What if you could step back from your emotions and do a manual override? You’d essentially be able to choose to have a better attitude, to experience life through a calmer lens. How would that enhance your life?
I try my best to be mindful. Despite my desires to have more presence and patience I’m often ashamed at how easily I find myself thrown into a negative spiral.
The issue isn’t experiencing momentary feelings of negativity, the issue is remaining there.
Recently I’ve started a new visualization when I notice I’m upset. I imagine stepping back from myself and manually flipping my emotion toggle from negative to positive.
It looks like this…
Cute, huh?
This quick visualization does a couple of things for me. First, it reminds me that I have some control over the way I’m feeling. Our emotions happen on autopilot. But, much like a self-driving car, we can override the computer and take control. I can choose to be happy even if some outside stimulus is threatening to ransack my pleasant emotional state.
The second thing this visualization does for me is it gives me permission to let go and reset. When I try to convince myself to not let something bother me there’s always a voice somewhere in my head saying “But you were WRONGED!” and it’s almost like I’m letting myself down if I don’t remain angry.
When I continue down the path of being upset it negatively colors whatever period of time that feeling is there. If I have a bad interaction with someone on Twitter I can find myself being irritated at completely unrelated things. It’s not until that feeling dissipates that I can go back and analyze what went wrong.
Stepping back from myself and manually flipping the toggle back to positive has been a surprisingly effective shortcut.
When you start to feel yourself experiencing negative emotions try this exercise. Imagine stepping outside of yourself and manually flipping your emotional toggle from negative to positive.
This isn’t meant to convince you to be fake or not acknowledge that bad things are happening. Rather it’s the acknowledgment that bad and good things are continually happening all around us. Where we choose to keep our focus largely determines how we’ll experience the day. Give yourself permission to let go and reset your emotional toggle whenever the need arises.
If you enjoyed this article please share it with your friends and enemies
Start Your New Year’s Resolutions Today
How to Recharge Your Life Battery Through Stoicism
The Good Day/Bad Day Teeter-Totter
Did you know? Sharing this will make you happy!
One thought on “Manually Overriding Your Emotional Toggle”