Tip of the day - Should you curb your emotions?

It is important to feel every emotion when different situations evoke them. Emotions are the triggers for action. Not having emotions would render you inactive, much like a vegetable. In fact, emotions are the all important vehicles and tools that help you understand yourself. Emotions are the only tangible and measurable manifestations of your disposition towards yourself and the environment before the action occurs and hence, hugely significant.

The idea of curbing your emotions is a misnomer. The intent of that idea is that you ought not to convey or transmit the emotions as you feel them, to your environment. That would be reaction. Instead, it is highly effective to respond to situations, events and occurrences by dwelling in your emotions and analyzing them. This way the action would be a response.

The biggest difference between reaction and response, in my dictionary, is the fact that you have internalized and dwelt on the situation and the emotion it evoked and externalized the action only afterward.

Another important element of dealing with emotions is to cultivate the ability to feel them. It is the difference between ‘I am angry’, ‘I am sad’, ‘I am happy’ and ‘I feel angry’, ‘I feel sad’, ‘I feel happy’! In the former, the emotions rule you and in the latter you rule your emotions.