Definition of Emotion

Emotions at their core are energy in motion.

Before an emotion has a name, it’s a feeling inside, a vibration. Any emotion can be fully felt and released in just 90 seconds as long as we don’t assign additional meaning as we are experiencing it. Oftentimes, when finally feel it, we’re ready to face it and process it. When we take away the expectations around an emotion, we’re able to process it more easily and learn from it quickly.

When can get really good at convincing ourselves to “get over it”, we get really good at switching it off, but it doesn’t mean it goes away.

Sometimes instead of being with an emotion for a few minutes, we decide to shove it back down and get back to life. Sometimes this can be useful. Sometimes not. We can sit with emotions in our hearts and in our bodies for decades, unaware how good we can feel if we simply allow ourselves to “go there".

When you cut yourself off from pain, you also cut yourself off from pleasure. You can’t experience positive emotions like joy, creativity and drive.

Logic X Emotion

Contrary to popular belief, logic and emotion are not opposite, they are mutually reinforcing. Men aren’t just logical, and women aren’t just emotional. We’re each both and we can leverage that to our advantage.

One of my early managers told me that “You’re one of the most logical and emotional people I’ve ever met.” I’d tell him now that yes that is correct, I want everything to logically make sense before I emotionally buy-in. When I commit to something it’s because everything checks out on the logical front and thus I can emotionally buy-in, I have committed to pursuing a goal and when the goal post gets moved multiple times then that breaks trust.

Emotions aren’t stuck, they stack. And you can un-stack them.

With the use of stoic philosophy, thinking through emotions is possible. It’s easy to overthink though.