It’s no secret that we are living in a very challenging time in the history of the world. At times it can feel quite hopeless. With that hopelessness can come a whole plethora of other emotions like sadness, despondency, anxiety, fear and anger.

Here are 4 Powerful Ways To Process Your Anger In Turbulent Times

Personally, I have felt most of these emotions regularly lately, and still do at many moments throughout my day to day life. I live in Sydney, Australia and I have been in lockdown for almost 10 weeks. I have felt the energy of anger moving in me many, many times throughout the ups and downs of the past year and a half since the Covid19 pandemic began. 

This isn’t an article about the pandemic though. This is an article about being human. I want to talk about anger – a human emotion often misunderstood and labelled as ‘negative’. 

Why do we do that? Why do we label some emotions as ‘good’ and others as ‘bad’? Emotions are neither. They just are.

What can be challenging is the behaviour that comes from an inability to be with our emotions. This can mean we express them in ways that are harmful to ourselves or others.

4 Powerful Ways To Process Your Anger In Turbulent Times

Many of us have not learned how to correctly process our emotions in life. This can lead to the suppression of those emotions. 

Suppression is particularly common with the emotions that we perceive as painful, or those that we feel unsafe to confront – perhaps because we fear being judged or even outcast by our peers, friends or even our family.

This can happen to both men and women. Suppression of anger for women could be due to a woman not wanting to seem “too emotional” or even “crazy”. For men, they are labelled as weak for expressing emotions – the saying “man up” comes to mind.

This conditioning is more damaging than any emotion.

And here’s the other thing. Emotions are smart – they know what’s what and they do not appreciate being ignored. Emotions (aka the wisdom of the body) are so smart they will even allow you to THINK you have pushed them away – at least for a while. 

Eventually, though, those emotions you tried to hide from that are intimately connected with the deep wisdom of your physiology, will show up in your life. 

It could be hours, months or even many years after an event.

Suppressed emotions or trauma can show up in many different ways, such as physical illness, mental illness and even as an excess of whichever emotion that was suppressed.

So now that we understand the importance of processing our emotions – how do we do it?

Well, each emotion is different – and each human being is different, too. We all process emotions in different ways. These are the ways that have helped me.

4 Powerful Ways To Process Your Anger In Turbulent Times

1- Therapy.

If you don’t first know that you have trapped emotions, or where they come from, how will you ever know to start processing them? If you are reading this article, you have some idea that you have anger and that you need to process it.

Speaking with a qualified counsellor or therapist can be powerful in helping you to uncover where your anger stems from so that you can set about learning to process it healthily.

2- Movement.

When emotions are trapped in our physical body we need to use our body to move them through us. There are many ways to do this. One way I love is perhaps a little surprising – it’s dancing! Yep, when I feel like there is some anger I need to let go of I put on some music and shake it out like nobody’s watching. It is incredibly therapeutic.

I have also found boxing to be helpful. Using my hands to punch through my anger was cathartic. And as an added benefit, it’s awesome cardio.

3 – Setting Healthy Boundaries.

Whatever your emotions are in a given moment are a message from your body. Sometimes that message is letting you know that a boundary of yours has been crossed. Boundaries are what separates you and your feelings from that of another person.

When you feel a boundary has been crossed – be that through a disrespectful comment or someone crossing a line physically with you, emotions will show up to let you know.

Learning to determine what your boundaries are and setting them with the people around you allows you to better understand yourself and your relationship to the world around you.

4 – Acceptance. 

This one is probably the toughest of all – and perhaps the most important. Your feelings matter. Read that again.

Whatever you have been told by those around you or even perhaps from the nasty inner critic, you are important and your experiences are real. Learning to accept yourself in all of your emotional glory is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.

Feeling anger isn’t bad. Emotions are the messengers of the body. When we learn to deal with them in healthy ways, they can help us to evolve closer to the truth of who we truly are.

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This Is Why We Suffer (and This Is How We End Suffering)

Speaker: Peter Crone

Transcript – Peter Crone on Suffering and How To End Our Own Internal Suffering:

The way life occurs to us is that there’s always somewhere to get to, until you realize that there isn’t

…Similarly suffering is always present until we realize that there isn’t suffering. And that to me is the beauty of the human experience.

So, suffering is unavoidable by virtue of we’re here, but nonetheless, the opportunity, the possibility that it is to be human is to transcend suffering.

And it’s such a beautiful design again, because if it weren’t for the previous suffering, we don’t get to experience the latter freedom.

As an adult, I got to see myself in a picture and all black and white of me as a child and my cute little onesy, whatever it is running with my arms out, my mother is sort of very gently ushering me from behind. So you can see that she’s sort of directing me towards somebody who you can’t see because they’re off camera. They’re out of frame from the picture. But I know because of the setting, it was set at a Harbor at a dock where the boat had just, you know, come to birth and we’ve probably come off the boat and I’m running towards my dad because my dad worked on the boats. And as I looked at that photo and it’s this whole black and white, and this adorable little child, which you know, is running towards his father, who he loves his dad. And what had occurred to me is at that moment, one of the most important parts of love is the energy of missing somebody.

