the Meaning of LIFE!

- That's it, we have just discovered the meaning of life!

- Well... you did mostly; I was just laughing!

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Conversations don't get mucht better than this!

much love

The Observing and Masternig of your emotions

This is a BIG one!

How do you stay in control of your emotions, rather than letting your emotions control you?

Emotions are important, they can help you guide your life. If you know how to use them and if you use them correctly.
If not, they run your life for you, without you even knowing or having a real say in the matter. This is what we want to avoid. It is important to be in charge, and to get to know your emotions.

Emotions change your physiological state: your breathing, your posture and your thinking; it changes your body chemistry - in other words, it changes you!

Emotions dictate your day-today-life. As you react to your surrounding; through anchored cues, which pull an emotion to the forefront, and run the show for you.

Lets see what the dictionary  says about it:

emotion

1. A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling: the emotions of joy, sorrow, reverence, hate, and love.
2. A state of mental agitation or disturbance: spoke unsteadily in a voice that betrayed his emotion.
3. The part of the consciousness that involves feeling; sensibility: 

So,

How do you master your emotions then?

It has to start with learning to observe yourself - recognizing when you are in different emotional states, and how your body and thoughts are affected by it - posture, facial expression, breathing, focus, thoughts etc.

Secondly observe your thoughts, truly stay with them. Observing what you think, and how your thoughts affect you. This might be a tricky one; it's like being a second awareness in your head - "seeing" what you think.

Monitor your thoughts, and your emotional state with it. Get to know your feelings, and learn to recognize when you are under the control of a certain emotion.

If you want to break a negative emotion coming on, do something unexpected, like clap your hands, spin around, jump, slap yourself - anything - to break your mind starting to run it's normal program, with the undesired emotion.

Just going for a walk or a light run will help your body chemistry, and turn around a sour mood. Or doing two of the following : Change your posture to a good one, put a smile on your face(even if it's a fake one), focus your thoughts on the positive, control and slow your breathing - taking deep slow breaths through your nose.


In Conclusion.

To master your emotions practice to observe your thoughts - learn staying aware of what you think

- and how you think about it.

As this sets you in the direction of your emotion.

A smile, a good posture and calm breathing will also put your mind in the right direction.

The better you get on observing yourself the easier it gets to halt and turn negative emotions once they start. You will also find that you will also experience less "negative" emotions.


Just for the record.

I don't really think there are such a thing as "Good" or "Bad". As, "it's all good" - however there are emotions that benefit your life and there are emotions that just help to give nuance to "the life experience". It is important to feel all emotions, but equally important to be in charge of your emotions so that you are the one who act, and not the emotion.

I mean, is it you or your emotions who buy/eat/choose/do/want: "the new I-pod", "the red one", "just a small chocolate", "a coke", "a line of coke", "a cigarette", "the chips", "a newer version", "delivered pizza", "ohhh the shiny one" and "whatever else they are advertising nowadays" or "whatever else you use to numb your emotions"

Good reading on the subject are among many others:
Paul Ekman - Emotions Revealed
and
Daniel Goleman - Emotional Intelligence

Much Love

You are not NORMAL

Normal changes both with time, culture and customs.
What normal then is, is always relative.

Are you normal?

Normal as an adjective, here are the first three definitions from Collins English Dictionary:


normal
           1. usual; regular; common; typical the normal way of
                doing it the normal level
              2. constituting a standard if we take this as normal
              3. (Psychology) Psychol
               a. being within certain limits of intelligence,
                   educational success or ability, etc.
               b. conforming to the conventions of one's group

I am not Normal!


I don't quite remember when I realized that I wasn't normal, however it must of happened quite early on in my journey as a human being.

Sure, I've tried to be normal many-times, all with varied success.

Using the definitions of normal above; I can honestly say that the less normal I am the better I feel. The more fun I have, the more I experience and the more I achieve.

Many strive to be normal, to be accepted, not to stick out, or to create ripples.

But here is the thing, YOU are not normal. you ARE unique, and that is what makes you so very SPECIAL.
Life is all about creating ripples, life is not about being accepted, but about accepting yourself.

Accepting all of you - flaws, successes, losses, background, situation, mind - you get the drift - all of it, accept it, then LOVE IT!

You are a creation of pure bliss, let it drive your life.

Much Love