immediate reaction is one of fear, ask yourself “What’s the opportunity here?” 

You’ll know you’ve really gotten this when you ask yourself this key question: “Am I reacting or responding to this event?” You’ll know the difference and will respond accordingly.