Emotions drive your actions

​Your emotions are a guide through your daily decision-making and guiding your behaviours and reactions to situations. Imagine if you woke up one morning and had no emotions at all. How would you know what was important for you for that day, and how the day impacted you?

Neuroscientist and psychobiologist Jaak Panksepp identified the seven (7) universal basic emotions through human and animal research. These are:

• Rage
• Fear
• Grief (formally panic)
• Lust
• Seeking
• Play
• Care

​We know that emotions run a bit deeper and can be more complex than this, however for the sake of this post we will look at how some basic emotions can drive your actions and be motivators for change. 

​Your emotions can either motivate change or maintain how you are feeling, for example to hold on to good feelings such as joy and happiness or using fear to drive you to change something about a situation.

When humans were evolving, they would use emotions to guide them through knowing what to approach and what to avoid for the sake of their survival. In our modern world, we still use these same emotions on whether to be cautious, avoidant, or carefree when approaching something new.

Different emotions lead use toward different kinds of emotions and encourage survival. For example, you see brown snake > you feel fear > you avoid the snake > do not get bitten > survive! 😊

Here are some of the basic ways your emotions can motivate your or drive your actions:

• Anger - attack, lash out or stand up for yourself.
• Disgust - withdraw, keep a distance, or keep clean.
• Fear - fight, flight, or freeze.
• Happiness - to join in, take part or share.
• Sadness - accept situations, withdraw, brood, ruminate or seek comfort.

As you can see emotions can be useful in all sorts of situations, however, if your emotional responses have become imbalanced, over-active or overly avoidant than this may lead to imbalanced reactions to emotions, or mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, panic disorders, addictions etc.

When emotions become overwhelming . . . 
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Sometimes when emotions become overwhelming, or they might seem inappropriate for a situation you might be experiencing, it is important not to push your feelings and emotions down. However, here are some simple grounding techniques for you to remain in the driver’s seat of your emotions.

Breathe deeply
If you feel anxious, upset, or angry your breathing will become more rapid and you will start to suck air it. To relax your emotions and body, deliberately relax and slow down your breathing. Guide your breath to go full into your belly, and out from your belly to fully reap the benefits of deep breathing.

Change your environment
Simply by changing your environment, you can shift the mindset you are in and make all the difference. Simply going for a walk or sitting at the beach with a cup of tea will help you to relax and bring you back into the present moment.

Reach out
Contact your trusted friends, family, or supportive persons to help you change the directions of your thoughts and emotions, and to help to distract you from your emotions for a little while whilst your emotions are running high.
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These are only temporary reliefs from high emotions, and it is important to not push them away or down too long. If you have unresolved emotions, they might come back into your mind later when you are trying to sleep, or when you are attempting to go about your day. 

Embrace your emotions

Our emotions are not always perfect in guiding our actions, and we can choose to listen to what our emotions are telling us. We can also choose how to react to the emotions. Here are some simple steps to take to embrace your emotions:

1. Turn towards your emotions with acceptance. Become aware of the emotions and identify where you sense it in your body.
2. Identify and label the emotion. To stay mindful, say to yourself “this is anger’ or ‘this is sadness’.
3. Acknowledge and accept that the emotion is there.
4. Realise that your emotions are temporary. Even if the emotion feels overwhelming remember that it will pass.
5. Get curious. Ask yourself what has triggered this emotion in you.
6. Let go of the need to control your emotions. Be open to the outcome of your emotions and what unfolds.

Be kind and gentle to yourself as you learn this new way of processing and accepting your emotions.

As we have learned, our emotions play a significant role in our day to day lives. Tap into the power of your emotions to see yourself and your world from a different perspective.

By learning to embrace your emotions, rather than fighting against them, you can create healthy change and motivate yourself to move through your day (and life) with a sense of calm, balance, and empowerment.