Regulating Your Emotions!

Today on my blog I will be sharing with you Emotional Regulation Skills. Need to regulate your emotions? Then this blog is for you.

When we experience an emotion, a behavior usually follows this emotion. When we are angry, we may want to fight or argue. When we are sad, we might want to withdraw from our friends or even family. Our body causes us to react to different kinds of emotions in specific ways.

What if we were to use an opposite kind of action that will change how we react to this particular emotion?

a. If you would usually start yelling when you are angry, try this instead – talk quietly and politely.

b. If you usually withdraw when you are sad, instead make it a point to visit a friend anytime you feel this way.

Look back at your life and think of a couple times you may have overreacted. During your reflection, you may notice that something once felt like a big deal when it wasn’t really that important. You will need to check the facts at the moment to help reduce the intensity of these extreme emotions that you experienced.

Check the facts asking yourself the following questions:

1. What event triggered my emotion?

2. What interpretations or assumptions am I making about the event?

3. Do my emotions and its intensity match the facts of the situation? Or does it just match MY assumptions of the situations?

Above is an image of the pathways of the brain that is directly affected by our emotions. The emotional brain sends signals to your body telling it how to react.

Do you know that your body and mind are closely connected? The health of one can directly affect the other. An unhealthy body will make it difficult to manage your emotions.

Look at this acronym “P.L.E.A.S.E.” can be used to help you remember important aspects of this connection.

PL – Treat Physical Illness

E – Eat Healthy

A – Avoid Mood-Altering Drugs

S – Sleep Well

E – Exercise

What zone are you in?