How Long Is Your Emotional Rebound Time?
Do your emotions stay longer than they’re welcome?
Do you remember, early in 2020, when there was a run on toilet paper? Well, you better hurry out and get yourself a yardstick. Because they are not going to make them any longer. ;- )
A measuring stick can be so handy. If there was a measuring stick for our emotional demeanor, a lot of us might find ourselves coming up short. I know I would have, had I been able to measure my emotional skills before the universe cracked me open.
The thing was, the most prominent emotional struggles I was having were completely off my radar. They were totally dominating my life, and I had no idea what so ever that I had such emotional problems. If I only had a measuring stick, then I could have discerned that, before the universe chose the cosmic two-by-four to get me to understand my dilemma.
In hindsight, there were signs. Had I known what to look for. I bring it up here, so you may look at your own emotional skill set, and see how you would discern your own emotional skill set. So I ask you this, how long do your emotional events take?
I remember it took me about an hour or more to emotionally reset myself. I would come home from work, and just crash on the couch. Just sit and watch TV for about an hour before I felt like I was “recovered” from the day at work. At the time, I did not relate it to my emotions. I just thought that my job was taxing. And it was “normal” to go through this cycle, over and over again.
I once visited my sister, dropping in for a chat. And she was all caught up in emotions. She was an elementary school teacher. One of the more difficult students was acting up, and their parents were not going to be offering any support. The “event” or “trigger” had happened hours before, and she was still emotionally upset. These are just examples of dysfunctional emotional skills.
Now, today, if I spend more than about one or two minutes in an emotional re-action, then I am not getting the message itself.
Our emotions are impersonal messengers, delivering a message in the moment, telling us how we see ourselves in the situation. To be clear, I do have an occasional episode where it might take longer for me to process, if it involves a major aspect of my life. I do have room for improvement, but at least I am aware of it now. Unlike when I spent decades in a rut or habitual pattern without even knowing it.
If you imagine pent-up energy, stored in your subconscious, and emotional events “upset” this dormant energy within you, you can create a mental picture of what is happening. When I would just crash on the couch, MY emotional energy, that was stirred up by my karmic teachers, was what was being upset. Once I connected with the energy within me, and cleaned it out, well then, getting upset wasn’t involving so much energy. And I could recover quite quickly.
Now, I can feel emotions rise up in my consciousness. I instantly recognize that the trigger is an impersonal mirror, showing me some of the subconscious emotional energy I have stored up in my subconscious. I see triggers as gifts. As an in-the-moment signal, showing me feelings I had not processed yet. That were undetectable before the trigger event. And since I cannot heal what I cannot feel, well then, the trigger has given me a healing opportunity, showing me emotional energy within me that I haven’t resolved yet. If I take advantage of that and heal/release it in the moment, well, that will change the rest of my life. For the better.
Pay attention to your emotional energy throughout your day. Meditation is actually a way to improve your ability to catch yourself early in the emotional trigger event.
The trigger is the gift. Open it!
Love You!
Les
