Why Your Emotions Can Manipulate Your Into Thinking Things Are Better Or Worse Than They Are.

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When it comes to the subject of emotions and how we as humans deal with them, a consensus can be established that we all deal with them in different ways. Because we are all unique as individuals and the way that we react to the things we go through, the way we handle our emotions will always have variance. Some people are more emotional than others, and some people know how to keep their emotions in check for the most part. Whatever end of the spectrum that you may be on in regards to your emotions and how you handle them, emotions are just a human element that we all have to deal with. While we may not be able to control the fact that we naturally have emotions, the way that we choose to handle and deal with the emotional aspects of our lives is something that we can potentially get a handle on. Some may wonder why is it even of importance to get a handle on our emotions? The effects that our emotions can potentially have on us can be a tricky thing. For example, whenever something good happens in our lives, it is in our nature to feel emotionally good right? On the flip side of the coin when it comes to emotions, we naturally feel bad emotionally when something bad happens. Now when something good happens to us, or we find ourselves in a good situation, our emotions tell us that we should feel good and happy. However, because life is unpredictable and can change in an instant, the dynamic between being happy or sad has no guarantee. The fact that we often allow our emotions to dictate how we feel can often separate us from both the harsh and great aspects of life Because of this factor, our emotions can often manipulate us into thinking that things are much better or worse than they really are. This is even more of a reason for us to work on controlling our emotions.

Hey what is going on everyone? Fresh off the hot take, it is me Brad H. hitting you all up once again, and I'd like to welcome everyone to another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am here once again to drop some insight and wisdom that will hopefully serve us in our everyday lives. As always, I hope that life has been treating all of you as of late. For the soapbox section this week, I'm going to briefly give my thoughts on the NBA free agency so far. So LeBron James has decided to go to the Los Angeles Lakers. This wasn't that big of a surprise in my opinion. I think most of us figured he would be leaving Cleveland. I think that his family factored a lot into this decision. While I'm not a LeBron James fan, I do think that this is a good move for the NBA. The Lakers will likely be more relevant now than they have in recent years. With the Celtics being a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference now, I think that it is good for the NBA that these two storied franchises will be relevant. I think the most surprising move so far has been Demarcus Cousins going to the Golden State Warriors. I definitely didn't see that one coming. I think that it makes a lot of sense for Cousins though. After that ruptured Achilles he had, taking a huge pay cut and going to a team where he won't have to be the man will allow him to show if he can still play or not. I've been seeing people bash this move by him, but people need to remember that the majority of past NBA players that have suffered this injury weren't the same when they returned. Being that he is a physically bigger player, I can understand teams having concerns if he can get back to the level that he was before this injury. For everyone saying that the league is unfair and that the Warriors are a lock to win it all next season, I would say calm down. Signing Cousins is big for the Warriors, but it may not even have the impact that many people are expecting. There is a lot more that I could get into in regards to the NBA free agency, but I'm going to end it there for now. I could probably write an entire segment on this, but that isn't what this topic is about. With that said, lets get into why our emotions can play tricks on us.

As per the normal formula that I use, I'm going to go ahead and give the usual disclaimer that I use before addressing every topic that I cover. We all have different ways of thinking and viewing things in this life. The goal here isn't to focus on what is right or wrong, but rather to hopefully provide some wisdom that helps inspire us to see things in a manner in which we may not have before. Maybe more than anything else, I hope that these opinion topics will be helpful in the area of critical thinking. Naturally, I don't expect everyone out there to agree with the things I have to say. I'm not doing this to force my beliefs on anyone else. This is all about having a hub for inspiration and growth, and I cannot thank everyone that consistently read the topics that I cover enough. So for how I arrived at wanting to address this particular topic, I would have to say that a conversation that I had with my younger sister inspired me to want to address this. I can't help but thank my sister enough for much of what I talk about on here, because some of the ideas that I get come from discussions that I have with her. Beyond that, I felt as if this would be a topic that most people could probably relate to. I believe that many of us suffer from the inability to control our emotions at times. In saying this I am not trying to bash or criticize anyone, because I know for a fact that this is something that I have problems with at times myself. Furthermore, I believe that it is quite normal for us to allow our emotions to control us at times. I feel that there isn't a blueprint for properly addressing a topic such as this one. This is one of those things that we as individuals have to figure out what works best for us in helping us to overcome this.

