Tired of harbouring so-called “negative” emotions? You probably know those feelings all too intimately. This blog post will help you better understand what you can do to drive negative emotions from your life and defend against letting them back into your headspace.
The Plutchik emotional chart
In the 20th century, Robert Plutchik identified eight basic emotions, which he grouped into four pairs of polar opposites:
- Joy – sadness
- Anger – fear
- Trust – distrust
- Surprise – anticipation
He believes that emotions are neither negative nor positive and that humans have an incredible capacity to feel deeply –that’s the long and short of it.
Deconstructing a limiting belief
Over time, people labelled certain emotions as negative and positive based on how it made them feel. Emotions such as sadness, anger, and distrust are usually labelled negative whereas joy, surprise, and anticipation are perceived as positive. This widespread belief affects people’s perception of their feelings, and can lead them to make decisions that they otherwise wouldn’t make.
Emotions trigger reactions
When you can’t seem to work through an uncomfortable emotion, or you allow a strong emotion to cloud your judgement, you may subconsciously decide to take an unwise course of action – one you will probably regret… once the emotion subsides. Over the long term, this pattern of reacting emotionally will negatively impact your emotional health.
Coaching as a solution
As a personal and professional coach, I will work with you to examine the nature and root cause of limiting beliefs and why you react as you do when processing what you perceive as positive or negative emotions. Then, we’ll investigate and unravel the emotion. Together, we determine what reaction you want to take (that fits with your natural disposition), and we begin the process of reinforcing positive reactions, even in uncomfortable situations.
Let’s solve what’s holding you back
Book a no-obligation, free discovery meeting with me, and let’s discuss how I can help you get to the root of your problem.
It’s time to create a better version of you!