{"id":1060,"date":"2020-01-17T18:17:18","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T00:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2020-01-17T18:17:21","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T00:17:21","slug":"how-to-unstick-your-negative-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lindagorchels.com\/blogs\/how-to-unstick-your-negative-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Unstick Your Negative Emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever gotten pine pitch on your hands while putting\nup a Christmas tree? Or blobbed adhesive on your fingers while gluing two\nthings together? Or stepped on a piece of gum? Not only is the gooey residue\nhard to get off, everything you touch sticks to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the way it is with negative emotions. They\u2019re sticky,\nattracting more gloomy thoughts. And they keep you from moving, similar to\nspinning your wheels in the muck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no complete list of negative emotions, but the chart at the left lists some most cited. Any of them can have dramatic impacts on your physical health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anger, for example, heightens the risk of high blood\npressure and heart problems. In the words of Dr.\nJoseph Mercola<\/a>, \u201cshort-fused people live shorter lives.\u201d<\/em> He also\nsuggests that anger might increase dementia risk. Negative emotions cause other\nsymptoms, including stomach problems, fatigue, headaches, back and neck aches,\nand immunity dysfunctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s clear that reducing negativity is a good thing.\nBut it\u2019s hard. Negativity\nbias<\/a> is an automatic habit of the brain. When people receive both\npositive and negative ideas of equal intensity, their memory of the negative\nones is stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Alison Ledgerwood, pointed\nthis out in her TED talk<\/a>. She shared personal anecdotes about her feelings\nafter publications accepted or rejected her articles. An acceptance caused a\ntemporary high. A rejection caused a longer-term low, even after a subsequent\nacceptance. The bleak stuff had a stronger impact that the sunny-side stuff. I\nexperienced the same phenomenon in corporate training where I stressed over one\nlow rating against an overwhelming number of higher ratings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ledgerwood also emphasized that it\u2019s harder for people to\nshift an attitude from pessimistic to optimistic than the reverse. In her\nresearch, she presented equal groups with a positive or negative stimulus.\nThere was a favorable reaction to the positive stimulus, and unfavorable\nreaction to the negative one. Then she presented both groups with the opposite\nstimulus. What happened? The favorable group downgraded their opinions<\/em> after\nreceiving the bad information. The unfavorable group remained unfavorable<\/em>\neven after receiving the good information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s hopeless to unstick negative\nemotions. It just requires effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleanse your mind<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I studied karate many years (decades?) ago, we began\neach class by emptying our minds. Our instructor stressed the need to\nrelinquish all negative thoughts before sparring with other students.\nMakes sense. But clearing our minds should go beyond martial arts. Purging\nnegative emotions can be part of daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My go-to approaches for mental detox are mindfulness<\/a>\n(often in the form of meditation), yoga, and physical exercise. \nMindfulness has become as ubiquitous as the internet. On the most basic\nlevel, it is the practice of focusing on the present moment. Think about\npaying attention to your breathing. Concentrating on a mantra (a repeated word\nor phrase, such as \u201cI choose peace.\u201d). Focusing on something in your immediate\nenvironment (like a picture, a design in the floor, the hum of the furnace, the\ntexture of a chair).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoga involves controlled movement and breathing. There are\nmany branches, from restorative poses, to extended stretches, to more advanced\nconditioning. All stress the intersection of mind, body and spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical exercise can be almost anything active. Not all\nremove negativity. Look for those activities that allow your mind to relax and\nrelease toxic thoughts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Name (and interact with) your inner critic<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a harsh inner critic that never allows you to\nlet go of negative thoughts? It\u2019s your internal Judge Judy<\/em> that holds\ncourt on you day after day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait. Maybe that\u2019s the answer. When you have a negative thought,\nacknowledge it and respond to it. \u201cOkay, Judge Judy. I heard your criticism.\u201d\nSeparate yourself from your inner critic. Then, similar to being in court,\ntest the evidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n