Maintaining emotional balance will allow us to direct our lives and prevent emotions from taking control.
Last update: 24 March, 2022
Emotions are like a pendulumWhile some days we feel at the height of happiness, others experience the greatest sadness.
What is relevant is that the strength of our positive emotions will find its counterpart in an equally high intensity of negative feelings. It might seem that in the first case it is appropriate to let oneself be carried away by excessive joy, but the reality is not such.
Living our emotions (regardless of their valence) with excessive involvement will lead us to suffering.
These must be the sails of our ship, which help us navigate life, but we must never give them the role of rudder. When emotions take over, chaos is almost guaranteed.
Emotional intensity
Of course some people have a greater tendency than others to emotional intensity. These individuals feel their every emotion more intensely than the average person.
They get aroused, overflowing with joy, and even sinking into despair and paralyzed with fear. Their whole world is driven by emotions and these affect them deeply.
Experiencing such high emotional levels ends up losing control. Any small event in their life is enough to unbalance them, and they can often feel like they are drowning in their own emotional world. Excessive sadness can lead to depression, exaggerated fear can lead to anxiety, and uncontrolled euphoria is a symptom of mania.
Any extreme is dangerous because it deprives the person of control over himself. Only those who reach equilibrium develop freely in life, the rest is a prisoner of their own moods. If we want to enjoy good psychological health we must balance what we feel.
The danger of extremes
We all easily understand how unpleasant it is to have intense negative emotions. However, we might think that getting excited, happy and having too much fun can't be bad. Let's put ourselves in the shoes of someone who feels any emotion intensely for a moment.
Suddenly, this person has a golden opportunity: he finds his dream job and his financial situation skyrockets. It is logical and natural to feel happy and grateful for having achieved a goal, but this person will likely go further.
The enthusiasm will be so great that it could lose its bearings and start spending uncontrollably, or neglect the other areas of his life because all his energies are focused on this result.
His finances and personal relationships will deteriorate and when the pendulum swings and the situation changes, he will come face to face with a shattered reality. The fall will be tremendous because so was the ascent. The person will feel himself descending into the abyss because he could not keep his feet on the ground when all was well.
The same could happen if you start a new relationship. She will believe that she has found the love of his life and the meaning of his existence.
The happiness will be so overflowing that it will lead her to dedicate yourself 100% to the relationship. When it ends, there will be an immense emptiness proportional to the initial euphoria. And in that moment she will discover that she has given so much to end up with nothing.
Emotions are like a pendulum: we must seek balance
As Aristotle said, "virtue lies in the middle". Emotions are an intrinsic part of all human beings; we must allow ourselves to hear them, we must listen to them, but we must never give them control.
We try to always keep our feet on the ground: if something good happens to us, we don't lose focus, and when something bad happens, we don't lose hope.
Let us put ourselves in the position of external spectators of our own emotions, let's not identify with them. Emotions are like a pendulum: throughout our life we ​​will experience feelings of all kinds, we develop the ability to analyze them from a higher point. What I feel at any given moment is not what I am.
Emotions are guides to develop in your environment and act in the best possible way. We get their message and apply it, but without getting too involved. We make people feel, but never forget that we have the helm.
