Negative emotions can be described as any feeling which causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions make you dislike yourself and others, and reduce your confidence and self-esteem, and general life satisfaction.
Emotions that can become negative are hate, anger, jealousy and sadness. Yet, in the right context, these feelings are completely natural. Negative emotions can dampen our enthusiasm for life, depending on how long we let them affect us and the way we choose to express them.
Negative emotions are impossible to avoid, though. Everyone feels them from time to time. They may be difficult, but we can learn to handle them. Negative thoughts can make you feel sad and anxious. They take the joy out of life-and they can take a toll on your physical health. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to deal with them. Here we are discussing 30 different ways to deal with negative emotions associated with depression.
Self-confession
1. Acknowledge your emotions
Accept all your emotions as natural and understandable. Don’t judge yourself for the emotions you feel. It’s normal to feel them. Acknowledging how you feel can help you move on, so don’t be hard on yourself.
It’s important to acknowledge that all emotions are completely normal to experience. They are a part of our ingrained DNA. What is more important, is understanding when and why negative emotions might arise, and developing positive behaviors to address them.
2. Accept your feelings
Emotions are complex reactions involving many biological and physiological processes within our bodies. Our brain responds to our thoughts by releasing hormones and chemicals, which send us into a state of arousal. All emotions come about in this way, whether positive or negative.
Accepting negative emotions, in ourselves and others, are all a part of being human allows us to build better compassion for how they might present themselves and why. Rather than becoming stuck in a mindset that negative emotions need to be avoided or that they are somehow ‘wrong’ to experience, we need to accept they are a natural part of who we are. Try to be reasonable and accept that bad feelings are occasionally unavoidable and think of ways to make yourself feel better.
3. Change what can be
Take what you’ve learned from my first recommendation and put it into practice. Cut down on your stress triggers and you’ll find yourself feeling negative emotions less frequently.
This could include cutting down on job stress, learning the practices of assertive communication (so you don’t feel trampled by people).
4. Assign meaning to feelings
Let’s go back to one of the first thing that feelings do not have to mean anything. We have to come to a point where we can let them exist without letting them dictate our thoughts and actions. Do not control your feelings, in fact control the way you assign meaning to feelings.
It is good for you to dissociate feelings from actions and thoughts and remember not to start neglecting your feelings completely. Feel negative emotions, live them, and let yourself understand them.
5. Reflect upon emotions
It involves an honest examination of how the situation has affected the individual and how the individual has affected the situation.
Self-reflection is the key to self-awareness: it allows us to look neutrally at our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and actions. Through this practice, we are able to look at ourselves with interest and curiosity. We begin to dig deeper, to question our very being: why do I feel this way?
6. Bring back to life
Negative emotions won’t kill you; they’re annoying but not dangerous. Start looking for reasons to enjoy and involve in activities that may fascinate you. Enjoy life is all about living all small-big moments and feeling worthy for living each of them.
To enjoy life is to make real use of it, be happy from within, make yourself proud, and feel thankful for whatever you have. First and foremost “LOVE YOURSELF”. It would help you overcome negative emotions and feeling depressed.
7. Express yourself
Negative emotions encourage us to express them. They are very actionable emotions. The express and enable part of the acronym encourages you to explore this with openness and curiosity. It’s about increasing your acceptance of your natural instincts and enabling them to be present without resentment.
8. Try to be reasonable
Accept that bad feelings are occasionally unavoidable and think of ways to make yourself feel better. So to get your mind back in line with reality and reasonable expectations, speak your thoughts with someone else.
When you heat it out loud you might realize how ridiculous your doubts sound. By talking over your doubts and negative emotions with someone else they can support you in by helping you to see reality for what it is.
Adapting positive approach
9. Keep things in proportion
Don’t blow things out of proportion by going over them time and again in your mind. If you get something out of proportion, you think it is more important or worrying than it really is. If you keep something in proportion, you have a realistic view of how important it is.
