We go through experiences and encounter circumstances during our lives that activate emotions deep inside. Others are good, arising from happiness, accomplishment, feeling respected or cherished, etc.; some are negative, arising from shame, being left behind, not valued, and so on. Our human experience is shaped by all kinds of emotions and makes us who we are.
Although we feel satisfied when we encounter positive emotions, negative emotions make us feel uncomfortable; we tend to suppress or drive them away much of the time, if possible, without even knowing that they exist. However, many of us tend to miss an incredibly important point: negative feelings are natural and are an integral part of our make-up. In addition, they can be messengers that transmit incredibly valuable messages that, physically and morally, can save us from possible dangers.
Negative emotions are not necessarily bad; they take the stage often to teach us more about ourselves and direct us to solutions and possibilities to which we might be blinded. Yet, we should first know their essence and how to treat them in order to be able to make them work for us, not against us.
From the fundamental frustration, indignation, fear, and sorrow, to disdain, humiliation, remorse, and shame, the wide spectrum of negative emotions we encounter do not happen out of the blue; they are consequences or reactions to certain causes. Their aim is to provide us with input, whether they are safe or not, on our atmosphere and the situations we face. Negative feelings suggest that something is not right in this respect; our protection and well-being could be at stake and something should be done to restore it.
Suppressing negative feelings is not the best way to deal with them; relationships and jobs may be affected by unresolved negative emotions. Therefore, to profit from them and get better results, we need to turn our attention. To do so, to be able to treat them the right way, we should first mark them:
Anxiety emerges to give us messages that our atmosphere or habits do not work for us and impact our well-being; it urges us to do whatever it takes to change the way we feel right now.
Frustration can be a sign that something is wrong; it can lead us to try to understand where we have gone wrong or to act in order to remedy an unjust method.
Fear means that there is a potential threat or risk that can affect us and that we need to be alert and pay careful attention.
Sadness may be a sign that there are new stimuli or something is not quite right; problems need to be fixed and more effort needs to be paid to deal with them.
Anger is such a powerful incentive that inspires us to act or fix conditions or individuals that you have found difficult; it encourages us to act to restore your own peace.
Bearing in mind that negative emotions start their brain cycle, impacting our cognitive function and mental wellbeing, and their influence even extends to having a direct impact on our physical state, we should think twice before attempting to ignore them because it can be extremely harmful in the long run. The same even applies to ruminating about them too long.
Negative feelings are more likely to stick to us than positive ones, so it will be wise to know how to cope with them so as not to continue holding on slivers of bad choices and memories in our lives. We should listen carefully to the messages they attempt to communicate to us to be able to behave wisely in our next fights, understanding how to squeeze them to get the rewards, not just the unpleasantness.