Balancing the Negative and the Positive
Negative emotions like fear, anger, resentment, envy, and guilt create tension and stress in our lives, while positive emotions like courage, openness, empathy, and love enhance life and health. We tend to think that we are our emotions, when in fact they are simply feelings – they are not who we are.
There’s much that we cannot control in life, but our minds can learn to control the thoughts and feelings we have, and thus our behaviour. When we become more aware of them we can work consciously to balance the positive and negative. We always have the freedom to choose our state of mind.
When we transform our negative thinking and are motivated instead by positive emotions, we feel differently about situations that previously made us unhappy. Our brains release oxytocin, the ‘love’ hormone, and we feel expanded, loving, and grateful. We begin to see that there are many opportunities for us to enrich our lives as we connect with the joy that lies deep within.