Your Emotions: Are You Watching Them? By Sheri Rosenthal



You’ll often hear don Miguel Ruiz, author of “The Four Agreements,” saying that our emotions are the key to our personal freedom. Wise words! You might be asking why our emotions are so important to our freedom. I’ve observed in my many years of teaching, how often folks don’t acknowledge what they’re feeling emotionally. When I ask them how they’re feeling they say, “Things are fine,” or “The usual.” Yet, when you ask them if they got upset or frustrated today, they’ll say, “Well yes, this morning with my husband,” or “When the dishwasher repair man came to the house,” or “When something was not typed correctly my secretary.” So what’s going on here? Why are we ignoring the most important tool that we have for our personal growth?

Multiple opportunities present themselves to us daily to grow and learn, yet we’re too asleep to see our emotional reactions for what they are. If you’re not aware of when you’re having a fear-based emotional reaction, you’re allowing your personal power and happiness to drain away from you without even realizing it!

A warrior lives by challenge; meaning he perceives everything as an opportunity to learn. Whether he’s observing the way he talks to himself when he’s waiting on line in the grocery store or sitting on the toilet with constipation – it doesn’t matter where the opportunity comes from, a challenge is a challenge! We can learn as much from the way we victimize ourselves on the toilet when we’re constipated as we can during an argument with our partner.

We can only shift and change within the context of our challenges, not just by reading books and attending workshops. Yes, we can have “ah-ha’s,” learn tools and techniques, meet new friends, and adopt a belief system that is kinder to us than the one we currently have. But what really makes the difference is what action we take to make those insights become practical applications.

I encourage you to take advantage of all that life is gifting you in every moment. Stop throwing away these opportunities simply because you choose non-awareness over personal freedom. If you chose to see your emotional reactions to frustrating events as opportunities for transformation, rather than believing that “s-t happens,” your life will change.

Take a moment right now to think about how you perceive the events of your life. Do you see challenges as inconveniences? If you do, this could be a great time to shift your point of view. (Remember - the way we perceive our lives is a choice and everything is just a point of view!).

There’s one thing I know for sure about this reality. “S-t” never happens to us, we’re not victims; let’s break that belief right now! Life works on the basis of action-reaction. So take action right now based on clarity, rather than your programmed reactions and you’ll be on your way to a blissful life, experiencing joyful emotions rather than fear-based ones.

 

Staying Connected To Positive Attitude    I consider myself a very fortunate human being. I have a wonderful life that is surrounded by a group of loving, supportive family and friends. Some, who are reading this newsletter at this very moment. Along with all the joy I am exposed to everyday, I find myself being given opportunities to practice what I teach even when it feels impossible.  One of the areas I coach people with is helping them manage their energy. In other words, helping them stay connected to the emotions that allow them to feel good, no matter what is being thrown at them from outside circumstances. Is this easy to do? Sometimes and at other times it seems downright impossible. Recently, I was given the gift of being in the place that felt downright impossible.

Positive Laughter   How many times a day do you find yourself having a good laugh? One, five, ten, thirty times a day? Chances are you don’t have a clue. But now that I’ve posed the question just think about it for a moment and take a guess. I’ve always felt like I’m someone who laughs a lot until I read an article about laughter. It made me think twice and absolutely raised my awareness around my laugh-o-meter!

Positive-Attitude  Recently I was sitting on my living room couch reading, when the howling of the wind and the pelting rain caught my attention. It was quite apparent that the wind and rain were doing their best to make their mark on this day. Although weather like this could have brought on a feeling of gloominess, I found myself filled with a great sense of peace, warmth and oneness with everything around me.

When You Think You Can   How many times have you heard yourself say I can't, only to find that you really can and you did? It seems whenever we are faced with something that feels like it's beyond our ability we automatically go into the 'I can't do it' syndrome before we even consider the possibility that we really can. Too often we give up on ourselves before we even start having less faith in ourselves than others have in us or we have in others.

 How To Be Confident At Any Age   I remember when I was in my early twenties, heck, it was only a few birthdays ago (I'm 26 now). Flashback about five years and I was a fresh out of university nobody with a degree in business management that I just scraped a GPA 4 in (this is equivalent to a pass in Australia, university grades are 1-7, 4 being a pass, 7 being the best). I spent most of my university days lost. Half the time doing what I needed to get through my degree, the other half of the time indulging in whatever hobby took my interest. Throw in some tennis, a handful of casual jobs and lots and lots of glossy-eyed staring at the beautiful girls on campus and you had my life at university.

Still Not Quite Getting It Right   “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” (Mark Twain)   “A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes, but to get into accord with them, for they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world.” (Sigmund Freud)  As is our confidence, so is our capacity.” (William Hazlitt)  “Be yourself and think for yourself; and while your conclusions may not be infallible, they will be nearer right than the conclusions forced upon you.” (Elbert Hubbard)  You are all you really have for sure.