Emotional tools

Emotional tools can be seen as tools which help us with our emotions, or they can be seen as ways in which to use our emotions as tools. Both approaches have validity and we most likely already use a combination of the two in our daily living.

Tools to help us with our emotions include such things as journaling, meditation, observation, networking among friends. Using our emotions as tools is done by thoroughly understanding an emotion and how we experience it, and taking that knowledge and applying it to new situations.

The first steps are to work with tools so that we gain the understanding and experience of our emotions. Through journaling we are keeping a written record of our thoughts, our feelings and what situations we were in at the time. We can go through our journal and see patterns of behavior and thought, what the circumstances were which evoked certain emotions, and so forth. Through meditation we can be still and let go of our surroundings, listening to our inner thoughts; we can listen to the world around us and become consciously aware of our reactions to it. We can actively choose to observe what we see, hear, taste, touch, smell every day. We can observe ourselves and our emotions. We have through our friends a potential for an outside opinion on how we react in life and what emotions we exhibit. Through friends and associates we can build a circle of support and camaraderie to give us further insights, to lessen some of the burden when we go through extreme hardships.

For circumstances which we cannot seem to grasp on our own there are people who have devoted their lives to aiding us through. This is the field of psychotherapy and counseling. For times in which you do not wish to rely on friends or counselors, there are a plethora of "self help" books in publication. You can find materials for just about any topic of concern.

When you reach the point where you feel confident in using an emotion as a tool, you will find that you have already been doing so throughout your entire life.

Read through the following list and consider how you have experienced these emotions, how you've used them throughout your life, how you have used them mindfully (on purpose), and jot a record of it all in your journal. Through your contemplations and perusals of your journal you will see how you can apply your emotions to your life in a positive beneficial manner, and also see how certain applications will be to your detriment.

affection, agitation, anger, ardor, concern, desire, despair, despondency, drive, ecstasy, elation, empathy, excitement, feeling, fervor, grief, gut reaction, happiness, inspiration, joy, love, melancholy, passion, pride, rage, remorse, sadness, satisfaction, sensibility, shame, sorrow, sympathy, thrill, tremor, vehemence, warmth, zeal.
Never believe on faith, see for yourself! What you yourself don't learn you don't know.
Bertolt Brecht