10. Relax
In order to relax, it is suggested to use pleasant activities like reading, walking or talking to a friend. Exploring relaxation can help you look after your wellbeing when you’re feeling stressed or busy.
Relaxing can help keep you healthy, in both your body and mind, helping you recover from the everyday stresses that life throws at you. Breathing exercises are one of the simplest relaxation strategies, and can effectively calm your stressed-out body and mind anywhere at any time.
11. Learn
Notice how grief, loss and anger make you feel, and which events trigger those feelings so you can prepare in advance. Learning to notice and identify your feelings takes practice. In addition to focusing on your feelings, check in with your body, too. You may feel body sensations with certain emotions perhaps your face gets hot, for example, or your muscles tense.
12. Exercise
Aerobic activity lowers your level of stress chemicals and allows you to cope better with negative emotions. Regular exercise can provide an emotional lift as well as an outlet for negative emotions.
Physical activity helps the brain produce natural chemicals that promote a positive mood. Exercise also can release stress buildup and help you from staying stuck on negative feelings.
13. Let go of past
Constantly going over negative events robs you of the present and makes you feel bad. One thing you would not realize until you snap out of your negativity is that you have been living in the past. You have been tied to that single, terrible event that rocked your world and you have not been able to live in present since then.
Only by getting back in the present can help you begin to leave it behind. Do whatever it takes, go out and party. Enjoy yourself for the first time in a long time.
14. Don’t blame
Being able to recognize and explain your emotions isn’t the same as blaming someone or something for the way you feel.
How you feel when these things happen comes from inside you. Your feelings are there for a reason to help you make sense of what’s going on.
15. Practice gratitude
Practicing gratitude has been shown to have wonderful effects for both the recipients and givers. These effects have long reaching impacts on our mood and perception of events, so it’s worth spending a little bit of time adding the practice to your weekly repertoire.
Whether it’s for a small thing or a big thing, in person, over the phone, a letter or a simple text message, letting someone know you appreciate them or something they have done, can really make a difference in how you perceive and respond to negative emotions.
16. Learn to respond and react
Our ability to feel and respond to our emotions is often taken for granted. We rarely stop to think and pay close attention to what we’re feeling. We do not consider the impact it has on our mental and physiological states, or the long-term implications holding onto emotions has, that might be harmful to us.
By exploring your negative emotions you can start to develop your understanding of how you react, and instead start to switch this to positive ways of responding which could mean learning that no reaction is required at all.
17. Take a break when needed
Know when to take a day to yourself. If you are constantly experiencing negative emotions and struggling to manage them, your body is telling you something isn’t right.
Take a day to re-center. Fill this day with positive experiences, doing the things that you know fuel you and make you feel good. This kind of break can help to realign your thinking, give you some space to refocus on why you might be experiencing the negative emotions, and come up with some positive coping strategies.
18. Be nice to yourself
Do something nice for yourself. Maybe you could work less today and play with your kids more. Or you could find something that makes you laugh.
Being kind to yourself means not judging yourself harshly for not being perfect. It also means not holding yourself to impossibly high standards. And it means putting an end to comparing yourself to others and to beating yourself up for making a mistake, or for not being good enough at something.
19. Take time to count blessings
There are so many things for each of us to be thankful for. What’s one thing you appreciate? There are certain times of the year when we stop and think about all the things that make us happy or bring us joy. When we count our blessings, we note all the wonderful things in our lives. Counting your blessings is important. It is better to be grateful for our blessings than to take them for granted.
20. Change your perspective to positive consequence
Self-doubt is negative, so why not choose to be more positive and optimistic. I know it’s easier said than done. But if you recognize every time you have a negative thought and you consciously try to change it to be more positive, you will start to rewire your brain to naturally think more positive.
Whether it’s a great workout, a friend buying you a coffee, or a phone call with your parents, just scan your day and write down what made you happy. Even the smallest things are worth writing down.
