How often do you allow your emotions to get the better of you?
Should you suppress your emotional reactions to most everyday events, and focus instead on thinking more logically, rationally and clearly?
In fact, do you allow your emotional reactions to play a significant part in your overall results?
So, where do you place your emotions in your everyday actions?
Are they at the forefront of the way your respond to the events in your day, or do they lag a distance behind?
Do you consider rational thinking to be far more important than emotional control?
For example, do you feel it is unwise to express yourself emotionally while at work?
If you relegate the emotional centres of your brain to an inferior role, and instead devote your time essentially to matter-of-fact thinking, you may be inadvertently reducing your ability to get much better results because you may be impeding your decision-making ability.
In fact, so many people assume incorrectly that rational decisions cannot be made once emotions are aroused and expressed.
Ultimately, better decisions can be made when thought and feeling act together as a unit simply because you will be able to think and reason in a more intelligent way.
The blending of emotion and thought once integrated always results in better decision making.
This is an indication of how vital it is to use thinking and emotion as an integrated union and not as a completely separate process.
The word “blend” properly captures the essence of how best to consider the role of thought and emotion in decision-making.
Of course, sometimes it is vital to express yourself emotionally as it may be entirely appropriate.
In the same way that there are obvious times when rational, clear-headed thought must prevail. Context is everything.
But to believe you can only respond intelligently with passion on one hand and reason on the other is mistaken.
It’s time to join hands!
Instead of relying on thought alone why not let your emotions motivate and inspire you?
Irrespective of the mood you are in no emotion can last forever.
All emotions shift overtime
At either end of the emotional spectrum it simply isn’t possible to be angry or leaping with joy forever. So the smart move is to take advantage of your emotions to give you more energy and drive.
Here’s a way to do this:
Check how you feel regularly. In fact, get into the habit of asking yourself what emotion you are currently feeling and how strongly is the emotion being felt.
You will then be able to identify the emotion and sense how it may be affecting your thinking in a given moment.
You will know the degree of influence an emotion is having on your thinking and behaviour.
This will prove to be a huge advantage when you are faced with a difficult situation and will prevent you from making worse decisions.
In short, you can’t make good decisions when you are in a bad mood, nor when you feel euphoric.