Our mental system is interesting. As my mental confusion clears, I have realized that the mind is not complex. In other words, we can live simply if we solve our mental complexes.
Today, let’s talk about the relationship between relaxation and emotions.
How to relax more
Sometimes, we want to relax more. Although an energetic life is fun, we want to rest as well.
However, we sometimes cannot rest even if we can take a break. One typical example is a flashback. It comes when we relax, and we remember our negative pasts. They take away our peaceful time.
I have recently introduced a solution: cultivating rational judgment. It calms emotions and empathy. That makes us relax.
However, there was a difficult part: accepting our emotions. We often struggle to recognize what the emotion is. It seems like anger, but it soon turns into other emotions, such as sadness, envy, grudges, and guilt. That makes it hard to resolve rationally.
I explained we don’t have to find the exact name of the emotions in an earlier article (this article).
Then, I recently realized that we don’t even have to recognize emotions. Accepting the physical stress is enough. That relaxes us.
Today, I will explain why. This logic might help you solve your emotional problems more easily.
Stress, emotions, and judgment
To calm down our emotions, we don’t have to accept them. Recognizing the physical stresses allows us to process them rationally. In other words, focus on stress instead of emotions.
To explain it, let’s look at the difference between the following three mental works:
- Stress causes mental upset. We feel something is wrong, but it is elusive and ambiguous, like a dark fog. It often feels like it arises from around the chest. It can trigger emotions.
- Emotions are conditioned reflexes based on our memories. If we feel stress and have experienced similar situations, our brain creates emotions, such as gladness, anger, sadness, and feelings of depression. That allows us to react immediately without repeating similar logical considerations. It often feels like it arises around the neck and suffocates us.
- Judgment (consciousness) is the final process of dealing with stress. We judge how to handle it. If we don’t think consciously, we follow emotional reactions. On the other hand, if we make a new judgment repeatedly, it will gradually turn into a reflex reaction. After the judgment, stress and emotions will disappear. It often feels like we think in our heads, in the area around our forehead.
Unnecessary to accept emotions
They tell us we don’t have to accept emotions. They are just a means of saving the time and effort of judging. The purpose is to recognize the existence of the physical stress and decide how to deal with it.
If we consciously choose our reaction, stress and emotions disappear. Even if the same stress arises continuously, it will fade soon as long as it follows our rational judgment.
For example, assume something triggered our flashback when we were relaxed. The content of the TV program might cause memories of failures.
In such a case, we don’t have to accept these emotions. What we need is to notice the body’s tension and judge rationally how to react. We might tell ourselves, “I don’t need to be so nervous. It was a past thing. I can forget it now. Let’s relax!”
If it is rational, we can relieve the body’s tension. That calms the stress and emotions.
Keeping our logic updated
However, stress can sometimes deviate from that logic. For example, we can have the same stress even after stopping the TV.
In such a case, we need to rebuild the new logic, or we will have uncontrollable emotions.
We might realize that the room is cold. That allows us to judge, “My body was stressed because of the cold. Let’s keep warm.”
That decision eases stress and emotions. As long as the logic applies, we no longer feel the same stress and emotions.
That tells us we are poor at dealing with stress rather than emotions. We don’t need to stick to emotions.
If we judge rationally, we can reduce the cause—the stress—more efficiently. That brings peace to our hearts.
Conclusion
That is our mental system.
We don’t have to accept our emotions. They are just a means of saving the time and effort of judging. The purpose is to recognize the existence of the physical stress and decide how to deal with it.
This distinction might give you relaxation.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