We often think that love is I’m with someone I’m sharing a dinner with them, I’m going to bed with them, or it could be a family member who I’m living with or I’m sharing time with constantly. But that denies the flip side of the same coin, which is one of the most beautiful aspects of love is what feels like the absence of the experience of love. And we can call that missing somebody… and why it was so profound for me is to see that little child run towards his dad with the excitement of the fact that for a minute, for minutes, maybe a day, maybe a week, it could be longer…. We experience the separation from that, which we love.

And if it weren’t for the experience of separation, we would not appreciate the joy of love.

And so why I use that example as it relates to suffering and freedom is because separation is hurtful, it’s painful, and that is suffering. And in this case, suffering is where we become separate from the knowledge, from the true wisdom of our true essence, whilst freedom is the remembrance and the awakening to the essence of who I am at my core, which is freedom.

So the two are inextricably connected and simultaneously necessary in order to experience one or the other.

If it weren’t for the experience of missing, I don’t get to go to the depths of the joy of love and equally, if it weren’t for the pain and the seeming inconvenience of human suffering, then I wouldn’t get to experience the elation and the joy of liberation that is true freedom.

When you really understand that dynamic…. it’s so beautiful to see the duality of everything. And I would actually take it a little deeper, which is to say the freedom really is the container. Like the love is the container that holds both.

We have the joy and we have the misery, we have the happiness and we have the sadness. And this is where if we can be big enough, expanded enough as human beings that we make space for all of it… it would be as nonsensical.

You know, for people who think they just want to be positive and happy, that is like asinine. It would be like me saying, no, no, no. All I want to do is inhale. Cause that’s so good. You get oxygen. If you’re like, what the hell? Like if it weren’t for the fact that I get to exit and let go of, you know, in this case, obviously physiologically biologically the toxins of carbon dioxide and stuff that no longer serves me because it’s already served its purpose in my body. Then I wouldn’t get the joy of having that cyclical process of inhale exhale that keeps me alive.

So similarly, the actual nature of duality, both parts are flip sides of the same coin that are an inherent experience of being human. And the degree to which we can embrace both is the degree to which we are truly free to allow all aspects of what it means to be human.

So suffering is really one aspect, but it is an aspect where there is ultimately a form of ignorance. And I don’t mean that as a judgment. I mean, it truly, in the fact that we don’t know something.

We suffer because we don’t know how extraordinary we are. We suffer because we don’t know that we actually are loved. We don’t, we suffer because we don’t feel safe. And it is in that ignorance than not knowing the absence of knowledge that we suffer.

And the process of awakening is realizing, Oh, these are lies. And as I transcend lie, I expand into my bigger nature, which then is the experience of liberation, which is contained in the safety that we are held and beneficiaries of life, because we are fundamentally loved.

The way I look at it is that this dimension that we are in as human beings to me is a revelatory dimension. What does that mean? Life will reveal where you yourself, as a being do not experience freedom.

Life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you’re not free.

So why is that a completely different perspective or different way of looking at the experience of life? Because most people are playing the human game. What is the human game they’re trying to accumulate, right? Accumulation of status, accumulation of possessions, accumulation of finance. And they’re trying to play the game of I’m becoming a better human by virtue of what I have usually… now that’s not wrong, but it’s also, to me, it’s a powerless game to play.

Whereas the awakening process of who I am as a being who is limitless, who is in its infancy and its true inherent nature, nothing but love peace, power, freedom.

That is to me, the game, that’s really at foot for human beings. That is the opportunity that it is to be a human is to awaken to the true essence of who I am rather than being defined by the persona that has been conditioned over time. That is now founded in the essence of survival. That is two entirely different approaches to the human experience. One is linear and one is vertical, right? So linear is okay, hopefully over time I’m going to improve. I got a promotion, I got a corner office. I got a bigger home. I’ve got a nicer car. I’ve got a little bit more money. That is, you know, there’s again, no judgment, but it is a futile dead end method of trying to find internal value by using external and exogenous means to bring some sense of worth.. versus discovering. Wow. My inherent nature is freedom.

My inherent nature is love. My inherent nature is peace and life is constantly giving me the opportunity to awaken to those qualities by virtue of presenting to me ironically, where I don’t experience that.

So that’s why, again, I said, life will present you with people and circumstances to reveal where you’re not free.

We often look as those circumstances as frustrating as things we don’t want, but that’s precisely why they’re being given to us because we’ve yet to see how powerful and extraordinary we are that we have yet to integrate those experiences and see that I can truly be with whatever is occurring and maintain my inner sense of peace and freedom and love.

