One Apple A Day #854 - Self-Control
You can't control emotions.
They are energy shockwaves moving at lightspeed through your body.
It's energy in motion.
Whatever triggers it, when you become aware of the emotion, it is already there. You can't really control it.
What you can control then, is what you do once you become aware of emotion. What do you want to do with it?
Will you react and let that emotion to drive your choices, words or behaviours? Or will you take care of it, understand what it is telling you and choose your response?
Self-control is rooted in self-awareness.
You can't control something you're not aware of.
Often, just recognizing and acknowledging our emotions, defuse their impact and allow us to create the space we need to choose our response.
To me, this was a massive realization. I was beating myself for not being able to control my emotions, and in doing so of making things worst and giving up my power. When I accepted that I can't control emotion, and I shifted my focus on the response, I found new strength, and with it more freedom.
Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
Viktor E. Frankl