Stepping toward being exceptional
21. Seek support
Knowing that negative emotions are present in all of us, and in pretty much the same way, can be a fantastic source of compassion and empathy to those around us. It’s how we process our emotions that differ, so seeing someone in the throws of anger, knowing that they are just handling a perceived threat can really encourage us to approach them with compassion, rather than anger ourselves.
Ask parents, teachers, and friends for support. Let them help and show they care.
22. Ready to grow
Develop a positive attitude. Believe in yourself. Tell yourself, “I can” instead of “I can’t.” You also need to be willing to get out of your comfort zone, and sometimes, do things that are uncomfortable, but are for your own good. An open mind and the desire to learn and grow are also important.
23. Work on strengths
Spend time doing the things you are good at. This helps you build confidence. Strengths can help you develop your skills. If something’s a strength, you’ll enjoy doing it. And they can help you work towards your goals.
24. Learn to change mood
At a certain point, you’ll want to shift from a negative mood into a positive one. Otherwise your thinking may get stuck on how bad things are, and that can drag you down into feeling worse. Try doing things that make you happy, even if you don’t feel like it at the time. For example, you might not be in the mood to go out after a breakup, but going for a walk or watching a funny movie with friends can lift you out of that negative space.
25. Move on
If you’re feeling disengaged from your life, job and colleagues, it could be a sign that it’s time to move on or seek new challenges. By accepting who you are and what you’re experiencing, you don’t have to waste energy avoiding anything. You can accept the emotion and then move on with your actions.
26. Take care of your mind and body
Exercise and eat healthy foods. Get enough sleep. Take time to relax. Be with people who bring out your best. Learn mindful breathing to help you be calm and focused. The more you do this, the more it helps.
27. Reappraise and reframe
Once you’ve begun to accept that this is a natural part of who you are, you can begin to focus on reframing the situation and how you react. Just because a negative emotion has arisen, doesn’t mean you have to react in ways that are detrimental to you and those around you.
Accepting negative emotions isn’t about accepting or excusing poor behaviors, it’s about creating awareness for the self and others to create positive reactions.
28. Hedonic wellbeing and happiness
This is the process of grouping positive experiences with negative. Because we more readily recall negative experiences, it can be useful for us to group them with positive experiences so we don’t fall into a ruminating trap. This way, we can focus more of our energy on recalling the positive experiences.
29. Eudaimonia
Make eudaimonia as you ultimate goal. It means you have found a state of being that is happy, healthy and prosperous, and you have learned to engage in actions that result in your overall well-being. It means you’re actively striving towards a sense of authenticity in all you do.
Therapy
30. Emotional regulation therapy
Emotion Regulation Therapy (ERT) is a theoretically derived, evidence based, treatment that integrates principles (e.g., skills training, exposure) from traditional and contemporary therapies with findings from basic and translational affective science to offer a framework for improving intervention by focusing on the motivational responses and corresponding regulatory characteristics of individuals.
Summary
Negative emotions stop us from thinking and behaving rationally and seeing situations in their true perspective. When this occurs, we tend to see only what we want to see and remember only what we want to remember. This only prolongs the anger or grief and prevents us from enjoying life. The longer this goes on, the more set the problem becomes. The above ways are useful in overcoming negative emotions along with depression. Psychotherapy is a part of the psychological intervention that enables you to be successful in your life. So, do not hesitate to seek from therapist.
Moving forward with Psychotherapy
Fortunately, Ahealo.com offers a global ePsychotherapy platform that allows clients to book an online anonymous private appointment with a broad skill range of psychotherapists at an affordable cost and desired schedule.
Alternatively, if you need to seek psychotherapy, be sure to check out web.ahealo.com. Ahealo is an online psychotherapy platform with a diverse range of psychotherapists for many different fields of mental challenges. Ahealo provides ePsychotherapy at an affordable price, confidential, convenient (through a web page 1-1 private video call), and at your comfortable schedule.
With these options, we believe your negative emotions associated with depression issues can be resolved soon.
Stay well.
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