Signs of Enslaving Emotions & Disturbance: Emotional Freedom Technique
Tracing raindrops on your glassy and cold window which makes you sigh in a very silent way; you know exactly how cloudy it is out there. In fact, you know so much that you secretly neglect the sharp similarity you have with the weather. It is your mind, just as cloudy and crowded as the sky which holds up perfectly before your very eyes.
There are tons of things that can be going in someone’s life and it is very important to know that nothing is ever-living. The term This Too Shall Pass is the hope people are breathing upon, but why don’t people pay attention to the things which keep them tangled in the darker shade of reverie? The answer to that is; a human brain is designed to delay reasoning which seems complex.
Countless people in this world are battling their emotions as you are reading this article. Everyone is pretty much familiar with emotions as they govern everything we do. They let us be the most real we can with our expression and give us the power to reflect. A person who is said to be full of life loved by everyone and gives everyone a sense of happiness is the perfect example of the shining side of emotions.
As grey as it can be:
Emotions are not always good and sometimes they take the best of us. Yes, being an emotional person and listening to your heart is all good until you step on what seems like a sea urchin and Kaboom, you have lost the control you had over yourself.
Go grab books from that old wooden shelf and read to divert your mind thinking maybe it is just a bad day, but the bitter truth is that most of us don’t even know if we are bowed down and are slaves to our emotions. For instance, a person who was loved by all suddenly ceases to function in a manner that is considered to be sympathetic, appropriate and civilized. What happened to him? Did someone cast a spell upon him? No, he just got under the intense pressure of emotions and that is exactly how people get enslaved by the mother of expressions – emotions.
Clear up your mind, sit straight and let the words penetrate in your mind like swirling waves because you are about to hold a candle on the signs that unveil just how enslaved you are to emotions.
1. Your moods guide YOU:
Mood swings are as common as anything can be. There are a lot of people who are moody but let’s not confuse being moody with moods that guide us to places. A person should introspect things that do not look too right. If your moods come and go here and there, there is nothing to worry about. We need to keep this in mind that moods are meant to be faced and overcome. Our routine activities can be the best source to take us out of them. But if you find yourself actually missing out or skipping things just because your mood is a roadblock in the way, then you are controlled by your emotions.
Let’s bring back that candle again and put a light on this one here. For example, your job, boring, I know. You wake up in the morning, not in the mood to go, so you take the day of which is perfectly fine. The sun comes out smiling the next day and knocks with the rays on your window. You wake up again, still not in the mood to go. Instead, you choose to watch Netflix, or go out just as your mood says – you are basically doing what you FEEL like instead of what you should be doing. The cycle of piecing out your routine keeps happening and somewhere deep inside, your emotions are grinning as you are theirs to have.
2. You are always Mr. Right:
If you are always the hero of your story then this one is for you. There are people who have a certain high image of themselves, which isn’t a bad thing at all. However, the moment that they start to respect themselves so much that they don’t think anyone else deserves it too, is where it gets messy.
People who are enslaved by their emotions often have a hard time trusting people. They don’t believe anyone’s advice and don’t follow what anyone says. They have this intense ego implanted in them that they are the only ones who are right – and everyone else is indeed just throwing out words without meanings.
3. Your regret hits you when it’s too late:
Remember that day when you harshly spoke to your mom? Or that time that you messed up the report the other day and didn’t accept your mistake? Instead, you talked back in front of your manager. It was all because your emotions were at a boiling point. It might be hitting you now as your emotions are pushing regret up to the surface in an attempt to let you see how precious your mom is and how much she loves you or perhaps the shiver that runs through your body knowing that you might lose your job. But what good is it for anyone now that you have already hurt your mother or have infuriated your boss enough to ruin your entire reputation. Feeling regret for what you did wrong is a sign of strong personality, but once it’s too late to hit, you can take it as a sign that you are a slave of your own emotions since your attitude and behavior is entirely determined by what you feel in the moment and not by what is right to do in a given situation.
4. You Are Tagged Unpredictable:
Sometimes we like being called unpredictable as it gives us that special charm and adds up to our personality. But the one being referred here is completely different. It’s the one that you shouldn’t feel the slightest good about.
