Since I started judging rationally last year, I have become better at calming my emotions. Recently, I realized a difference in how I handle emotions now and in the past. Let’s discuss it.
The unique perceptions of people without mental confusion
Sometimes, we want to understand the unique perceptions of people without mental confusion.
I used to feel the same way. They often teach pieces of spiritual advice that are difficult to comprehend, as follows:
- ‘The world loves you.’
- ‘Your inner self shapes your outer world.’
- ‘You don’t have to be controlled by your emotions.’
Those teachings made no sense to me. It was nothing but a puzzle. I wanted mental logic to solve my confusion, not a puzzle.
That was why I wanted to logically understand how those without mental confusion perceive things.
However, we sometimes lack opportunities to explain those senses reasonably.
Fortunately, rationality enabled me to calm my emotions efficiently. Today, I will explain the difference between suppressing emotions and calming them. This recognition may reduce your mental confusion and help you start to judge more rationally.
Two styles of handling emotions
Understanding the difference between suppressing emotions and calming them may show you how to process emotional events.
There are two styles of handling emotions, as follows:
- Suppressing emotions: We rely on positivity and choose the most beneficial option. However, since we have mental duality, conflicting desires cannot be satisfied. That makes us suppress negative emotions.
- Calming emotions: We rely on rationality and choose the most reasonable option. Since we are aware of our ignorance about the world, we understand we cannot judge perfectly. In addition, unexpected results can sometimes lead to improvement. That makes us curious about the outcome and calm emotions.
They determine how we feel about emotional generation.
When we rely on positivity, we desire only positive emotions and avoid negative ones. Even when negative events occur, we try to convince ourselves that they are positive. That makes us start to fear things that bring us negative emotions.
On the other hand, when we use rationality, we accept all emotions and resolve them immediately. Although we feel an emotion at least once every time something unexpected happens, we can quickly decide on how to behave in response to the stress. That calms our emotions. Since emotions fade quickly, we can consider them without fear. We understand that emotions are just one criterion for judgment in a situation.
Adapting to new criteria
We can choose either one according to our current desires.
Both are similar in terms of relying on something. Some trust in positivity, while some depend on rationality. It is like a religion. Some rely on Buddha’s teaching, while some believe in the teachings of their gods. Since decisions require criteria, it is a matter of how to evaluate things.
Both have pros and cons. Relying on positivity enables us to progress a specific goal energetically while sacrificing other desires. Deciding rationally allows us to choose moderate options with relaxation while making the goal unclear.
Although adapting to new criteria for judgment requires time, we can switch between them flexibly once we are familiar with them.
That is the perception of people without mental confusion.
The essence is always simple
That explains the teachings I listed at the top of this article, although I don’t like those phrases.
‘The world loves you.’—Rationality encourages judgment from a broader, historical perspective. If we look at the world on a cosmic scale, life exists. Although I don’t know what ‘the love of the universe’ refers to, if we assume existence is love, every life is loved. Its decisive tone is unreasonable, but it is convincing logically.
‘Your inner self shapes your outer world.’—From the perspective of those who can use both positivity and rationality, those who decide only on emotion appear to be willingly choosing their emotional reactions. The former wonders, ‘Why don’t they choose the rational option, even though it is always in front of them?’ That difference makes this perception.
‘You don’t have to be controlled by your emotions.’—For those who can judge rationally, emotions fade quickly. Since they know the trick, they can say so easily.
Those three phrases are nothing mysterious, nothing surprising, and nothing heart-touching. If we express things logically, spiritual teachings become trivial and ordinary matters. That would be the true understanding.
In my opinion, unreasonable people are making simple things difficult to understand. They want to make spirituality seem mysterious and complicated to make themselves appear superior.
However, the essence is always simple and boring. It solves mental complexity and confusion.
Conclusion
That is the subtle difference between suppressing emotions and calming them.
We can choose either positivity or rationality according to our current desires.
A rational perspective shows the meaning of strange teachings.
This recognition may reduce your mental confusion and help you start to judge more rationally.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
