Controlling my own emotions has never been easy for me. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been able to fully control them. I’m a strong feeler, and things excite, hurt, anger, etc me easily. I think this is pretty common for women. It seems men are much better at controlling their emotions, or at least hiding them.
I have a habit of denying my emotions in an effort to control them. That does not work. If anything it just confuses the issues. When it comes to dating, I suck harshly at controlling my feelings and emotions. My brain takes a vacation when my hearts at work. I’d really like to change this. I don’t want to get rid of my natural feelings, but I do want to learn to CHOOSE how I feel. I don’t want my feelings to have control over me.
Step one for me will be mindfulness. If I’m mindful and honest about my emotions, I can maybe work on controlling them. I read somewhere that you can change the way you perceive your emotions. Is it really that simply, however? Can you simply change the way you look at something when ever you want to? I can do it with my anxiety, but only now that I’m on medication. What about other emotions? For example, rejection. If I feel rejected by a person, can I flip the situation around in my mind — an believe it?
Basically, I’m curious to see if you can actually teach an old dog new tricks. Only one way to find out — try it.
The Road Less Traveled 