We arrive as beings, but shrouded in constraint, we arrive as souls, but constrained by fear and the game of this particular dimension of planet earth and being human is Oh, awesome. We are set here so that we can reveal where we are confined, constrained and have some sense of separation and limitation. And so life is the process of sloughing by virtue of these trials and tribulations. And these sort of confronting circumstances really is a form of resistance, which just like polishing a diamond is allowing us to recognize where we still feel constrained or we arrived with our bucket of fears. And as I say, you know, the “ winner of the game” is who can get rid of their fears the the fastest, not that there is any urgency, but we could say, and I would assert the true liberation and true freedom, which is my main product is when we have confronted all of the fears that we arrived with to recognize that in fact, there is nothing to fear itself whatsoever. And that was always just a narrative that was part of our persona or our ego. That was just simply the cocoon in which we found we needed to live in order to stay safe. When in fact it’s quite the antithesis of that, which is true. Security is when I no longer need the illusion of external security.

If the experience I have with another person is of some form of disharmony, of judgment of hostility. Then that really is a reflection of what’s going on inside of me.

So as I say, as we express, so we experience, right. So if I’m expressing anger towards whoever or whatever the circumstance may be, then I am experiencing anger, right? So this, this water travels through say a garden hose. If the garden hose was sent in today, I had a feeling internally, it would feel the passage of the water when it was cold or hot, or how fast it’s moving. So likewise as we express our emotional state, we’re under the impression that it’s by virtue of what’s going on outside of us, but whether it is or not in terms of our interpretation when nonetheless experiencing all of that.

So then why wouldn’t I, if I know that correlation, if I’m, if I’m actually aware of that formula, then why wouldn’t I, wherever possible, bring an experience of love and joy to whoever it might be, because then I’m equally the beneficiary of it. And this is why exercises like gratitude journals or going and being a volunteer and being of service to a community feels good. Why does it feel good? Because what I’m actually doing is I’m bringing the experience of my true self is what I would have saw and I’m sharing to another, I’m giving to another. And therefore I am equally the beneficiary of my own active contribution.

You know, Einstein said, you either, you look at the universe in one of two ways, everything is a miracle or nothing’s a miracle, right? And so really when you get, we are beneficiaries of life, even though again, I’ve been through a ton of what felt like unnecessarily hardship that at the time, my little persona was like, I don’t want this. This sucks, but really in hindsight is often the case we’ve recognized. Wow. If it weren’t for those events, if it weren’t for those hardships, then I wouldn’t have discovered that expansiveness of what I’ve just stepped into and why I use the expression that smooth seas never made a good sailor, right? So we need adversity itself is the catalyst for growth. It is. Life is the greatest teacher by virtue of the fact that it gives us challenges so that it can, as I said earlier, slough off anything that is confining us, anything that is holding us back a constraint that is in some way, limiting ourself expression, we need some resistance to get rid of that.

And that is at times a very difficult pill to swallow, but it is nonetheless the catalyst to discover that really we are held eternally.

It’s like the metaphor of the image of these trapeze artists, right? The experience for anybody who goes up on a trapeze from the perspective of the ego is fear. If there’s no net, right? You, you would feel such trepidation of letting go of the trapeze bar to transition maybe to your partner and be caught in the absence of knowing there was some safety net and that’s the ego’s experiences. It goes through life. It feels that at any turn its existence is in potential danger. Everything can come across as a potential threat, and that’s an exhausting place to live from.

Conversely, if we can tap into this deeper essence of understanding the nature of life and particularly the nature of who we are, then at every turn, there is always a safety net. It might not feel like it, but we can drop, we can fall. We can miss the grip of the partners. We transitioned from trapeze bar to trapeze bar and it’s okay. And that we could say our errors and mistakes are failures and it’s okay.

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The dictionary defines ‘nice’ as: Giving pleasure or satisfaction; being pleasant or attractive.

It’s probably safe to say that most of us want to be seen as ‘nice’, right?

Whether it’s by our colleagues, our neighbours, or even our family and friends, generally we want to be accepted as a nice person. And there is nothing wrong with that per se.

But what happens when the need to be seen as a ‘nice person’ gets in the way of you being an authentic person?

We all have different aspects of our character that are highlighted at different times, in different scenarios.

Occasionally, when we speak up or express an emotion that we’re feeling, it isn’t always nice. That’s just human nature. And it’s ok.

Why Being Nice Isn’t Going To Help You Get What You Want In Life

The danger of being ‘too nice.’

When we focus on being nice, rather than being authentic. It’s usually because we want to be accepted by others.

In this case, we are essentially placing the needs of others above our own.

We are telling ourselves that we are not acceptable as we are and that what we want or feel is less important than how other people feel or rather how they feel about us.

This can lead to allowing ourselves to be mistreated and even bottling up our emotions. It’s pretty easy to see how that is not healthy. But unfortunately, this is the way a lot of us function.

There are many reasons why we decide to sacrifice our truth in order to appease others, most of which usually stems from our upbringing.

If from an early age we had our feelings diminished or dismissed and weren’t taught that our feelings are valid and worthwhile of taking up space. Then as adults we have no knowledge of how to communicate those feelings.

So instead we play nice.

We don’t speak up about how we feel or what we want. We hope by some miracle people can read our minds and give us what we want, which of course never works.

After a while, this situation becomes pretty exhausting and it causes a lot of internal conflict.

When you push down your truth and sit back on your feelings, eventually that stuff is going to spill out of you.

