How can I influence my emotions?

How can I influence my emotions? I have just watched a totally fascinating TED talk by Lisa Feldman Barrett PhD. It has revolutionised the way I look at my emotions. Rather than being held hostage by them, it seems I have the power to change them.  That insight is amazing to me, and hugely reassuring. As someone who has suffered at the hands of my negative emotions for decades, I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.

Her research has shown that emotions are merely predictions that our brain constructs, and these predictions help us to make sense of the world. The emotions that we think we detect in others are actually partly coming from our own head.

When we experience emotions, our brain is making predictions. Emotions that seem to happen to us are actually created by us. We have more control over our emotions than we realise, and can teach our brain how to predict differently in future.

We can reframe crippling anxiety by choosing to see it as determination instead. We can use this to energise ourselves in situations where previously we would have just panicked. This means we will make different predictions in future, and can get our butterflies to fly in formation. This is emotional intelligence in action.

We can take control of our racing minds, and feelings of dread, once we know our brains are merely searching to find an explanation for the sensations we feel in our body. The sensations may have a physical cause, such as hunger or tiredness. If I feel intense distress, I need to ask myself if it could have a physical cause.

We can turn the dial down on emotional suffering by learning to construct our experiences differently. It just takes practice, and the more we do it the more automatic it will become. This is both empowering and inspiring, and gives us the responsibility to change our own behaviour. We are the only ones who can change our emotions.

In particular I like the idea of recategorizing anxiety as excitement. That will be a real game changer for me. Going forward I will visualise my butterflies flying in formation whenever I am about to do something that would previously have caused me huge anxiety. I can’t wait to try it out and see the improvements I can make to my experiences!

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 335 days to go!

Why not check in on a regular basis to see how I am progressing, and what I have discovered?