Confusion. Pain. Fear. All these emotions are part of you. They live in your mind. They are not benign, as no emotion is immaterial. Some feelings can change the way you see the world, and more importantly the way you behave. But emotions are the product of your mind, even though they might have physical responses, such as a tear for pain or a cold sweat for fear. Experiencing a physical reaction is by no mean the sign that emotions are physical. They are born in the mind and are the result of the way your mind is wired. What does this mean? Well, in short, your mind learns behavioral patterns from your preferred answers to a variety of situations. These behavioral patterns define how your mind is going to interpret a given situation. But, contrary to what most people believe, behavioral patterns can be actively influenced. In short, just because you’ve had a negative experience doesn’t mean that every situation that is similar has to be negative. You can train your mind to avoid destructive behaviors and learn to build a positive attitude. Controlling your mind helps you to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Learn new behavior patterns
It’s not uncommon for people who struggle with controlling their emotions – aka with limiting the negative impact of past experiences on their mind – to turn to addictive behavior as a way of coping. Indeed, an addiction to hard substances is a way of interfering with the chemical messages that the mind sends to the body. In short, it limits the impact of negative emotions on the mind by creating external chemical messages. However, this approach is unhealthy and needs to be targeted with a dialectical behavioral therapy that teaches the patients a way to control their destructive behavior. This helps people to get used to their feelings and learn that negative emotions need to be tolerated to disappear. Often, it’s the fear of the emotion that creates the addiction.
Let others help you to find your path
Learning to embrace emotions and to behave within a relationship to others is key to move on and get rid of dangerous behaviors. However, it can be difficult to deal with this kind of pressure alone, especially for people who have tried to shut down emotions in the past. But you don’t have to be on your own. There are plenty of nice rehab centers that are designed to provide the necessary guidance to help those who need it to take back control of their mind. It can be scary to let emotions flow, so no behavioral therapy can be truly successful without the support of professionals, whether a patient is struggling with addictions, serious mental disorders, or even suicidal thoughts.
Work on your positive attitude and resilience
The mind requires training as much as the body if you want to keep it in shape. In other words, it means that people who don’t train their mind to become more resilient to stress and to focus on a positive approach are more likely to experience behavioral and addictive issues. Positivity is a force that comes from within, and that starts in your mind. It doesn’t mean that you don’t feel negative emotions. But it means that your mind is experienced in dealing with difficult situations and finding a ray of sunshine to hang onto.
