Listen to Your Emotions: They are telling you something

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but a reminder to listen to your gut also known as your emotions: it’s telling you something.

Your emotions are letting you know something is or isn’t right. It’s sensing things your brain has yet to grasp.

Here’s something interesting I’ve learned: we are not our emotions. Feelings come and go. They are responses to situations and environments.

Feelings like sadness and happiness are a response to situations and environments.

Notice the things and people that make you happy and lean into them.

Notice the things and people that make you sad and remove yourself from them.

But here’s something else I’ve learned that fascinated me: our brain likes what’s familiar, even if that familiarity brings about sadness. It prefers what it knows versus the unknown: a sort of prehistoric protection mechanism.

Let’s use a toxic relationship as an example. Many people believe their heart (emotion) tells them to stay, but their mind (logic) tells them to go.

Some studies show the opposite is true.

The emotional turmoil you’re feeling is a response to the negative situation. It’s saying this isn’t right. However, your logical mind is doing this: making sense of the situation and using only what it knows to keep you in the relationship.

So, if your brain only knows toxicity, it can only process the decision based on that knowledge. You know what you know. And psychologists have shared with me that prolonged stress and sadness do alter the mind’s wiring. It makes it harder to think of a way out.

The next time you hear yourself make excuses as to why something, someone, or someplace isn’t that bad, that’s not your emotion; that is your mind.

You can substitute any situation: work, business, friends, and so on.

But there is hope. It comes in the form of new experiences, knowledge, and a mindset of growth. It means exposing yourself to new ideas, conversations, and new people.

This gives your brain new data inputs that it can then process and help you perceive your situation differently and then act accordingly.

Your newfound perspective can help align your mind and heart toward joy and happiness.

(I introduced this concept in Happy Heart in my new book Happy Money Happy Life). Did you get your copy?

One day I hope to write a book just on Happy Heart.

Hi, I’m Jason, author of Happy Money Happy Life: A Multidimensional Approach to Health, Wealth and Financial Wellbeing. In the book, I discuss your eight dimensions of wellness (mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, environmental, occupational, and financial) through the lens of money.

Make a choice today and get a copy of Happy Money Happy Life. More details can be found here: www.happymoneyhappylifebook.com