Sharing Advice on How Your Emotions Are Drivers
Does your overwhelming fear, or emotional distress hinder you to work for what you want to make to have happened? Think again. Your emotion can be magical fuel to drive your personal growth. Those high energies can transform your goals.
Your passion will be your magic spark of energy that gets things done. But be careful what emotions you use. Avoid using fear, nervousness, or even loneliness, because these forms of dark magic will only create dark consequences.
Where are the biggest problems in our lives? For many, it is dealing with our emotions. Some people have trouble with angst, others sadness, and many have trouble with both, as well as anger, hurt, and loneliness. People are experiencing varied emotions. Gathering of Good People is here to turn that into a magic spell.
Our feelings give us joy, and fears. The way our brains are structured we seek pleasure and avoid pain. But because we will do more to avoid pain our brains want to avoid fear more than it wants to seek joy.
Therefore, most people see their emotions as something to be avoided or controlled, rather than something that we seek, embrace, and work to feel more of.
But what if your emotions, your feelings are your greatest source of power? In fact, this is the case.
90% of all the decisions you make and actions you take are driven by your emotions. Neuroscience studies the brain’s functions and although we think of ourselves as rational, neurology proves otherwise.
Our financial decisions, relationships, and even what we choose to eat each day is driven from a place deep within our brain, our limbic system. This is your emotional brain.
What a contradiction, we are emotionally driven creatures yet most of us are afraid of our feelings. We are afraid to fail so we don’t do what we should, which causes us to fail. We are afraid to be hurt, so we guard our love and live lonely lives.
I want to suggest a new way of seeing emotions, not as something to be feared, or controlled, but something that gives you power. I want to help you see emotions as your magic, as a power that creates what we want.
Stick around and learn about the magic you have within called emotions. Learn to find, feel, and power up this special energy with in: your magical emotional energy.
Hi, I’m Brett Williams. I am a licensed psychotherapist and the executive director of the GatheringofGoodPeople.com. We are a nonprofit dedicated to supporting your growth, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.
We have created this new series called ANXIOUS, to address the anxieties that have been created by the coronavirus.
The other night I was feeling anxious. It was time for bed and I was feeling upset because I wanted to edit a podcast after work and I didn’t get to it.
You see anxiety is my go to driver to get things done. “Come on, you got to make sure that the electric bill is paid or our power will get shut off.” “You better called back that patient or they will think you’re a flake.”
Typically, I have anxiety and worries about anything and everything. And then those fears motivate me to MOVE. My anxieties keep me away from procrastination. Or does it?
You see, I hate feeling anxious. So when I am feeling flooded, I do things to distract myself, like watch TV, get on Facebook, raid the refrigerator or find some way to numb myself.
This numbing behavior then causes me to do things I don’t want to do and not do things I want to do.
But didn’t I just say that my anxiety is my driver, it motivates me to move. Now, I am talking about how my anxiety is also why I numb and procrastinate. Sadly both are true.
The other night I was anxious, remember? I wanted to edit a podcast and didn’t. Why didn’t I? Because I took a walk with my wife and my dog. I ate dinner with my family. Then I sat down to watch the news for an hour. While I was watching, I went online and shopped for new sheets for our bed. Oh, then I exercised for 45 minutes down at the gym.
My anxiety was telling me I didn’t do enough, and yet I did a lot. And a lot of those things I did, I did to help me unwind from all the stress and anxiety of the day. I did those things to help myself recover from all the negative emotions of life.
It’s a love/hate relationship I have with my anxiety, and with a lot of my emotions. I hate them because they feel like crap, but they also drive me to get things done, because they make me feel like crap.
What if… my emotions were magic? What do I mean by that? Well, magic is an invisible force that only special people can channel to make extraordinary things happen. Magic is a secret power that produces amazing changes.
Well, we just talked about emotions as drivers. Feelings have the power to produce change. However, emotions can also make us feel bad about ourselves. Stress, fear, and anger these intense feelings will get you up and moving.
There is not a lot of joy at the end, because these negative emotions come with a cost.
So, what if, emotions were NOT all these negative feelings, but instead they were pure energy, energy you could tap into to produce change, it would be like magic.
Let’s take this current situation and look at it using magic.
As I went to bed I took out my journal and listed all the things I was feeling, and all the things I had done. It was clear my upset at myself was useful. I had not edited the podcast, but I had done a lot. It was alright for me to walk, exercise, and rest after a 10 hour day.
The next morning I could my anxiety was still there, still driving me to be my best and do my best. But it was not making me feel my best.
In my meditation that morning I felt my energy, the high frequency waves of anxiety flooding my nervous system, and I shifted it outward. I thought about what I wanted to do that day, and I channeled the energy/magic toward my goal.
My overwhelming fear was always focused on the goal, but it beat me up along the way. Fear would fill my head full of negative images of myself or my future to drive me toward my goal.
I changed the picture in my head, and I focused the energy off of me and onto my goal. I practiced visualizing myself being super productive, I thought about editing the podcast and so much more. What was fueling these activities was this magic force inside of me called my emotions.
The key difference being I didn’t not focus my energy inward, hating myself up, putting myself down, or in any way harassing my ego with negative emotions. Instead I focused the pure energy of my emotions outward toward my goals.
For years we have learned to name our emotions, believing if we could identify them we could control them. And it does help to decrease my stress, fear, and anger to put the feelings into words.
But what if…what if I took the energy within my stress, fear, and anger and directed it toward a goal or positive outcome? What if you channeled your emotions away from you and directed it at what you want? Then that would be like magic.
Today was a productive day. Not only did I edit that podcast, but I created this new podcast as well. I saw all my clients, and met with a hospital administrator about a community support group. I get stuff done, and felt good about doing it.
I want to challenge you to shift how you see your emotions. I want to suggest you see them as pure power and energy. I want you to believe you have magic inside waiting to be tapped.
However, I want you to shift your energy, your emotions, from inward to outward. When my energy is inward, it’s collapsed and anxious. But when I shift my energy outside myself, away from me toward my goals, the energy feels lighter and easier.
My inward energy/emotions I call dark magic, because it feels negative. However, when I shift my energy/emotions toward a goal it feels like light magic.
It has always been true that magicians that don’t know how to control their own magic, problems were inevitable. But as you learn about your own feelings, and can direct them and focus them you will become a master magician.
It comes down to your judgment. You are the main actor that can regulate your emotions
whether experiencing emotional distress, overwhelming fear, or feeling lonely. Don’t think that those emotions are only negative. Gathering of Good People believes that you can integrate those emotions into your magical work.
Practice and you will see for yourself.
If you need more help, please come and be a part of our self-care groups. Check them out at the Gathering of Good People for more information.