What if I told you that a lot of the things you’re feeling are not exactly what you think they are? In many cases, you’re jumping to conclusions in terms of identifying your own emotions. I know this sounds crazy because after all, everybody feels emotions and they are entitled to them, right? Well, you’re confusing two things. You’re confusing the fact that everybody is entitled to their own emotions. Nobody can argue this.
If you’re feeling certain things or you’re experiencing a rush of different emotions, you are entitled to that because you are equal, like everybody else. Everybody’s looking at the same set of stimuli, and everybody’s welcome to process that information and walk away with different emotions. That’s okay. That’s natural, that’s part of the game.
What you’re not entitled to is to absolve yourself of the responsibility of dealing with your emotions. This is where a lot of people fail. I really can’t blame them because 9 times out of 10, when confronted with any kind of toxic emotions, people would rather do things the exact same way they’ve done things before.
You’ve grown accustomed to intercepting certain signals a certain way. You become mentally lazy. Sure, in the beginning, you chose one interpretation over another, but the more you repeat it, the more it becomes engraved until you reach a point where you feel that this is just part of your personality.
You might even think that this is just the natural objective interpretation of the things you are seeing and feeling. Absolutely wrong. This is not objective, it’s always subjective. You can always choose a different interpretation.
This is where honesty comes in. Are you looking at the big picture? Are you coming up with a logical and rational reading of the stimuli that you are perceiving, or are you just going through the motions, are you letting your emotions get the better of you because you’re just lazy? You’ve been reacting this way for a long time, and you really don’t want to put in the time, effort, and energy to make a change; that’s a choice.
Nobody’s pointing a gun at your head and forcing you to respond in the worst way possible. Emotionally, nobody finds that you’re not being forced to do this, but you do it again and again. Kind of like a rat pushing a lever to get a little treat during a scientific experiment. You can choose to respond to your emotions in a vastly different way by simply choosing to be honest.
First of all, you need to be honest about the whole stimulus that you perceive. Are you looking at the whole picture? Second, you have to look at how you’re interpreting it. Are there no other logical interpretations that can be supported by the same set of facts? If there are, why are you not using those interpretations? Make this process work for you, and it all turns on how honest you are with yourself.
To master your emotional intelligence, click here. Learn how the power of honesty can give you emotional freedom and free you from the range of toxic emotions that hold you back and drag you down from the kind of success that you otherwise deserve. Life is beautiful. Claim that reality by increasing your emotional intelligence starting today.
