Are you emotional about a certain situation? Or feeling "too much,"? Well, you are not alone in this, and it is not entirely a bad thing to feel this way. However, our emotions shape the way we perceive certain events and might even cloud our judgment regarding people and incidents. At the same time, it is also important to understand that emotions are part of life, and they complete us. It is part of human nature to feel certain things, and one cannot simply escape this reality.
What we can do as humans to ensure our sanity and peace of mind is to practice meditation techniques that help us to manage our emotions in a better way. Our article is focused on explaining some useful meditation techniques that will help you manage your emotions in a better way.
1. Understand Yourself
Being compassionate towards yourself is one of the best ways to calm yourself during a tough time. Self-compassion constitutes of three elements: mindfulness, being kind to oneself and having a common sense of humanity. By considering these three aspects, one can soothe themselves through a tough time. The best way to deal with your emotions is to understand your struggles and accept your current state instead of ignoring the problem.
Let's try to understand this through an example: Suppose you need to prepare for a big presentation at work and the person who was supposed to brief you regarding the details was not thorough enough. This would make you angry but instead of lashing out in front of the whole team, wouldn't it be better to calm yourself down and practice the three aspects of self-compassion.
Once you have calmed down, it would be easier for you to assess the situation and respond more reasonably. By being compassionate towards yourself, it would also be easier for you to be understanding towards others and put yourself in their shoes to access the situation in a better way.
2. Find Your Anchor
We, as humans, often find our minds jumping from one scenario to another without any particular reason and any fixed pattern. When your mind is not focused, it becomes even more difficult to manage strong emotions. You might be so tangled in the web that you created yourself that it will become difficult to think straight. It is easier to calm raging emotions when the mind is still.
It is often suggested to calm your mind by focusing on something while you are meditating. Whenever you feel like your mind is deviating from its purpose, you can drive it back to the focal point. By having an anchor, you can train your brain to stay in the present and not get lost in the jungle gym of thoughts.
A lot of people find it useful to perform breathing exercises. Use your breathing as an anchor and use words like inhale and exhale to relax your mind. By reminding your brain to breathe in and out, you can bring your wandering mind back to square one.
3. Visualize
If you are facing any challenging situation in your life, then this technique will help you improve your performance. Similar to how athletes visualize their performance before the event to prepare themselves, you can practice the same technique to face challenging situations in your life.
A meditation technique that you can use to practice visualization is through developing positive feelings for three kinds of people.
- A person who is very dear to you.
- A person who is only an acquaintance.
- A person who opposes you.
When you develop positive feelings for these three people, you will be preparing your mind to be friendly towards them or offer them kindness when you see them next. Don't feel that you need to be limited to these three people when you are extending your warmth and kindness. The more people you extend your kindness towards, the better it will be for your well-being.
4. Nothing is Permanent
When one is in the depth of despair, it is often difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our sufferings may seem never-ending, and it may become difficult to find a ray of hope. In times like these, one must remember that all suffering is temporary. All highs and lows in life come to an end. What you consider to be a depth of despair might be a blessing.
By cultivating such thoughts in your mind, you will be giving yourself emotional control, and slowly your mental state will improve. As you give such thoughts more importance, your life will feel more organized and aligned with your thoughts.
5. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a technique in which one practices to stay in the present moment. By doing this, they are regulating their thoughts and improve their current state of mind. There are several activities through which one can practice mindfulness; these include:
- Mindful eating
- Walking mindfully
- Mindful scanning your sitting or lying down position
- Mindful walking
- Mindful awareness of one's body, emotions, feelings, or thoughts
By including these practices in your daily life, you can manage stress and increase your ability to focus and concentrate on things. Moreover, mindfulness will reduce impulsive behavior and reduce expulsions and child-like behavior.
You will also be able to see a visible improvement in your emotional intelligence, which will help you solve conflicts and eventually improve your relationships with those around you. Your physical being is also bound to improve with certain practices, and eventually, you will see yourself improve your creative outlook in life.
Key takeaways
Sometimes even doing things that you enjoy can have a powerful impact on managing your emotions and how you perceive things. Some people enjoy organizing their closets while others enjoy shopping to stay happy while some even enjoy cleaning their homes or find joy in the simple act of carpet cleaning. Find out what you enjoy to stay sane and happy!
Managing your emotions and meditation have a strong connection with each other. Meditation will give you more control over your emotions, which will help you let go of negativity in your life and make you happier. As you make meditation a part of your daily life, you will also see that it will enhance your emotional intelligence and make you more empathetic towards other people's emotions and feelings.
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