Phase Four - Step 27

I’m almost done with “The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different”. Today’s step was Emotional intelligence. The idea was to re-tuned my mind so that I can spot emotions before they overwhelmed me. Just making sure that my emotions don’t run away with me.

It will hard to do today, but it is something that I will be trying to do daily from now on:

I will label emotions. I will try to define the emotions that others feel around me and react accordingly. I will have to look beyond their words for deeper meanings, not take literally what people say, but to really consider what they might feel.

I will try to take the emotions out of context. When I’ll feel an emotion building up inside, I’ll try to not react (that might be hard!) or to do it differently, with a different emotion. I will choose an alternative way of feeling either with someone or in a situation.

I will not explode and not only express my negative emotions. This is making me realise that I may not express my positive emotions as much as I should. I was brought up that way: when there’s something wrong you let people know about it, and if nothing is said then everything must be ok. Not much positive reinforcement, is there? I can change that. I’m trying. That’s the important thing.