Something that I have noticed within our society in regards as to how people view the thought of being emotional is that some people see it as a bad thing. You may have heard someone mention how a certain person is emotional in a manner which could be deemed as negative. I personally don't view a person being emotional as a bad thing. I just think that it makes us what we are, which is human-beings. Our emotions are what allow us to feel and experience both the good and bad in life. When you bite into one of your favorite foods you probably feel happiness, which is an emotion. When you fall and scrape an elbow or knee, you feel pain, which is also an emotion. There are so many different emotions both for good and bad that we can experience, so try not to allow other people to convince you that being emotional is a bad thing. Now while I firmly believe that experiencing emotions is both a good and normal thing that we as humans can experience, I also believe that they can also play tricks on us if we allow them to. Being an emotional person isn't necessarily a bad thing, but allowing your emotions to manipulate us can blind us from the realities of life. Some of you may be wondering; how exactly can our emotions manipulate us? Like I mentioned earlier, our emotions often dictate how we view various aspects of our lives. This can either work in our favor or against us depending on what the situation may be. While emotions are a part of our lives, the idea that we want to establish here is to not allow them to control our lives. We want to be able to separate between what reality is and what our emotions at that particular MOMENT are showing us. I put the word "moment" in all caps because often times whatever emotion(s) that we're experiencing is only a moment.

So what is an example of how our emotions can manipulate us? There are so many that can be used, but I'm going to use one that I'm sure that nearly all of us have experienced at some point or another; I'd like to call it the downward spiral effect. I liken to this to when we're dealing with something that has us down or depressed, and then through constant negative thoughts due to the situation that we're in, we find that our emotions start to creep in and makes the situation worse. So lets just say that you found out that you weren't accepted for a promotion or reward that you were hoping to receive. Naturally you would feel disappointed about this right? Now this is something that on the scale of life could be compared as minuscule compared to something like finding out that someone that you're close to has passed. Now depending on the mental fortitude of the person that has been disappointed by not receiving the promotion or reward, this can quickly turn into a scenario where their emotions can take this situation and make it even worse. You may begin to think and wonder why these things continue to happen to you. You may start to wonder if and when you will receive a breakthrough in your life. All of these thoughts can be self-defeating, and that is when those emotions can creep in. Those emotions can break you down to the point where you feel hopeless and depressed based only on the idea of not getting what you want in the moment. Again, I don't want to diminish something like this, but if you place it in the scale of life as I mentioned, you'll realize that something like not receiving a promotion is fairly small compared to more pressing issues in life. Again, this is how our emotions can manipulate us into thinking that we're in a far worse predicament than we think.

The same logic applies also when it comes to things going our way as well. Lets say that you do end up receiving that promotion or award that you wanted. Naturally you would feel joy and happiness right? I mean it would be normal to feel on top of the world and fulfilled, but lets just say that whatever promotion you receive comes with added responsibility that you may not be entirely ready for. While the emotions of joy and happiness would come along with this achievement, the added stress of having to live up to whatever you have received is still going to loom over you. The emotional aspect makes you think that you've reached the level of happiness you want, but the rational side that we often mask will come in and let us know that while things are going well at the moment, there may be challenges on the horizon. Again, this all deals with emotional content. I'm addressing this topic to help show that while we are emotional beings by nature, we have to try not to allow our emotions drown out the realities of life that we have to face. There's a saying that goes along the lines of that "you're never doing as good as you think you are, and you're never doing as bad as you think you are." From my perspective, whatever side of the coin that you may find yourself on in regards to this saying probably deals with your emotional state at the moment. The emotional aspect of life has caused many people to end up doing things that they ended up regretting. While controlling our emotions is a challenging prospect that life gives us, it is important in keeping ourselves on an even keel. We want to strive to be individuals that have the capacity to do things cause of our own free will, and not because we're allowing the emotions that we may be feeling at the moment to drive us. I challenge everyone to take a second and think for a minute if you find that you're allowing your emotions to get to you. Remember that although things may be going good or bad at the moment, your emotions can always trick you into thinking things are something they're not.

Well we have arrived at the end of another topic folks! I'm hoping that this topic was able to provide some inspiration for everyone out there. I also hope that I was able to write this in a way in which it has some meaning and understanding. This is your guy Brad H., and I'd like to thank you all for once again tuning into another edition of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! If anyone has any feedback or comments that you'd like to add, feel free to drop them down below. You can also hit me up on Twitter @BradrickH. There has been quite a bit of strange weather happening throughout the country, so I hope that everyone is staying safe out there. I know that it has been hotter than usual in areas up north. Believe me, being that I'm a Texan, I feel those of you that aren't used to the excess heat pain. It can definitely be brutal at times, so stay safe and hydrated. Happy 4th of July weekend to everyone, and I'll see you all in the next one. Till next time, take care of yourselves and keep on pressing foward. Peace!

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