Do you feel sad, angry, critical or anxious? The good news is that it doesn’t matter: dark emotions are fundamental to mental health, as long as we don’t get stuck all the time.
According to the researchers, it is essential that human beings face their dark emotions, because only then will they have a margin of maneuver to heal them and be happy. Consider that an emotion is not just a name, but a degree to explain what the mind human can happen.
- While it may seem logical to try to avoid our most negative emotions and memories for the lighter ones.
- The truth is that life is not just a matter of good times.
- Those dark emotions.
- Those unpleasant memories.
- They are also part of us.
- Of our history.
In fact, the body can store our dark emotions in the form of sore spots. When you face them, that pain, both physical and emotional, will end. In other words, knowing and dealing with hidden and blocked negative emotions, such as hatred, anger, and resentment, can alleviate the resulting physical pain.
According to the latest research, for a person to be truly happy, he must accept his dark emotions and understand that life cannot always be a path of roses.
Research published in the Australian Journal of Psychology has examined how to manage our dark emotions and how we try to manage them. Researchers discovered three emotional regulation skills to help us manage them: acceptance, cognitive distance, and cognitive change.
When we reject or consider unacceptable our emotional state what we do is deny a part of us, that is, we prefer not to delve de further into what is causing us so much suffering, in order to block them, what we forget is that with this, part of our identity disappears.
So, even if we can’t control how we feel, we can accept it, however, in situations where we feel bad, what we do is dissociate ourselves from this emotion and never feel it again, but as we have already said, the denial of our negative emotions prevents us from being happy.
Does resistance or suppression of an emotion cause pain?Frederick Dodson?
In this regard, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have studied the hypothesis that acceptance of our dark emotions is associated with better psychological health, on the basis that acceptance helps avoid reacting to negative mental experiences.
Thus, the acceptance of negative emotional states prevents us from labeling them as such, since we accept them for what they are, without considering them good or bad; in this way, we will reduce the negative associations we have with these emotions and our psychology. health will improve.
Truly happy people can accept their emotions and thoughts without judging them, that is, they are able to recognize what their emotions are and the sensations they experience through them, but they do not get carried away impulsively by them. anger, fears and jealousy, resentment and frustration, but instead of being invaded by them, they accept them.
As we can see, the acceptance of our dark emotions does not make us bad people, but it does give us clues to get to know each other better, in fact it is impossible to do so if we only look at our positive emotions, because our shadows are also part of us. To live our own truth, we must accept everything to finally let go when we are ready.
“It is impossible to completely avoid negative emotions, because to live is to live in setbacks and conflicts. “Sauer Zavala-