Emotions Can Make or Break a Relationship

Your emotions can guide you towards smart decisions. In fact, increasingly, researchers are pointing to Emotional IQs as better indicators of overall success in life than traditional IQ tests alone. Healthy relationships and flourishing careers are impossible without interacting successfully with others. Even someone who possesses a genius Intellectual Quotient (IQ) can miss out on the wisdom that comes from understanding another human being.

You must know how to handle well your emotions. If not, emotions can make or break a relationship; not just between lovers, it could be between friends, co-workers, classmates, family, etc. Emotions guide us how we interact with other people. It is very important to know, express and acknowledge one's emotions in a manner that can build healthy relationships.

Emotional Myths:
Myth 1: Emotions are more primitive than reason.
Emotions originate in the brain just like reason, even though you might feel them in your heart or in your gut. They are equally valid when making decisions, the key to making informed decisions it to consult both sides of your brain.

Myth 2: Clamping down on your emotions is a sign of strength.
Unfortunately, too many people mistakenly believe that being able to turn off their emotions makes them powerful. Conversely, some people think that feeling and emotion gives you permission to act upon it. The key to managing your emotions is to strike the right balance. You must first allow yourself to feel your raw emotions, then you must temper them with the rational side of your brain. You're so angry you want to punch someone? Then let yourself feel that emotion, just stop short of acting on it and make those emotions available to your rational side to balance out.

Myth 3: Some emotions are bad to feel.
All emotions are informative. Just because our emotions sometimes put us in an unpleasant state does not mean they should be avoided. Our emotions can tell us when there is something in our environment that needs fixing.

Myth 4: The best judgments are ones made without emotion.

Our society has valued the rational parts of our brain to the detriment of the emotional parts. Think about how many violent acts are committed because people don't know how to effectively deal with their emotions and instead simply snap. To achieve true harmony within ourselves, both sides of the brain need to be acknowledged and attended to.

People who believe in the above emotional myths cling to those legends to justify living their lives numbly. Any expert will tell you, however, that numbing yourself to reality will only lead to exhaustion and unhappiness. Exhaustion will take hold because it takes a lot of energy to suppress your feelings. Unhappiness will set in because people who are unwilling to experience the lows of life are also cheating themselves out of experiencing the true highs.

You were born with the same gut instincts that have aided our species through years of evolutionary change and survival. Digging deep within yourself to rediscover your intuition requires that you believe that you do have an unconscious capable of acting without the aid of rational thinking.

Exploring how you feel can be scary, but it ultimately proves to be an empowering experience. After all, passionate feelings fuel your thoughts, your ambitions, your desires, and ultimately provides meaning in your life.

Try keeping this in mind the next time you're unsure about what you're feeling. Chances are the answer is right there inside you — it might just simply be a case of learning how to listen to yourself. The first step is giving credence to any thought that arises. Remember that just because you're having a thought, doesn't mean you have to act on it. Just acknowledge that it's there. You'd be surprised how such a simple act can sometimes point you in the right direction.

(source: Tickle Tests)