Most people think our emotions are illogical. They are not. Our emotions are logical.

An emotion is our body's mechanism for matching up a stimulus we experience, and compare or contrast that stimulus to our values.

If I say somebody died, you might have a slight negative emotion. But since you don't know who it is, you don't have much of an emotion.

If I said it was someone you loved or greatly admired, you would have a very negative emotion.

But if I said it was someone you despised, you would have a very different, likely a positive, emotion.

It is the same stimulous -- hearing or reading that someone died.

But YOUR PERSONAL VALUES about who that person was, and what THAT means to YOU, will determine YOUR EMOTIONAL RESPONSE.

Stimulous >> check against YOUR VALUES >> results in an emotion.

Once you understand this, it becomes fairly easy to deal with bad emotions. We like good emotions, so nobody really wants those to go away, although they always do fade away. But for negative emotions, it is helpful to have a means to deal with them.

So, anytime you feel a very negative emotion, STOP. Identify what that emotion is (anger, sorrow, helplessness, etc.). Then, identify what the stimulus was that caused the emotional reaction (this could be something you saw, something you read, something you heard, something you smell, something you taste or touch, or it can simply be a thought you created within your own brain -- any of these can be the stimulus that results in an emotion).

Once you know what the stimulous was, and what the end result emotion was, all you need to do is identify what VALUE you hold dear that caused that stimulus to result in that emotion.

Once you do that, you can evaluate if the value you hold is valid/helpful to you, and if not, change it. If it is valid/helpful, then you can decide if the emotional rection is valid/helpful. If yes, figure out how to deal with it. If no, get over it.

Most people think our emotions are illogical. They are not. Our emotions are logical.

An emotion is our body's mechanism for matching up a stimulus we experience, and compare or contrast that stimulous to our values.

If I say somebody died, you might have a slight negative emotion. But since you don't know who it is, you don't have much of an emotion.

If I said it was someone you loved or greatly admired, you would have a very negative emotion.

But if I said it was someone you despised, you would have a very different, likely a positive, emotion.

It is the same stimulous -- hearing or reading that someone died.

But YOUR PERSONAL VALUES about who that person was, and what THAT means to YOU, will determine YOUR EMOTIONAL RESPONSE.

Stimulous >> check against YOUR VALUES >> results in an emotion.

Once you understand this, it becomes fairly easy to deal with bad emotions. We like good emotions, so nobody really wants those to go away, although they always do fade away. But for negative emotions, it is helpful to have a means to deal with them.

So, anytime you feel a very negative emotion, STOP. Identify what that emotion is (anger, sorrow, helplessness, etc.). Then, identify what the stimulous was that caused the emotional reaction (this could be something you saw, something you read, something you heard, something you smell, something you taste or touch, or it can simply be a thought you created within your own brain -- any of these can be the stimulous that results in an emotion).

Once you know what the stimulous was, and what the end result emotion was, all you need to do is identify what VALUE you hold dear that caused that stimulous to result in that emotion.

Once you do that, you can evaluate if the value you hold is valid/helpful to you, and if not, change it. If it is valid/helpful, then you can decide if the emotional rection is valid/helpful. If yes, figure out how to deal with it. If no, get over it.