Your mental health influences how you think, feel and behave in daily life. It also affects your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, build relationships, and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships. Whether you’re looking to cope with a specific mental health problem, handle your emotions better, or simply to feel more positive and energetic, there are plenty of things you can do to manage your emotions better.
Although the universality of basic human emotions has been recognized, the role, function, and importance of emotional intelligence are often undermined. Emotional intelligence is a social skill that can help you become more aware and tactful in handling your own emotions as well as the emotions of others. Thanks to my mentors and my own experiences, I’ve learned how to manage my emotions better over the years.
Here are 6 mental habits of those who manage their emotions really well:
1. They Deal With Primary Emotions
Emotionally intelligent people realize the importance of understanding the reasons behind the negative emotions they are experiencing. They look for the root causes underneath the surface of anger, anxiety, fear, worry, etc. These emotions are reactions and they try to analyze the reasons behind them. What are the triggers, the real reasons behind your emotions? Follow the trail and once you’ve tackled and understood these primary emotions you’ll be in a better position to get a handle on your reactions.
2. They Stay Active
The mind and the body are intrinsically linked. When you improve your physical health, you’ll automatically experience greater mental and emotional well-being. Physical activity also releases endorphins, powerful chemicals that lifts your mood and provides added energy. Regular exercise or activity can have a major impact on mental and emotional health problems, relieve stress, improve memory, and help you to sleep better.
3. They Embrace Change
Mentally tough people are flexible and are constantly adapting. They know that fear of change is paralyzing and a major threat to their success and happiness. They look for change that is lurking just around the corner and they form a plan of action should these changes occur. Only when you embrace change can you find the good in it. You need to have an open mind if you’re going to capitalize on the opportunities that change creates.
You’re bound to fail when you keep doing the same things you always have in the hope that ignoring change will make it go away. After all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
4. They Adopt A Positive Mindset
In order to cope with the negative, you need to make a conscious and intentional effort to shift to the positive. Negative emotions can heavily affect your day-to-day functioning. Instead, focus on brighter emotions and look for the silver lining so you can turn this into a habit. Train yourself to be optimistic so that you are surrounding yourself with positive energy. Positivity can be very contagious, which means you’re also creating a positive environment for your team.
5. They Eat A Brain-Healthy Diet To Support Strong Mental Health
Unless you’ve tried to change your diet in the past, you may not be aware of just how much what you eat and don’t eat affects the way you think and feel. An unhealthy diet can take a toll on your brain and mood, disrupt your sleep, sap your energy, and weaken your immune system. Conversely, switching to a wholesome diet, low in sugar and rich in healthy fats can give you more energy, improve your sleep and mood and help you to look and feel your best.
6. They Don’t Wait For An Apology To Forgive
Mentally tough people know that life goes a lot smoother once you let go of grudges and forgive even those who never said they were sorry. Grudges let negative events from your past ruin today’s happiness. Hate and anger are emotional parasites that destroy your joy in life.
The negative emotions that come with holding on to a grudge can create a stress response in your body. When you forgive someone, it doesn’t condone their actions. Instead, it simply frees you from being their eternal victim.
Conclusion
Emotions are difficult to manage and not everyone can do a good job managing their own emotions. Managed emotions can not only help you in work, but also in your personal and love life. In this post, I shared with you 6 mental habits of those who manage their emotions really well.