At some point, in one way or another, all of those years of being ‘nice’ when you wanted to tell some to go jump, or holding your tongue instead of speaking up is going to come back and bite you.

It could happen slowly, which might mean your ‘niceness’ gradually turns into passive aggressiveness or even control, because the resentment you feel is starting to eat away at you.

Or it might come fast and furious, in the form of emotional outbursts, addictive behaviours or even depression.

However it happens, there is no way to avoid the fallout of ignoring your own truth.

Does this mean we shouldn’t be nice?

No! In fact, it pays to be nice. There is plenty of science that shows that being kind is good for us.

For example, according to Dr. David R. Hamilton, acts of kindness create emotional warmth, which releases a hormone called oxytocin. Oxytocin is often referred to as the love hormone because of its feel-good effects. And as well as making us feel good, it also protects the heart by lowering blood pressure.

The point is that choosing to not be ‘nice’ doesn’t mean you have to be rude or unkind. Not at all. Instead of focusing your energy on being nice though, instead, you can be honest, polite, and assertive.

So what’s the answer here?

The answer is simple, but as with anything new, it isn’t easy.

To put it bluntly, you need to drop the act.

Allow yourself to be human. You have to get comfortable with taking up space and you need to learn to accept that some people simply will NOT LIKE YOU.

Facts: You can have your own opinion and still be a kind person.

You can stand up for what you believe in and still care about what someone else has to say.

Choosing to drop the ‘nice guy’ or ‘nice girl’ persona, places you in the driver’s seat of your life.

Instead of being disempowered, you empower yourself by choosing to stand by your values.

With this choice comes an increased sense of self-esteem and ultimately, self-love.

When you connect with yourself in this way, of course – it doesn’t mean that you are going to stop being nice to people, in fact, the opposite will happen.

Because you are now being nice and kind to yourself, kindness and love will flow out of you, rather than it having to be manufactured.

You will become a truer, more authentic version of yourself. Ironically, probably a nicer one too.

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Are there differences between how introverts and extroverts think? Science says yes.

So what are the differences? It’s not necessarily what you may think. Contrary to popular assumptions, introverts are not necessarily shy – though studies have shown they tend to be deep thinkers. Many introverts enjoy the social aspects of life, yet simply tend to feel overwhelmed in large groups or when being sociable for extended periods of time. In fact, the brain activity of introverts and extroverts are slightly different in surprising ways.

As an introvert myself, I found the insights learned from associated studies of the brain to be both fascinating and illuminating.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND WHY INTROVERTS AND EXTROVERTS THINK DIFFERENTLY

A psychologist named Hans Eysenck conducted research in the 1960s and theorized that introverts have a higher level of what he called “arousal” and were more easily stimulated. His theory also pointed out that, generally speaking, introverts’ ability to process information per second is higher than extroverts.

Extroverts tend to require a higher level of external stimulation to feel awake and alive. So they have a greater sense of risk-taking, seeking out challenges and social situations to provide that stimulation.

On the other hand, introverts seek out solitary time in order to avoid over-stimulation from external sources. They prefer to spend time thinking about, pondering, and analyzing experiences.

Researchers conducted a study in 2005 which linked the difference in personalities and brain activity to dopamine neurotransmitters, where introverts and extroverts responded differently to this “pleasure and reward system” in the brain.

In 2012, another study discovered that introverts most often have larger and thicker gray matter in their prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain linked to abstract thought processes and decision-making. Researchers learned that extroverts had less gray matter.

None of these studies indicate that introverts are smarter than extroverts. The difference is not linked to levels of intellect. Introverts merely respond differently to various situations and circumstances. They become more easily overwhelmed, and tend to spend more time thinking deeply about situations rather than getting out in the world and “doing.”

Introverts simply do not actively seek out the same level of external stimulation, preferring to be lost in their own thoughts.

Here’s an inspirational video to help calm your mind when your thoughts are leading to a feeling of being overwhelmed:

“We are formed and molded by our thoughts. Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves them.” —  Buddha

TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST OUT OF DEEP-THINKING HABITS

While the deep-thinking habits of introverts can sound like a good thing, there are pros and cons associated with that. Here are some points for introverts to consider in order to find the greatest balance between the “thinking” and “doing” aspects of life:

Mind Your Thoughts

While spending so much time in your head, as an introvert, you may tend to think things “to death.” This can take a couple of paths: (1) If thoughts lean along negative lines, you want to be mindful of what thoughts you’re allowing to dominate your mind. Re-frame negative thoughts in positive ways. (2) You may think yourself in circles when you need to make a decision.  If that’s the case, your thoughts may be getting in the way of moving forward in a productive way. Take a step back from analyzing every possible outcome and do a heart and gut check. In these cases, it can be best to let your intuition lead the way so that you actually move forward in a way that feels best (setting your conflicting thoughts aside).

Partner “Thinking” with “Doing”

Rather than spending time lost in thoughts while being sedentary, go for a walk or get in the habit of doing your best thinking while being active. Physical activity has a calming effect on the mind. It will help to manage any stress that comes along with circling thought patterns.

