Recently, I have introduced a new concept: minimalism in thinking. In this approach, we emphasize logic and ways of life rather than ways of thinking.
To understand it more deeply, I will introduce how to logically deal with our moods today.
How to make our lives simpler and easier
Sometimes, we want to make our lives simpler and easier, especially if we have unique individuality. Unique individuality makes it hard for us to live the same way as our surroundings.
In other words, people with individuality like us have to find their unique ways of life. We cannot rely on others or society because there is no precedent.
Emphasizing logical sense is one effective way to solve this problem. It allows us to deduce various applications from a few principles.
On the other hand, relying on many trivial ways of thinking often confuses us because we have to remember countless methods. It is like a messy room. Our minds are cluttered with numerous thinking methods. We don’t know which one to use for our current problems in life.
That makes us want to make our lives simpler and easier.
Logic to deal with emotional fluctuations
One way to solve this issue is to apply the concept of minimalism to thinking, which I have introduced recently. It is the same as minimalism. We reduce unnecessary trivial ways of thinking and rely more on universal thinking tools: logic and ways of life. That allows us to think simpler and easier.
However, there is a problem: we have emotional fluctuations. Our mood changes frequently. We have to deal with this matter without suppressing our emotions. In other words, we need the logic to accept our emotional fluctuations.
Today, I will introduce how to solve it logically. This logic might help you accept your emotions more simply and easily.
The principle to deal with emotions
We have to use logic to go along with fluctuating emotions. Suppressing them prevents balancing our lives. In other words, we need a principle to accept emotions.
The principle I suggest is simple: think of it from a broader and long-term perspective, as I mentioned in the previous article (this article).
Let’s look at the steps.
If we think of things from a broader and long-term perspective, we first become unable to distinguish between what is right and wrong.
For example, from the perspective of the timeline of the universe’s birth and death, the meaning of life is incomprehensible. It makes it hard to tell if our lives are good or bad. We will become unjudgable.
Narrowing down the timeline
However, as we narrow down the timeline, this perspective gives us a reasonable answer: the origin of why we acquired it.
Let’s look at two examples: smile and gratitude. We like to smile or be grateful. It makes us happy. People also say smiling or practicing gratitude is good for our happiness.
However, it doesn’t mean it always works. There are times when we are not in the mood.
Forcing a smile or practicing gratitude in such a situation would not be good in the long term. This is because it means suppressing emotions. Continuous suppression stresses us.
To judge these emotions, we narrow down the timeline. From the perspective of the origin of life on earth, no life smiles or expresses gratitude. Fish don’t smile. Animals don’t eat their prey with gratitude.
The origin of a smile
We can deduce these origins.
Perhaps the origin of a smile is for social life. Facial expressions are a means to communicate with each other more efficiently. That eliminates unnecessary explanations with words or gestures. It allows us to convey subtle emotions accurately to the opponent. That makes cooperation more efficient.
A smile conveys to the opponent that we have no ill intention. When we smile, it is a time of social peace. It became a conditioned reflex, and we naturally started to release brain hormones when we smiled.
It tells us it is originally for social life, not for ourselves.
The origin of gratitude
In the case of gratitude, we can guess that it is for preparation for the future.
We feel grateful when we realize we might become worse. For example, assume we can only have bread and milk for dinner. We might be unsatisfied. However, if we know that almost all people like us can eat nothing, we suddenly become grateful for our circumstances.
This is because we realize that we could have been like them. Impressing this occasion makes us prepare for the future. We will stop wasting our food. That prevents future risks. This would have been the origin of gratitude.
Then, it became a conditioned reflex, and we naturally started to release brain hormones when we felt gratitude.
That tells us that gratitude is for preparation for the future, not for releasing brain hormones.
How to judge emotions
This logic tells us how to judge those emotions.
They are not the tool for feeling happiness. They are originally for different uses.
“Smile if you want to be happy.”
“Practice gratitude when you want to live better.”
We can judge these teachings logically wrong. They are unnatural and superficial tricks that take advantage of conditioned reflexes. Although it works well to prepare for the future in a turbulent era, it is unreasonable to treat the temporary reproduction of a single emotion as total happiness in life.
On the contrary, they can prevent our happiness. Those trivial methods hinder the use for its original purpose. Despite our dissatisfaction, we force ourselves to smile and express gratitude. It is for patience. That causes stagnation.
Accepting our emotions logically
This logic also allows us to accept our emotions.
We sometimes might want to stop smiling and suppress our emotions. However, if we know the original use, we can understand that it is unnatural to restrain that emotion.
We can easily find these suppressed emotions in the word negative. Try imagining what emotions we recall with the words negative, a weak mind, and worthless emotions. They are emotions that can be logically taken care of.
If we balance our ways of life, those emotions associated with negative disappear.
This allows us to consider why we suppressed that emotion and think of mental complexity. Realizing our unnatural behaviors is the starting point to being honest with ourselves and improving our lives.
Conclusion
That is the logical way to deal with our emotional fluctuations.
The principle is simple: think of it from a broader and long-term perspective. We can deal with them without suppressing our emotions.
This logic might help you live simpler and easier.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
