Our emotions influence our goals, expectations, and behaviors in life. That’s not something to be afraid of. Emotions can be such a necessary tool if you take cautious care of them. The goal is to foster a neutral perspective that acknowledges the complexity of experience and at the same time, recognizes that situations are rarely ever all bad or all good. Many people don’t talk about how important this is because a lot of us are truly running on E a good amount of the time. When you’re exhausted or constantly moving from one thing to the next, it becomes natural for you to react automatically rather than intentionally. Emotions can be way overpowering, and at the same time it’s important to notice how you apply those emotions to your daily life.
Cognitive regulation: This refers to managing thoughts in a way that supports healthy emotional responses. Cognitive regulation can occur before an individual engages in a task and while they’re working on it. Some of these processes include pre-planning, strategy use, and adaptation. Essentially, it involves asking what you’re gonna need from yourself before participating in anything. Create stability for yourself in situations where stability feels hard to find.
Cognitive reappraisal: Unlike cognitive regulation, cognitive reappraisal is an emotional regulation strategy where a person intentionally changes how they INTERPRET a situation. Your thoughts are still important, but they can be very misleading and can often point us in a worse direction than before. Rather than viewing a poor test score as proof of failure, someone practicing cognitive reappraisal might see it as feedback about what areas could need improvement.
Decentering/self distancing: This refers to the ability to step outside of your everyday perspective and focus on more than temporary mental events and thoughts at the moment. Decentering creates enough space to remind your nervous system that your emotions are not complete facts, but that they’re information. This creates psychological distance between you and whatever you’ve got going on. Base it not on how to get rid of the emotions you’re having, but how you as an individual can give yourself the grace to step back from struggle, even the teensiest bit. The human mind is not to be fully trusted all the time, especially in times of need.
In conclusion, If you were given the blessing to have a working mind with clear emotions, you have a choice whether you want to cherish it to your full advantage or not. It can be hard to notice how meaningful something is when it’s forever been in your possession. With that being said, you must train your brain to consider the somewhat forgotten ability that you are so lucky to have: to take on the present. To conduct your mind in the name of respect for your well-being. Start today and do it tomorrow as well.