Meditation

Meditation can be beneficial and calming so that you’re not lost in your thoughts so often. This is especially true when your thoughts are sending you in circles or adding stress to your life. Meditation will serve the need for solitary and relaxation time, while also centering you in a beneficial way.

Overall, tending to think deeply is an amazingly wonderful attribute. The tips above can help ensure all of that introverted deep-thinking is truly beneficial, rather than leading to any stress associated with “over-thinking.”

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There is a toxic mindset that exists within the world today, that emotions are a bad thing. That the emotions we experience are something to be pushed aside. Avoiding your emotions is encouraged, often not realizing by avoiding your emotions, you are stacking past hurts on your shoulders, weighing you down everywhere you go until the burden becomes unbearable..

Have you ever heard a statement like this before?

“Why are you so emotional?”

“Emotion has no place in the workplace.”

“You don’t need to be so emotional about it…”

In a world where we constantly feel the need to be more and do more, sometimes we can suppress emotions which we perceive to be negative.

In order to protect ourselves from being judged by others for being a ‘downer’ or ‘negative’, we can push down how we truly feel.

When we fear being criticized or judged for our feelings, we hide them away.

And while it is true that we want to focus on positive emotions in order to create and maintain a beautiful state within ourselves, doing this should not mean suppression or avoidance of other, more difficult emotions.

Emotions are not negative. | Avoiding Your Emotions

They simply are as they are. It is our attachment to or suppression of them that is negative. Emotions, when given space and allowance simply pass through us. Like a deep inhale followed by an exhale, when emotions are given freedom to move, they do not last.

Pain and sadness given space, gives way to relief and gratitude.

To live authentically in a truly beautiful state is to be completely at one with the present moment, and we need to learn to embrace that this will include feeling emotions.

When we avoid emotions they do not disappear. | Avoiding Your Emotions

They simply get locked into our bodies and create negativity and even dis-ease. These locked emotions stay with us until we have the courage to face them.

Sadly for many of us, this takes a lifetime to discover, and for many of us, it is never known at all.

Instead, we carry them around like dead weight, all the while they affect us and cause us pain without us even knowing.

Allowing yourself to feel and express your emotions is a basic human need. To deny your feelings is to deny yourself of life.

You deserve the time and space required for you to process how you feel. Numbing yourself to the way you feel is not serving you.

When you choose to consciously feel your emotions, you deepen the connection you have with yourself. You also deepen your connection to the present moment, because you are no longer moving away from it in order to be comfortable.

So starting today, make a pact with yourself to never deny yourself of fully feeling your emotions. I promise you, it will change your life.

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Emotional resilience is the measure of how we respond to and deal with things that happen to us in our day to day life. It’s our capacity to cope with challenges and hurdles that present themselves on this wonderful journey.

For example, a similar situation can occur at the same time to two sperate people, but ultimately it is their resilience that will dictate how they respond to it.

When faced with a tragedy or a challenge in your life, how do you handle it?

Do you get emotional, blame others, or even yourself? Or are you slightly more measured in your responses, and look at things pragmatically?

Put simply, emotionally resilient people are able to handle life’s challenges better.

The great part about coming to understand this is learning that you can grow your personal resilience muscles.

Yep, with time, patience and practice, you can actually build your emotional resilience and gain control over your responses to life’s challenges. But how?

4 Simple Steps That Will Help You To Build Emotional Resilience

1. Practice acceptance | Emotional Resilience

We fall into trouble when we try to control and affect the things in life that are not able to be controlled.

Instead of trying to control, we need to practice learning to accept certain things as part of life.

Understanding this and using self-awareness to identify what can and cannot be directly affected by you will greatly help you in measuring how to respond to a situation when it arises.

2. Predict change | Emotional Resilience

Not only do we need to learn to accept certain things are out of our control, but we also need to learn to anticipate change as a part of life.

Nothing in life is constant. We are constantly growing, changing, evolving and so is the world around us.

Just as nature has seasons, so do we. Learn to flow with life not against it. This will build up emotional resilience in you to be used when truly necessary.

3. Have hope | Emotional Resilience

Optimism is key to building your emotional resilience.

If we have a negative outlook on life, and kind of feel like it’s all for nothing then we probably aren’t going to have much positivity to hold onto when something goes differently to the way we want.

On the contrary, if we have an optimistic outlook we are more likely to accept challenges with “a grain of salt” and trust that life is always working in our favour.

4. Forgive yourself | Emotional Resilience

It’s not always easy to respond “well” when faced with difficulty in life. But in the end, if you are making efforts towards becoming more self-aware. Learning to grow and expanding your consciousness, you are doing GREAT.

Forgive yourself for any times you may not been as resilient as you would have liked, and remember – You are evolving. The more we learn from mistakes the stronger we become going forward.

Emotional resilience is a strength that will help you in many ways. Even if you haven’t got it right now, trust in your ability to improve as time goes on.

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What differences are there between feelings and emotions, and what impact do our thoughts have?

We tend to use the words “feelings” and “emotions” interchangeably.  Though related, there are distinct differences worth understanding.

