"Emotions" How to gain control over them?

[enlightenmeplz]

I sort of had this disagreement with a friend of mine regarding Vegan vs. Standard American Diet. Needless to say that he did not agree with me due to the fact that he chooses not to change his eating habit. But during the conversation he told me that I am combative. Which had me taken back. Now if you know me, one thing that I have been told on a constant basis is that I too laid back and I should be more aggressive. In many ways I agree however that is simple not my personality and I am happy how I am. But I must say that the "combative comment" affected me.    I got emotionally.

In analyzing the situation (the Virgo in me) I notice that I am emotional about a lot of things.  I do not outwardly show my emotions but I have them and they can become introverted.  I choose not to speak about them because some of my emotion would cause conflict (that is my passive Libra side always so damn diplomatic).    Now I am a very mental person and I think about things and try to get in depth with my thinking. However sometimes my feeling and emotions move me away from what I truly desire. Not surprisingly since emotion mean to "out move".

"The English word 'emotion' is derived from the French word émouvoir. This is based on the Latin emovere, where e- (variant of ex-) means 'out' and movere means 'move'.[1] The related term "motivation" is also derived from movere."

And the funny thing about it is I know this. I would not say that I am emotionally moved all the time. But I have made emotional decision that went against my logical thinking only because it felt a certain way. I have gone against my intuition because I was emotional. I have done things that i did not want or have to do because of emotions that I had for certain people. The list goes on and on. 

My question is how do you control your emotion and feeling? I have been thought that your emotion and feeling are who you are. But lately with my studies I see that it is only a portion of me. Even though they are important to have they are not the be all and end all of everything. You thoughts control your reality but what do you do with the emotions (feeling) come into play? I know it is a silly question but it is something that I trying to not struggle with. I figure if I can gain control over my emotions then in many way I could stop self-sabotaging my destiny and come into a Higher Consciousness.  And suggestions and advise would be most welcome and appreciated. 

[curtisduncan]

Greetings Beloved Enlightment plz,

Here is my perspective on emotions as I tend to be highly emotional person (not really a thinker).  All of our emotions are really reflective of our "state of being" or our experience in the moment.  I personally believe that our thoughts, words, actions, feelings, and physical reality are also reflective of our state of being.  I also believe that we are merely the experiencer of any state of being whether it be "positive" or "negative".  So for example, when you are feeling angry that means that you are in that moment, experiencing a state of being of anger.  That is all.  Often times, we become ego identified with our feelings, thoughts, words, actions, and physical reality when really these are really effects of a cause which is our state of being.  For example, we say that " I am angry"; that is an ego identification because how many of us spend our whole lives angry or want to.  So I am of the opinion, that we are not our words, thoughts, feelings, actions, or physical reality but merely the experiencer of the state of being which causes all those things. Secondly, often times we judge our experiencing a state of being.  When we experience anger, frustration, or any of those negative state of beings, we judge them and tell ourselves that it is not okay.  Thereby we expand or create more of our experience of anger, frustration, and judgment.  Whatever we resists persists. Lastly, we tell ourselves that we can't experience a particular state of being so we are limiting ourselves because we are truly free to experience any state of being that we choose.  So a recommendation that I have when you experience any "negative" state of being, it is to be aware of it (realize you're experiencing this state of being in the moment) and accept it.  You can accept it by using this phrase "I accept that I am experiencing _________ (whatever state of being you are experiencing) right now, that's okay.  This phrase puts you back in the positive states of being that you want (joy, happiness, peace, freedom, love, etc). Now depending how much resistance you are experiencing, you might have to use this statement several times, but you will eventually find in a place of peace.  Hopefully this was helpful to you and let me know if you need more elucidation. Peace my friend.

[Djehuty]

Your emotions are a monitor of the state of your thoughts which are either negative or positive.

Control your emotions by controlling your thoughts. Thoughts and thinking is key here!

Think POSITIVE you will feel GOOD! Think NEGATIVE you will feel bad. It's just that simple!

Peace and Love!

[Brandon]

You can gain control over emotions by not controlling them.  Let them be.  Let the emotions flow for well being.  If you don't you will get blocks.

[enlightenmeplz]

Thank you all for all of your advice. I actually had a chance to use your advice today. And I must say it worked. It is funny to see people's reaction when you remain positive when they are ditching out negative vibes Again thank you.

[Djehuty]

You can gain control over emotions by not controlling them.  Let them be.  Let the emotions flow for well being.  If you don't you will get blocks.

LOL!!!! Some people in life function off their emotions with no use of logic and can get messed up just going with their emotions.

Emotions can cause you to lay down with a person with herpes on the spot but who would have told you that he/she had herpes if emotions were held in check and some future conversation could have jumped off (in the midst of getting to know each other).

You're right in what you're saying but it's too broad and everybody cannot be assumed to be there (knowing and using discrimination). In order to get where you mentioned above (let the emotions flow for well being), I think (just my take, opinion) that people need to first master their emotions (by learning them) and then once mastered, the natural flowing of emotions will occur.

It's like meditation here in the West. Let the mind go so as to meditate? But we don't know our minds or its power, so I say lets master a thing first and then let it go after we have totally used the thing and got benefit from it on this plane (material plane).

[Brandon]

I've been practicing not identifying myself with thoughts.  Boy have I had some mystical experiences the last couple weeks, that I cannot begin to describe.  All our problems are because we are identified with our thoughts.

[Djehuty]

I've been practicing not identifying myself with thoughts.  Boy have I had some mystical experiences the last couple weeks, that I cannot begin to describe.  All our problems are because we are identified with our thoughts.

You are correct! Our thoughts do us in. But we have to deal with them, especially here in the West. Without thoughts the mystical does overtake us. It's like the dream state - you just go along with the ride. Not all dreams, but some (as many people's dreams are based upon waking state existence).