The Human nervous system benefits well from experiencing the entire emotional spectrum. Through happiness and joy we enjoy life, through sadness and suffering we grow spiritually/ intellectually . Though we cannot control life and all of its seemingly random, and at times, seemingly synchronized events. We can choose how to perceive every situation and take from it whatever lesson we feel will help us in terms of survival, not just physical survival, but emotional as well.
“Everything in moderation” as the wise say, and I believe this to be true, as excess in anything leads to imbalance and thus renders us open to life’s random inconveniences, or, may I say, subconsciously calculated outcomes?
Allow me to explain my observed function and importance of balance, mental, emotional, physical and how, despite our egocentric belief that humans are out of this ‘natural balance’ equation, we most certainly still fall victim to the side effects of imbalance, and benefit from a balanced life. I believe the laws of physics that apply to the physical world also apply to the emotional world. I truly believe emotions are our link to the spiritual (hyper emotional) aspect of our reality, and though that may sound esoteric, out in the unreachable ether, it’s truly an energy we can all feel with a little meditation. Though emotions have been found to simply be chemical reactions in our brain, there is no doubt they have a physical effect on our bodies as well as an effect on our physical world.
Through the realization that the physical laws of nature apply to our emotional bodies we can begin to mold and shape our emotional world to our liking as much as we have used the knowledge of these laws to alter and shape our physical world. However, this change requires the heart and mind, not the hands to construct.
Lets get to it shall we?
We will be going through the most basic laws of physics (Newton’s laws) and analyzing the correlation between Laws of physics and our emotional being.
(mass in these examples will be replaced with Emotional Intensity)
Law 1- An object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force of equal or greater force-
law 2- The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object
Law 3- All forces in the universe occur in equal but oppositely directed pairs. There are no isolated forces; for every external force that acts on an object there is a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction which acts back on the object which exerted that external force.
Our emotional state is like a pond. No external influence means no movement. We call this state: Calm. Should there be an external force to stir the waters, say, a pebble thrown in, there is a reaction and the energy of this interaction is released via ripples in the water. All emotions are but energy being released.
Real example: Should someone make you angry, sad, any emotion you don’t want to feel at that moment (it could be happiness at times) you can reverse the event in the mind rather than release the energy, the ripples (expressing the emotion). That’s the cool thing about emotions, with practice, we can be in total control . Of course the pebble and pond are but visuals to help you understand the concept.
Reversal: To reverse the ‘Pebble effect’, you simply have to reverse the entire process. Literally hit an internal rewind button. How do we do that? identify the cause of the emotion. Though few may say the cause of the emotion is the uncontrollable event, the truth is it is not the event but, our what? that’s right, PERCEPTION of the event. Break perception down to THOUGHTS, and break those thoughts down to EXPECTATIONS break those down to BELIEFS. This may sound like a major analytical process but it really boils down to asking one question; Why am I (undesirable emotion) about this? Couple that with the realization and humility that as a participant in this crazy thing we call life you are therefore subject to it’s randomness and outcomes as is everyone else and you are not immune to downs as you are not entitled to ups. That simple realization and acceptance of this universal truth, can single handedly eliminate quite a bit of negative thought that lead to negative emotions which lead to negative actions and therefore, negative outcomes and consequences in our physical world. The problem lies with an egocentric belief that everything should go our way simply because we are us and we are awesome. Though we are all awesome in our own awesome way, Nature doesn’t care for that. It cares about balance. However, if you give the pond no pebble the pond will go undisturbed, therefore no law of equivalent exchange (reaction) needs to go into effect.
On the opposite end, if you want to calm someone, say, someone at a “level 8” in the anger scale you need to approach with the opposite emotion in that same level of intensity, which is understanding and patience (law 1). Anything less and you can find yourself eventually getting worn down quickly and falling into their spectrum of anger. Match the intensity in the opposite manner and you will both eventually reach a neutral state of calm as you wear each other down. Get the picture?