Feelings vs. Emotions vs. Thoughts

Do you ever question how our mind and body processes emotions and feelings versus thoughts? Wondering which happens first?  Or ponder which has the greater power over our decisions, life path, and overall quality of life?

By gaining insights about these different nuances, we can put that knowledge to use in making better choices.

We can change our thoughts and ultimately create positive change in our lives.

Here’s a breakdown to offer some clarity:

EMOTIONS

Emotions are physical reactions, often stemming from an outside influence.  Sometimes these stem from internal experiences, such as being spurred by a memory rather than an immediate outside influence.

Since emotions affect our bodies at a physical level, these are objectively measurable.  We can truly monitor brain activity, blood flow, body language, and facial micro-expressions.

According to Debbie Hampton (author of the book Beat Depression and Anxiety by Changing Your Brain), “Emotions are lower level responses occurring in the subcortical regions of the brain, the amygdala, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortices, creating biochemical reactions in your body altering your physical state.”

They precede feelings and are more instinctual and physical in scope.

(Example: You’re out hiking, and the only way to cross a river in your path is to traverse an old rickety bridge.  Your body may have an instinctual and visceral reaction, resulting in the emotion FEAR.)

FEELINGS

What are feelings, then?

Feelings are the result of our thoughts interpreting our personal experiences, and their associations with emotional experiences.

Emotional responses are biologically based and more instinctual, so there isn’t much variation from person to person.  With feelings, on the other hand, results vary greatly between individuals since these are linked to our unique associations and memories.

What’s particularly interesting is that emotions and feelings can create somewhat of a “loop.”  An emotional experience can cause a feeling.  Over time, the concentration on that feeling creates linked emotions that stem internally from the associated feelings.

(Example: Once you crossed the bridge mentioned earlier, you focused on what other obstacles might lay in your path.  This may result in the FEELING of being afraid.  This is similar to the fearful emotion, but distinctly different in that it is the THOUGHTS about the EMOTION that create the FEELING.)

THOUGHTS

Thoughts are mental processes that serve as the link between our emotions and feelings.

They represent our beliefs, opinions, ideas, and over time, our attitudes.

How we THINK about an experience (one that has evoked an emotional response) will feed the associated resulting FEELING.

(Example: Using the bridge example again, after crossing, you may have ruminated about how difficult your hiking path was.  Or you may have thought about how many other obstacles could be ahead.  These THOUGHTS lead to FEELINGS – feeling afraid as one example.) 

How This Understanding Can Benefit You

Our internal experiences are created by emotions, thoughts, and feelings – all working together in a connected way.

Whether or not we can easily change our emotions is uncertain because limited research has been done to-date.

However, research does exist to show that you can change your thoughts and create new thought patterns.

In changing your thoughts, by association, you can alter your feelings.

You can CHOOSE what you focus on (for example, by choosing to think about the excitement of an adventure rather than what other obstacles may lie ahead).

And you can CHOOSE to feel brave rather than afraid.

Changing our thoughts and feelings related to emotional experiences is not necessarily easy.

However, you CAN affect substantial positive change in your life by reframing your thoughts. It merely takes practice.

Ultimately, the truest benefit is an enhanced life experience.

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There are certain timeless films or classics, that create a bridge to a new, more empowered way of viewing life and our role in shaping it.

Some of them use history to help us better understand our present conditions, while others take us into a probable future to provide insights about our current actions. The one thing these film have in common in a powerful ability to inspire positive change in our own lives.

So grab some popcorn and enjoy 10 these movie classics that will expand your heart and mind.

Amazing Grace, 2009 | Movie Classics

In the 18^th century, British Parliamentary leader William Wilberforce joined forces the man who was to become Great Britain’s youngest Prime Minister, William Pitt. Their quest? To abolish the empire’s slave trade, a cause Wilberforce was encouraged to take up by abolitionists Margaret and Charles Middleton.

The movie outlines the challenges, defeats and victories he faced along his path, both internally and externally. Ultimately, he used his political position to help move the conscious of the ruling class upwards despite suffering many personal misgivings about his own ability to effect change.  Amazing Grace reveals the intersecting lives of many imperfect people who chose to forge ahead despite their flaws and fears so that they could help launch a whole new world of freedom for millions of fellow human beings.

“Accustom yourself to look first to the dreadful consequences of failure; then fix your eye on the glorious prize which is before you.” – William Wilberforce

Iron-Jawed Angels, 2004 | Movie Classics

In January 1917, Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, and 1,000 fellow feminists began an 18-month picket at the White House – the first in the nation’s history. Their demand was a national voting rights amendment for women. Iron-Jawed Angels traces the two social crusaders’ rise through the ranks of The National Women’s Suffrage Association, and their decision to push the envelope for change with new, bolder tactics. The consequences of their actions included social scorn, terror, punishment – and the ratification of the 19^th amendment on August 18, 1920.

The film showcases how making decisions using innovative, well-planned ideas is rarely popular, often spurned, and ultimately successful. Paul and Burns’ decision to rise above the status quo, both within and outside the suffragist movement, launched an opportunity for women’s voices to be heard throughout the land.

