Contain “Negative” Emotions & FEEL

Monday Morning! First week of June 2025 and it is finally warm out here on Long Island! I'm inspired to write about some of my day yesterday and how I just allowed myself to FEEL anger, frustration, and annoyance without scolding myself nor trying to force positive thinking.

I finished "Under The Dome" yesterday morning (a fantastic novel!) and then throughout my day I was...angry...frustrated...annoyed. I'm not quite sure what triggered these emotions. They just occurred. I was feeling them.

I believe that we are to Experience our Emotions when they are occurring. The more we Allow ourself to FEEL then, I learned, we are able to process them through our system and they release.

Before I go any further, I must stress the importance of Containing the Emotions so we can prevent ourselves from generating negative ripple effects...so we don't have to deal with the consequences of unleashing our emotions onto others and/or make drastic decisions which ultimately go against our highest good / life experience.

There is no constructive, positive, restorative, helpful benefit of lashing out at others or deciding to make big-life-decisions when we are Experiencing Anger, Frustration, Annoyance, etc... Contain them. Develop Healthy Coping Mechanisms. Cultivate Helpful Strategies.

We are not Androids...we are Human. We are the spectrum of Emotion. I suggest we strive to have a baseline, day-to-day life where our baseline is Neutrality to more warm states of emotion...but we will inevitably dip into emotions that are charged with...perceived "negative" qualities. Life is Life. It is not always Sunshing and Rainbows. We have Challenges. We have our Psyche and all the Complex Layers caked into our Subconscious which influences our Conscious Mind and our Thought-Emotion-Action Loops.

Numbing ourselves to the entire spectrum of Emotion will result in a life that is Flat, Dull, Gray, and Decayed.

I feel my Emotions. I quickly learned that if I do not allow myself to Feel and to Process then the "negative" emotions will eventually pop like a balloon and unleash the energy via some out-lash or destructive quality that will harm me more then create more of the "negative" emotion and then it will just be a Wheel and an Endless Loop.

One of the many things about the "New Age" that angers me is the idea of "Thinking Positive" and declaring "Negative Emotions As Bad" and that if you "Think Negative, Feel Negative, You'll Create Negative" and it is just this Fake Navigation through Life via watered down qualities of life which matter, but have more nuance and depth.

Yes. Thinking Negative, Feeling Negative will absolutely influence your Decision Making and Actions. But if you bring Awareness to your Experience and Contain those "negative" emotions then you will not have to tackle the obstacles which are born from you unleashing the "negative" emotions onto others.

What is it called...Toxic Positivity? Is that the new term? I think so. Absolutely true. When I am feeling a Strong Emotion...let me feel it (not that I need anyone's permission).

How do you cope with the more "negative" emotions? Obviously...there are harmful coping mechanisms/strategies.

I journal. I go on a walk. I listen to music.

What I did yesterday was Journal! I wrote and wrote and wrote. I reflected and reflected and reflected. I thought and I thought and I thought. I felt and I felt and I felt.

You know what happened? The emotion resolved into Neutrality.

Another saying that is often used...Emotions are like a River. They flow downstream. You can try to block the river, but the water will pool and/or build and/or find a different channel. You can't stop it.

Depending on what triggered the "negative" emotion will determine the length of how long the emotion will take to process / synthesize. The Severity of the Cause will absolutely influence the processing.

I just recommend you develop your healthy coping mechanisms...resist the urge to unleash your emotions onto others to avoid negative consequences..and to Feel. Resist the disgraceful "teachings" declaring that you must force yourself to think/feel positively and that all "negative" emotions are bad.

You're Human. Life is Complex. You're a Spectrum of Emotion.