Emotional management is defined as a set of psychological processes that allow the identification and regulation of emotions. It is necessary to emphasize that it is not about maximizing emotional control, as it would be impossible. Emotions are one step ahead of our consciousness and our voluntary actions. Therefore, we can only partially influence them.
For this reason, having good emotional management capacity or not having it is quite subjective. Nobody manages their emotions perfectly, nor can they always be above them. In fact, if this were to happen, it would be contradictory to the purpose of emotions because if they exist, it is to warn us about what is happening around us. In the end, they are mechanisms that warn us quickly and intuitively, without needing to think about it deliberately.
Characteristics of people with difficulties in managing emotions
- They show difficulties in identifying their emotions.
- They find it hard to understand the cause of these emotions.
- They have difficulties in managing feelings of anger, frustration, and sadness.
- They may show emotional lability (rapid changes in their affectivity).
- They have emotional instability.
- They manifest internal conflicts and emotional problems they do not know how to manage.
- They may feel vulnerable to others’ actions.
- They have difficulty communicating how they feel.
How are emotions managed?
Given the importance of emotions in managing situations, it is essential to develop emotional intelligence. This is about promoting a set of psychological skills that allow us to appreciate and express our own emotions in a balanced way, to understand others’ emotions, and to use this information to guide our thinking and behavior, enabling us to…
Become aware of our emotions, Understand the feelings of others. Tolerate the pressures and frustrations we endure at work and in our daily lives. Accentuate our ability to work as a team. Adopt an empathetic and social attitude that will offer us greater opportunities for personal development. Modulate extreme emotions by transforming them into ones easier to manage. Emotional management strategies are…
Journaling
To understand our emotions, it is best to verbalize them. Therapeutic writing is a very positive exercise to get to know ourselves better, to be more aware of what we feel and think, to observe them “from a distance,” and to be able to reflect on them more slowly.
Release tension through sports
If you want to be calmer, you can release tensions through physical exercises. In fact, practicing sports is one of the healthiest alternatives not only physically but also psychologically. Physical exercises help you, for example, reduce stress or increase self-esteem.
Active Listening
Zenon of Elea said: “We have two ears and one mouth, only to hear more and speak less.” I understand that when there are problems, we tend to focus on ourselves, on what worries us, on what might happen to us, but sometimes it is useful to pay attention to other people. Hence comes active listening and its importance. Because if we focus only on ourselves, we will rarely find a way out of the problem.
To be and let be
This basic principle of self-respect and respect offers us a key strategy in emotional management. First, it teaches us that our obligation is to build ourselves, to become what we want and what makes us happy. It is a path in which we must invest time and effort without fear. The second aspect is equally important. Just as we have the right to be, to do, to think, and to decide what we want, others must and can be what they want.
Benefits of Emotional Management
- Prevention of problematic ways of managing stress or anxiety (use of medications, eating without hunger, etc.).
- Ease of adapting your behavior according to the emotional state of the people you socialize with.
- Greater readiness to resist distractions and focus on tasks that need to be completed without leaving them for later.
- Greater ability to maintain balanced self-esteem, without allowing pessimism to prejudice it.
- Ease of detecting and identifying emotions and knowing how to channel them.
- Ability to harness the motivational component of emotions to use them in our favor.
Focus on positive thoughts and disregard negative ones
Negative emotions cause great discomfort, so we tend to avoid them. But the solution is not to look the other way and pretend they don’t exist. If you have already done the job of detecting the emotions you feel, analyze them and let them pass. Focus on positive emotions and give negative emotions the value they deserve, but do not recreate them. Now is the time to repeat to yourself how much you love yourself and how much effort you will make to achieve the love of your life: yourself.
Engage in social activities
It is proven that when we engage in these activities in company, the impact is even more positive. The planet offers us many resources for this: getting closer to an urban garden in our neighborhood, playing chess in a park, going on a picnic with our friends… It will surely have beneficial effects on our health.
Practice Mindfulness
One of the most useful strategies for better managing emotions is mindfulness. Mindfulness is actually a philosophy, but nowadays, different techniques are used to put it into practice. In this sense, Mindfulness is simple because it only requires adopting a way of evaluating events, characterized, for example, by self-compassion, attention in the present moment, or non-judgmental mentality. However, although it is simple, its practice requires will and effort, so it is not easy and you have to work on it.