5 Exercises to Control Our Emotions
However, thanks to these emotion exercises, facing them will be easier.
In this article, we’ll bring you 5 simple exercises that you can use whenever you need. Just remember that practice is key. The more you practice, the better your results will be.
Remember to be consistent!
Exercises that work for controlling emotions
We’re going to take a look at 5 simple exercises that are our top picks. Though there are plenty of exercises out there, we really think that these 5 should do the trick.
1. Practice full attention
Mindfulness is pausing, being still, breathing, and observing.
- Using full attention is an exercise that we can do every day. For at least 5 minutes, we should sit or lay down (however we’re more comfortable) and focus on our breathing.
- It’s not about clearing our mind. It’s about feeling, observing our emotions and not judging them, seeing what they’re trying to tell us.
If we practice this exercise during an argument and take our time before responding, we might find that the encounter can move into a healthier perspective.
2. Keep an emotion log
It might sound silly but keeping an emotion log is very important. If you don’t have one already, consider starting one today.
- Writing is very therapeutic and it helps us see our emotions objectively and reflect on them via pen and paper. Over time, we’ll be able to see which emotions repeat themselves, and we’ll know then just how to act accordingly.
Discover: 6 Tricks to Keep Your Memory Healthy
- Keeping an emotion diary will help us see the progress that we make in controlling our emotions.
In addition, every time that we face an emotion that dampens our mood, such as sadness, we can turn to our diary to see just how we can deal with it. It’ll allow us to feel more secure and in control.
3. Change the focus of your thoughts
The third exercise on our list of emotion-controlling exercises revolves around changing the focus of your thoughts. You definitely know that you’re mad when you feel mad. Your thoughts start to simmer in the anger, intensifying it.
- In times like these, you should have a key word that’ll remind you to stop the thoughts. It could be “enough”, “stop it”, or any word that works for you.
- After, we can jot down the negative thought, such as anger, and write it’s positive equivalent next to it. In the case of anger, we could write joy or being content.
It might seem unhelpful at first, but a small calmness will fill us, tapering our edginess. Try it!
4. Give yourself time to worry
Sounds weird, right? We normally worry more than we actually need, but if we set time aside to worry, it sounds ridiculous to us. However, it’s not a crazy idea.
- Some people put this exercise into practice by setting aside some time each day to think about the worries on their mind and allow themselves to worry.
Read: Chronic Worrying: 3 effects on your health and how to deal with it
- Once the set time is up, they go back to what’s really important and their worries are set off to the side. These worries might disappear, or they might stick around for the next day for the worry time.
It’s a great way to avoid having a head full of worries all day long, which makes it hard to be efficient or productive at work. By setting them aside, you can manage your worries.
5. Look for a mirror, quick!
Our last exercises for controlling emotions is a fun one that you’ll enjoy. As soon as you feel negative emotions on the horizon, find a mirror fast. You might even want to keep a hand mirror handy at all times…
- You need to look at yourself in the mirror at smile. You might not want to smile, but smile. Smile for a few minutes, anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes, without taking your eyes off the mirror.
- This exercises will help you be more objective in the situation that made you feel the way you feel. It’ll also calm you down.
- Thanks to your smile, your body will release endorphins, even if it’s a forced one. So, you’ll be able to control your emotions and get a better perspective on the situation.
Emotions that you should never repress
These are positive exercises for controlling your emotions, but you should never switch them with distracting yourself in trying to forget, ignore or repress your emotions.
The exercises on our list will help you calm down to control your overwhelming emotions. They won’t eliminate them, but rather, create a calmer and more balanced situation that that you can confront them.
Running away, repressing or ignoring an emotion isn’t the answer. It’ll just come back. However, our emotion exercises will help in knowing yourself much better as well as which emotions need more effort to control.
Have you tried any of the exercises for your emotions? How did it go?
Before you go, don’t miss out on: 10 Tips on Achieving Physical and Mental Balance
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Melero Ventola, Alejandra Rebeca; Yela Bernabé, José Ramón (2014). Análisis de la investigación sobre mindfulness entre 2008-2012: una aproximación a través del análisis bibliométrico (España). https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/3498/349851787008.pdf
- José María Prados Atienza (2002). La preocupación: teoría e intervención (España). https://eprints.ucm.es/4609/1/T26070.pdf
