How to manage feelings and emotions?
Each person is able to withstand only a certain level of emotional stress. When the load is exceeded, almost anyone begins to behave inappropriately, which manifests itself in aggression towards others and self-aggression. And prolonged exposure to emotional stress leads to psychosomatic disorders.
Stanislavski, when training young actors, used an interesting technique to illustrate the influence of emotional stress on a person’s psychological state. He offered to lift the piano to several young people, which was not difficult. However, they had to continue to hold it; after 5 minutes their condition changed. And Stanislavsky asked them, holding the piano, to begin a story about their dream. Needless to say, this story was extremely dry and lacking in substance. And then he suggested lowering the piano, and the actor would open up. Many people keep the same emotional “grand pianos” within themselves, and often even several. Which does not give them a chance to live life to the fullest.
Everyone wants to be happy, and this pushes them to take action, to find ways to enjoy life. A person comes to understand that his happiness depends on his emotional reactions and the ability to change them. Even when faced with negative moments, having mastered control over emotions, everyone can transform their reactions, and as a result, their actions. During depression, a person cannot achieve what he wants, so improving personal psycho-emotional state and increasing energy tone help achieve success. Even if it is not possible to change emotions, a person can learn to get out of this state, while controlling himself.
In a team, it is especially valuable to understand the emotions and feelings of friends and colleagues. Any group in society, even a family, periodically enters a state of conflict caused by various emotional states, motivations, and opposing interests of its members. And managing emotions in a conflict provides a chance not only to resolve the dispute that has broken out, but also to eliminate the conflict in its very bud.
How to manage emotions and feelings? Emotional reactions are well managed by those who know emotion management techniques and also have a high level of emotional intelligence, which is now recognized as an important component of success and effectiveness along with mental intelligence. To increase this type of intelligence, you need to learn to understand your own emotions, distinguish between them, track their signals in the body, accept them and be able to analyze how reactions affect behavior, be aware of behavioral strategies and choose the appropriate situation. In contact with people, high EQ is manifested in the fact that its owner can be open to them without fear, show accommodatingness and empathy, and can well distinguish the feelings of others by external manifestations: body movements, chosen postures, facial expressions, intonations. An emotionally literate person questions the effectiveness of his influence and his ability to openly express his own emotions, and constantly trains in these skills.
If you want to learn how to manage your emotions, or are wondering about your level of emotional literacy, take the test to measure emotional intelligence. Based on its results, you will be able to assess what needs to be worked on and plan the further development of each of the components of emotional literacy: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management.
Also, to be able to manage emotions, you first need to reduce the level of stress, which takes energy, and with prolonged exposure, depletes the nervous system, making changes in personality impossible - there is not enough strength for them. Identify the source of stress and try to cope with it yourself or with the help of a specialist. Simple everyday advice to take things more simply helps to maintain optimism, which contributes to the mental well-being and disposition of other people.
References:
1. Workshop on stress management. – St. Petersburg, Peter, 2002
2. Samoukina at school and at home: Psychotechnical exercises, correctional programs - Yaroslavl, Development Academy: Holding Academy, 2004.
3. Energy of pause. Psychological games and exercises: A practical guide/trans. with him.. - M., Genesis, 2004.
4. How to teach children to cooperate? In 4 hours: Psychological games and exercises. Practical guide for teachers and school psychologists / trans. with him. – M., Genesis, 2003
Methods of self-regulation associated with breathing
Breath control is a very effective means of influencing muscle tone and emotional brain centers. If you breathe slowly and deeply (abdominal breathing), the excitability of the nerve centers decreases, and a state of relaxation occurs. If you breathe exclusively through the chest, then the highest degree of activity of the body is ensured and neuropsychic tension is maintained.
Next, we present one of the simplest and most effective methods of respiratory self-regulation:
- You need to sit down, take a comfortable body position and focus on breathing
- While counting to four, you should take a deep and slow breath (use abdominal breathing)
- Then you need to hold your breath and also count to four.
- After this, you need to exhale smoothly, counting to six.
- Next, you need to hold your breath again, counting to four.
After just five minutes of doing this breathing exercise, you will notice that your state has become more balanced and calm.
Methods of mental self-regulation can and should be used daily at any moment when you begin to feel fatigue, tension, irritability, loss of strength, emotional decline and other similar conditions. In fact, such methods of influencing a person on himself are an excellent way to always be in a cheerful state and in a good mood, regardless of the characteristics of current situations.
YOUR WAYS OF SELF-REGULATION: Among other things, it is very interesting that each person has his own methods of mental self-regulation, i.e. those methods that suit him best. However, finding out which ones are effective and which ones are not very effective can be quite difficult - this requires a lot of practice and knowledge of the characteristics of one’s personality. But today we offer you an excellent opportunity to go through the first stage in a very short time and learn enough information about yourself to develop the most effective method of self-regulation for yourself, the use of which will serve you very well in life. This way is our course on self-knowledge, which you can find here.
Start self-knowledge, and we wish you good luck and always be in the best condition for yourself!
We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
- Eight Strategies to Improve Self-Regulation
- Properties of mental states
- Enemies of good decisions
- Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
- Surprising facts about stress
- Anger: causes and overcoming
- Ways to relieve stress
- Common complexes and overcoming them. Part 2
- Psychic reflection
- Systematic desensitization of Joseph Wolpe
Key words:1Psychoregulation
