Have you ever felt like you struggled with your emotions?
If you're human, the answer is probably yes.
Emotions are a part of life, yet too many people don't bother to learn how to manage their emotions. Instead, they let emotions rule their life.
Maybe that's how you have handled emotions—until now. You've decided that you're ready to learn how to better navigate your emotions, and that starts with understanding that you have two brains.
No, I don't mean the left and right hemispheres of your brain. It's not quite that literal. I mean that you have a Thinking Brain and a Feeling Brain, and the two suck at communication.
Your Thinking Brain is all about your conscious thoughts, and your ability to reason through situations and express ideas through language.
Your Feeling Brain is focused on your emotions, impulses, intuitions and instincts.
This part is really important: One brain isn't better than the other. You need both to be a fully functioning human. While most people assume that the Thinking Brain is the one that you need the most, science has proven that your Feeling Brain is actually the one moving you to action.
And action beats thinking every time.
Speaking of action, over the next five days, I'll send you daily quick-hit lessons and action prompts to help you understand how emotions work, how they impact your life, and what you can do to manage them more effectively.
Welcome to How to Manage Your Emotions: The 5-Day Mini-Course
Your first official lesson will hit your inbox tomorrow, but here's what you can do until then.
→ Listen to the Emotions episode of Solved to learn more about your Thinking Brain and your Feeling Brain and how the two work together. You'll also hear a fascinating story of how your life can be upended if something goes wrong with your Feeling Brain.
→ Download the Emotions companion guide if you prefer to read rather than listen.
→ Grab your journal (or just the Notes app in your phone) and explore the following Action Prompts.
1. How do your emotions affect your life day-to-day?
Don't be vague as you think about this. Get specific as you can and really reflect on your typical day and how emotions affect you.
- How do you feel when that jerk in the Jeep Wagoneer cuts you off in traffic?
- How do you respond when your boss compliments a big report you just finished?
- How do you react when your kid comes running up to you after a long day at work with a big hug (and jelly-covered hands)?
What emotion did you feel in each instance?
Hint: you can have more than one emotion at a time.
Now, take a minute and ask yourself:
2. How would learning to better manage my emotions improve my life?
Consider what you said in the first prompt, then take a minute and think about how your life could improve if your emotions didn't control your actions.
Answering this question will help you remember why it's worth sticking with this mini-course.
That's all for today.
See you tomorrow,
Mark
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