Emotional Power
In today’s episode I’ll be talking about your Emotional Power, why emotions can be useful and exactly how to put a negative emotion on mute.
In previous episodes, I have looked at both your Inner Critic and the Outer Critics you may encounter in your day-to-day life.
It can be quite alarming to realise that it isn’t just our own Ego Selves that can have influence over our thoughts and actions, but other peoples Ego Selves too.
Questioning and controlling your thoughts are only half the battle of gaining your Authentic power back.
The other side of the coin is your emotions.
Emotions are powerful things and have even more influence over how you think and how you act than most people would give them credit for.
You see, if it weren’t for your emotions, you wouldn’t:
- Be able to find your happiness
- Feel grief
- Get angry
- Have the drive to succeed
- Be afraid of failing
- Enjoy hobbies
- Fall in love
If it were up to our brains, everything would be very logical and compartmentalised. You could have conversations in your head and follow through on ideas without fear, but also, without joy either.
Your mind may be the vehicle that takes you swiftly where you want to go, but as your chosen mode of transport is useless without fuel, be that electricity, petrol, or good old fashioned foot power, your emotions then becomes the energy that will ultimately drive you to succeed or fail, to love or to hate, to be open to the wonders of love, or to be closed off from the world.
So, we know that we all have emotions, and why we need them in the first place, but what if your emotions are stopping you from doing the things you really want to in life?
To overcome these particular hurdles, you are going to have to first identify the emotion, and then decide what new emotion you want instead……sound easy right?
Let’s look at an exercise to help you.
First up, think back to a time where your emotions stopped you from doing something your Authentic Self really wanted to do. An emotion which is still having a disempowering effect on you even today.
Now, before we begin the exercise, get yourself into a comfortable position, and if you feel safe to do so, close your eyes.
Think of a time where you felt an emotion that disempowered you.
Perhaps you were attending a job interview or going out on your first date and felt nervous. Maybe you were angry because you felt let down by someone or you wanted to go for that promotion but were too afraid to put yourself forward.
Whatever it was, create a picture of that situation.
What were your emotions in that moment.
- Sadness
- Loneliness
- Anger
- Hate
- Nervousness
- Jealousy
- Greed
- Annoyance
Whatever it was, allow yourself to feel this emotion.
Feel what you felt just as strongly as you did in that same moment.
Notice how strong your feelings are.
What is this emotion?
Does it feel overwhelming?
Is it a strong or weak emotion?
Does is feel heavy or light?
What colour is this emotion? Is it red or blue? Orange or green?
Keep feeling this emotion.
When you can feel this emotion clearly and strongly, I want you to begin to imagine that your inner critic is feeling an emotion that is opposite to the one it just was.
If it was overwhelming, imagine the emotion to be underwhelming
If it was strong, make it weak and whispery
If it was weak, make it strong
If it felt heavy, make it light and airy
If it was light, make it heavy
If the emotion felt red, make it yellow
Keep feeling this emotion in its new form
Smile at the new emotion – doesn’t this emotion seem ridiculous now?
Notice how the emotion makes you feel now.
When you are ready, say to your inner critic
‘Thanks inner critic, not today’ and then put the emotion on mute.
Watch inner critics face and form as it still tries to feel that emotion, but no emotions are present at all.
Again, smile nicely at your inner critic, and say
‘Goodbye inner critic’, and watch as your inner critic disappears, leaving behind a blank, emotionless space.
Try completing this exercise again using other situations you found your inner critic influencing an emotion that stopped you from following through on something, and that you now wished it hadn’t.
The more you can practise this exercise, the easier it will become to be able to mute a disempowering emotion when you need it the most.