This is why Hate cannot destroy Hate. Only Love can destroy Hate. Only Hate can destroy Love. Are we matching the intensity of Hate with Love to counteract it’s effect in the world? (Newton’s third Law)
You have the ability to let no pebble land in your pond, no matter how many pebbles people throw at you. The principal of this law is action and reaction. If an action is taken towards you and calls for a reaction be careful, you are literally stirring a pool of chemicals, as that is what emotions are. In chemistry class, when you mix chemicals in a beaker, you get a reaction. That outcome can be as sweet smelling as perfume or as catastrophic as a bomb. The question is, what are you contributing to the beaker?
If someone is throwing ammonia at you, don’t throw in your own chlorine, another corrosive chemical, because you create a violent reaction that can hurt you both as well as those around you (mustard gas analogy).
On the flip side, if you find that people you interact with seem shut out, defensive, angry or defeated when interacting with you; you need to be honest with yourself and ask yourself what it is you are doing causing them to react in such a manner (completely honest).
When you take these laws and apply them to your emotional life not only will you be able to manage your own emotions but quite possibly be able to influence the emotions of others as your reactions won’t fuel the negative action they took (react to your reaction)and vise versa, you will learn to approach in a manner that will ease tensions and defenses.
Trust me it’s easier said than done, and please don’t take this as me saying you shouldn’t feel negative emotions. Emotions such as anger and sadness are indeed the best approaches to situations at times and even negative emotions have their place, don’t dismiss them, but also do not dwell in them.
Balance can be a little boring as it means ‘Nothing’ Neutral’ ‘Still’ ‘Centered’, and humans, well, we like being entertained. Though I gave examples on how to manage your emotions using the laws of physics the reality of it is humans are complex emotional creatures. Balance may sound like a really cool Zen word but its actuall practice is pretty dull in terms of ‘fun’ but it is absolutely vital in order for us to maintain good emotional health.
Imbalance on the other hand is easier to fall into (obviously) as the natural state of nature is chaos, and through chaos , order (balance) is found, I know it’s crazy. When you see the big picture, everything is balanced, start breaking the picture down, and you find the balance is simply caused by a bunch of little imbalances (chaos) balancing each other out. It’s pretty nuts and confusing at first but also pretty cool. We need imbalance to be balanced, to be centered. It’s okay to go way out of spectrum, just know, the other end is coming.
Have a few bad days? know a few good days are coming. Had a streak of awesome days? you probably have some neutral (boring) or inconveniences coming your way so be ready for it. Get mad or cry when they happen too so your internal emotional self knows it ruined your day so it can begin to attract good days again, ha-ha I’m kidding, I don’t think that’s how it works.
I believe this is a subconscious attraction we all have. At a conscious level obviously we want “awesomeness” 24/7, but at a subconscious level, much like the way monarch butterflies know their migrating routes, our emotional inner self want balance, as we are here to experience the full spectrum, not just the portion we want to feel.
If you work out too much you’ll plateau, if you don’t work out at all you’ll develop health issues. If you only eat meat you’ll have digestive problems, if you only eat veggies you’ll have a range of deficiencies. If you drink too much alcohol you can scar the liver, if you drink no alcohol you become prone to vascular issues, if you drink too much water you can flush your system of nutrients if you drink no water you’ll die, if you’re always out with friends, errands don’t get done, if you’re always focused on errands you don’t have time or money to spend with friends, if you use all your energy to focus on your children your marriage will suffer, if you focus too much on your marriage your children can suffer, if you’re always working you’ll burn out but have lots of money but no one to spend it with, if you never work you’ll have everyone to spend time with, no money to do anything. Get the picture? GET BALANCED.
Moderation. Everything.
Anyways, it’s good to be back after a year. I myself have had a crazy year. A few months of real, “Level 8” lows, and now am experiencing “level 8” highs as I knew I would.
Don’t worry too much about this process ladies and Gents, you can’t rig it, it just happens. Just let it happen, and when it does, and you call it, you’ll start to feel like a little psychic. You’ll get to a point where you have an amazing weekend with friends or family and you’ll tell yourself, yup, something crappy is going to happen in the next week or so, and when your tire goes flat in the rain at night a few days later you’ll pull over to the side, secretly proud of yourself. Out loud you’ll say “Called it”, and you’ll change your tire with a grin because what just happened was pretty cool I mean, you predicted the future… you little psychic you.