Not all negative emotions are unhealthy, yet we desire to be rid of all negative emotions. If we were able to get rid of them, would we have to also forgo the positive emotions?
We are emotional beings. We feel. We respond to our experience. We laugh. We cry. We get angry. When we experience a loss, we are sad. When we engage in those activities that bring pleasure, satisfaction or meaning we are happy. Sometimes we get depressed and sometimes we are joyful. Romantic is fun and passion is deep.
It is only natural that we experience negative emotions when things do not go our way or something takes place that is “bad” (at least bad in our estimation). Just like when our nephew (whom we love), hits a homerun is it natural to feel joy and excitement. You can’t have one without the other.
We would do well to accept the negative emotions and manage them by paying attention to the meaning we assign the related experiences – even the experience of the emotion itself. We frequently make erroneous assignments of meaning by concluding that events are un-overcomeable, un-survivable or rate ourselves or others are worthless. These assignments of meaning result in unhealthy negative emotions, such as: morbid depression, raging or vengeful anger, guilt, anxiety or fear.
Let the healthy negative emotion be a motivator to pursue more of where you find satisfaction, meaning and joy in life as opposed to spending your energy in trying to make it go away or thinking something is wrong with you, because you are not ecstatic all the time. Then you will be able to more fully feel and appreciate the wonderful positive emotions that are within your grasp.
We are emotional beings. We feel. We respond to our experience. We laugh. We cry. We get angry. When we experience a loss, we are sad. When we engage in those activities that bring pleasure, satisfaction or meaning we are happy. Sometimes we get depressed and sometimes we are joyful. Romantic is fun and passion is deep.
It is only natural that we experience negative emotions when things do not go our way or something takes place that is “bad” (at least bad in our estimation). Just like when our nephew (whom we love), hits a homerun is it natural to feel joy and excitement. You can’t have one without the other.
We would do well to accept the negative emotions and manage them by paying attention to the meaning we assign the related experiences – even the experience of the emotion itself. We frequently make erroneous assignments of meaning by concluding that events are un-overcomeable, un-survivable or rate ourselves or others are worthless. These assignments of meaning result in unhealthy negative emotions, such as: morbid depression, raging or vengeful anger, guilt, anxiety or fear.
Let the healthy negative emotion be a motivator to pursue more of where you find satisfaction, meaning and joy in life as opposed to spending your energy in trying to make it go away or thinking something is wrong with you, because you are not ecstatic all the time. Then you will be able to more fully feel and appreciate the wonderful positive emotions that are within your grasp.