Let’s assume that you had your friends around on the weekend and you guys had fun. You talked about things as there was a lot to catch up. At the end of the meetup, there was a plan to go hiking which everyone agreed to for the next month. Days passed; excitement touched the clouds by each passing day. Something struck your thoughts and there you were with the phone against the ear, calling it off, on the last minute. Friends were mad to see the plan to switch this way as everyone including you, participated throughout. The fact that you canceled the plan because you didn’t feel like going or break your resolves and carry them forward again due to rotating moods, this is one of the signs that you are indeed being controlled by your emotions.
5. Your night freezes in contemplation:
Your bed might be the most comfortable and your room might be warm but if your emotions are governing you around, trust me, you won’t get much sleep. People usually fall for this trap without knowing that the coordination of the mind, the thoughts, and the rest of the body is imperative for optimum sleep-cycle. As a result, you can’t help but stay up all night and overthink about your past, present, or future that does no good for you at all.
Overthinking is literally what drives people crazy. If you find yourself ruminating at night and feeling this sense of regret, don’t be shocked. They both walk around hand in hand. You might be feeling regret for acting in a certain way or perhaps not acting in a certain way. You’d be amazed to see the kind of tricks your mind can play as it pushes you to overanalyze the embarrassment of your past or overthinking about your future. If you’ve lost the capacity to let go of the little things and your thoughts are keeping you up at night, it is a sign that you are a slave of your emotions.
6. Self-serving bias takes a toll:
If you haven’t heard this term before, here is that candle for you again. A person who is directly and noticeably enslaved by his emotion, tend to adopt this form of biases. This is when someone credits himself if he succeeds and blames others if he fails. This behavior is notorious and falls in the list of those things which cut down people from one’s life.
For example, you failed the exam you really wanted to pass and somehow the tables are turned toward the teacher. Mom, I failed the exam because the teacher graded me unfairly and also, she didn’t teach us well in class. If you were to pass the same exam, it would have been over the top that you worked hard for it and the fact that the teacher taught you good didn’t play any remarkable part in your achievement.
If it’s always your success and their loss, then you are in the egoistic side of denying responsibilities because your emotions have a grip on you and they have blurred your sight of what is actually right and wrong.
7. You disregard the consequences:
Speaking and throwing bullets without considering the exit wounds, who isn’t familiar with the term that our actions speak louder than our words? People are meant to make mistakes but that doesn’t give us the hall pass of repeating the same mistakes or serving the hurtful actions to people without thinking about the consequences.
A person who has emotional intelligence, he takes action, expresses emotions to forecast consequences and settles down to make thoughtful and objective decisions. However, a person who is enslaved by emotions isn’t interested in analyzing the consequences before he takes any action. He is one to live a haphazard life that isn’t organized in any of its domains. Whatever he does is not defined by logic but only by a surge of emotions that he feels in the moment.
8. You are best friends with bad decisions:
Whether it was the decision of going to an extempore trip without telling your manager or signing up for the night shift without thinking it through, you think you can do it all but the reality is that you can’t. You have been best friends with a bad decision and you might be tired of it. Some part of you wants to reach out to people and ask for advice, but it is all too short-lived that it dies before it burgeons.
You can consider this one as an extension of another sign that’s mentioned above. Since you are thinking clearly and are not focused on the consequences of your actions, you jeopardize yourself to make bad decisions that have a lasting impact on disrupting the flow of your life.
Conclusion:
We, as a human being are born with a few things which define who we are. Emotions are one of our best aspects if expressed and faced properly. The life around us can be as dark as the deepest shade of black but there is always something that keeps us afloat – a voice inside.
Everything described above happens to everyone to some degree. No one is perfect and we all have moments when our emotions bring out the worst in us. Mastering them doesn’t necessarily mean you never slip up, but it does mean that you learn from those mistakes and you don’t keep repeating the same cycle over and over again. Emotions are very nice gestures to showcase but they are also notorious for the damage they can do if you submit to them and be their salves.
It is of paramount importance to know if we are enslaved by our emotions. If a few of the above-mentioned signs match you and that too from time to time, there’s no need to worry. But if it is the majority that is applicable to you, you better start working on yourself and see what you can do to turn it around.
Get back up, blow that candle and see from the light inside of you whether you want to pass the steering wheel to your emotions or be the only one who is dominant and has control – over actions and missions.