“When you put your hand to the plow, you can’t put it down until you get to the end of the row.” – Alice Paul

The Matrix, 1999 | Movie Classics

This paradigm-shifting classic sends viewers on a quest to take a closer look at the reality that surrounds them to make sure it is indeed of their own making. It challenges people to take responsibility for shaping their own lives, even if doing so leads to perceived dangers and inconvenient truths.

Waking up to the fact that the life he knew hadn’t been at all as it seemed, a computer hacker must contend with a class of ruling criminals from the future and make a decision: look the other way and pretend not to know, or take a daring adventure out of the tangled matrix of corruption with his fellow resistors in order to help mankind. The Matrix shakes the melancholy of mediocracy from viewer’s eyes and reminds them that true power lies wherever they decide it does.

“I’m trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You’re the one that has to walk through it.” – Morpheus

I Am, 2010 | Movie Classics

Famed comedic director Tom Shadyac’s award winning documentary on finding the larger meaning of life features leading scientists, renowned spiritualists, and innovative thought leaders who offer cutting-edge ideas about our vast limitlessness.

After a devastating brain injury and challenging recovery left him questioning his friendships and values, Shadyac embarks on a journey of discovery. His question is this: Why the world is so full of chaos and disharmony? What he uncovers along the way leads him to a deeper understanding of everyone’s ability to reshape not only the answer to this inquiry, but the question itself.

“You send a message in everything you do. I’m always very conscious about what ideas and what energy I put out there.” – Tom Shadyac

What the Bleep Do We Know?, 2004 | Movie Classics

Never before has a movie taken you on a journey where thoughts, neurons, and quantum processes come to life as they interact with the world and their creator, a disgruntled and unempowered photographer. Her fictional story of discovering how her ideas and actions shape her outcomes is set against documentary-style dialogue and real-world footage of scientists and theologians who are on the frontline of deciphering the exact mechanisms by which people create their own reality.

What the Bleep Do We Know? opens up an understanding of newly discovered energetic principles that help unravel the mysteries of our own limitlessness.

“Asking yourself these deeper questions opens up new ways of being in the world, it brings in a breath of fresh air. It makes life more joyful.” – Fred Alan Wolfe, Theoretical Physicist

Gandhi, 1982 | Movie Classics

This epic story of the man who shaped a multi-faceted system of peace and freedom to replace the chaos of control, violence, and inequality in British-occupied India shows how patience and perseverance can be combined with rationality, emotional intelligence, and strategic alliances to bridge in a better way of being on this planet. Gandhi is about the discipline, high conscious, and steadfast courage which allows for wisdom to win over seemingly impossible odds. The film’s timeless lessons are a guidepost for anyone seeking their own independence from a life that doesn’t serve their true talents and passions.

“To gain independence, we must prove worthy of it. What you cannot do is accept injustice from…anyone. What you must do is make the injustice visible.” – Gandhi

Idiocracy, 2006 | Movie Classics

This cutting satire on people’s tendency to give their power away to anyone with a title and a rule book in exchange for some creature comforts features an ‘average Joe’ who wakes up after a government experiment goes awry to find himself five hundred years in the future. Just as he begins to realize that he has time traveled forward, he also discovers that society’s intellect and wisdom have taken a huge leap backward.

Idiocracy hilariously highlights the long-term negative consequences of trading the responsibilities of freedom for the comforts of following the crowd.

“After several hours, Joe finally gave up on logic and reason, and simply told the cabinet that he could talk to plants, and that they wanted water.”

The Way, 2010 | Movie Classics

Pilgrims have walked Spain’s El Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James) for centuries searching for healing and deeper spiritual connection. The Way takes you into the lives of 5 fictional modern-day trekkers who each bring their backpacks along with their fears, failures, sorrows, and joys on a 500-mile hike along one of the Way’s most rugged and breathtaking routes, the Santiago de Compostela. Along their journey, stereotypes are shattered as each grapples with releasing their traumas in order to again find life’s joys.

“He wanted to see the world. And he did.”

Remember the Titans, 2000 | Movie Classics

Based on the true story of Alexandria, Virginia’s winning 1971 football team, this gritty tale takes you into the day-to-day struggles of a community coming to grips with civil rights integration, through the eyes of TC Williams High School. Hiring its first black coach, the tough and tenacious Herman Boone, is a decision that leads the school’s students, coaches, and teachers on a journey of discovery about their own responsibility in shaping a more equitable society – one that only succeeds through unity.

“If we don’t come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don’t care if you like each oth

er or not, but you will respect each other.” – Herman Boone, on the fields of Gettysburg

Freedom Writers, 2007 | Movie Classics

Based in part on the book The Freedom Writers Diary by teacher Erin Gruwell, this eye-opening screenplay rips opens the stereotypes surrounding gangs, racism, and urban America to reveal the real young people on the front lines of today’s toughest issues, and the battles they must face daily just to survive.  By bridging in the lessons of the Holocaust, Gruwell not only resonates with the “at risk” young people she is asked to teach, but also learns her own lessons from them about following through with her purpose despite the obstacles in her path.

“It would be easy to become a victim of our circumstances and continue feeling sad, scared or angry; or instead, we could choose to deal with injustice humanely and break the chains of negative thoughts and energies, and not let ourselves sink into it.”
― Erin Gruwell, The Freedom Writers Diary

For more inspiration on your journey towards greater empowerment, take a listen to these Inspirational Speeches by some of the world’s most innovative minds…

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If Someone Broke Your Heart – WATCH THIS | by Jay Shetty

Breakups can blindside us, and leave us questioning our own judgment and ability to attract the kind of love that lasts. To go from being in love one moment, to being left out in the cold the next can bring up a lot of tough feelings. Many people begin to wonder if they are somehow ‘not enough’, or if love is just some made up idea that doesn’t actually exist.

When someone doesn’t love you like you love them, it doesn’t mean you aren’t worth loving or that love isn’t real. Take a look at why it actually means that the exact opposite is true.

Love Takes Courage | After A Breakup

Truly loving someone means having the courage to be vulnerable. It’s means taking a risk so that you can reap the reward of lasting love. Love asks you to be fearless, and to give of yourself with no guarantees of a return on investment. That’s why truly loving another person is an act of bravery, and it indicates that you are walking the warrior’s path.

Some People Speak the Language of Limitations, Not Love | After A Breakup

The warrior’s path is a road that not everyone is yet willing or able to take. When people are still filled with their own hurt, are misguided, or are drawn to a selfish way of living, they are not going to have the capacity to love without limits. That’s because all pain, false judgment, and selfishness operate on the level of fear. Fear tells people all the reasons why they CAN’T have something. Anyone who is tuned into fear as their guiding force will therefore believe that they can’t really have true love.

That’s why people with ‘fear blocks’ may have a strong desire to love you on a conscious level, but subconsciously they are contending with their own inner limiting beliefs. So you end up getting mixed signals from them that can leave you feeling confused and heartbroken. Until they are willing to work on releasing their blocks to love, they are not going to be able to love you like you deserve to be loved.

Know That You ARE Worth Loving | After A Breakup

Knowing that you’re worth loving isn’t just a statement; it is also a practice. This practice entails taking the time to include gentle and affirming self-care into your daily routine. Breakups shake your self-esteem and leave you questioning your worth. That’s why adding an extra dose of self-love is so needed at this time – so that you can remind yourself to hold onto your true joy by focusing on what makes you uniquely beautiful and divine.

This Inspiring Video Will Help You See How Your Life Is A Masterpiece That WILL Come Together Beautifully – Piece By Revealing Piece.

The post Breaking Through the Blues: How to Handle Heartbreak After a Breakup appeared first on Fearless Soul - Inspirational Music & Life Changing Thoughts.

Giving 100% means you never have to walk away from a relationship, job, challenge, or goal with any regrets. These 3 approaches gift you with a game-winning plan for giving your all.

Learn to Say ‘No’

One of the most surprising aspects to giving your all is your ability to properly manage when you won’t give at all. Saying ‘No’ is the outside expression of an inner decision to take personal responsibility for living a life of abundance, passion, and purpose. When you begin to delete items from your to-do list that aren’t aligned with your aspirations, you open up quality time for the ones that are.

Here’s the great news: People who allow themselves to say ‘No’ to certain requests that take advantage of their good nature or limit their ability to get the work done on their objectives are much more likely to succeed.

The Ultimate Guide To Saying ‘No’

Learn to Show Up

Giving your best isn’t linear. There will be some days when you’ve committed to a project, event, or task and realize you’re overstressed, under the weather, or just not up to it that day. Showing up anyway indicates to those around you that even when you’re at you’re worst, you’ll try your best.

People who see that you’re consistent and serious about your goals are going to be more comfortable handing opportunities over to you because they know you’ll follow through. Yet showing up can be difficult, especially when you’re feeling vulnerable and are fearful of what people might think about you.

“Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy.” – Brene Brown

If you’re struggling with showing up for your relationships, work, health, or life goals, try these two success-boosting tools:

Join an accountability group

From NASA astronauts to world-class surgeons, people who have strong team support have been found to perform much better than those who go it alone.

Boost Your Success with Rewards

Neuroscientists have shown that your brain ‘lights up’ with feel-good chemicals when you reward yourself, and this signaling system also helps you to create new habits much more quickly.

Learn to Say ‘Yes’

Just as you can start to reduce the activities that aren’t supporting your goals, you can begin to increase the ones that do. This means having the courage to try new adventures and learn new skills. It also means that you’re setting yourself up for future opportunities that are in sync with your vision for your life.

Saying ‘Yes’ to the unknown can seem daunting, but it also expands your mind and helps you learn the skills that turn your dreams into reality.

“When we say ‘yes’, we are allowing our minds to create a reality, instead of allowing someone else to create it for us.” – Kwame Alexander

Don’t Ask For Permission To Be Great – Lisa Nichols

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