A topic which often comes up in conversation is love and the spell it puts on somebody. It is often said that love is blind or that emotions towards somebody are too hard to control. Many will even tell you they married for love, not because it made sense. What is it that makes this emotion uncontrollable? Is there no hope that we will make correct choices rather than impulsive ones?
It’s indeed true that emotions are what differentiates us from robots and as much as we pretend to not be impacted by something; it is our emotional side that makes us weak. Think of how many times we have made decisions in our lives and how many of those were emotions based, which would prove that, we as individuals, are a bit weaker than we’d like to be.
Emotional based decisions are often wrong, even if they make sense, partly based upon the fact that anything that gets a reaction out of us prevents us from thinking about it in a logical and clear way. Stay Poor: The Idea of Making Money takes this debate a bit further than we discuss here but ultimately helps you understand why emotions are dangerous.
Emotions like love, anger, frustration, etc, are nothing more than a trap your mind sets for itself. Your heart emits a signal that your brain chooses to act on. In most cases, that is what you are used to doing.
When looking at successful people all around us, we realize that one way they differentiate their mindset is by controlling that emotional reaction. The emotional action is going to occur regardless but the emotional reaction can be controlled through logical thinking. Many simple examples of this exist all around us from people reacting with physical violence to other people’s words, to simply falling in love with the wrong person knowing they are wrong for you to begin with.
How do we apply logic?
Emotions spark instantly and emit an instant signal to your brain which creates a reaction to the emotion. The best way to find yourself in a place where action doesn’t lead to wrong reaction is simply by allowing more time between the two. Resisting to act upon that immediate triggered emotion gives you more time to analyze and understand the implications of your upcoming actions and choose logically against them. This additional time is then filled with another emotion which is very much FEAR based but for once works in your favor. Since you now stopped this immediate reaction from taking place, you start breaking down components you were aware of but had overshadowed due to the emotion. This now makes you doubt your action and instead brings out a logical approach to the situation. This way prevents impulsive decisions that could lead to catastrophic outcomes.
Keep in mind that having emotions is great for the short term but can be devastating in the long run. Emotions are stronger in their earlier stages but die down with time, and ultimately you are left with just logic. Being able to understand that what you feel today will not be the same as your feeling in 1 month, year, or decade, but will help you make good decisions for yourself, rather than impulsive ones for the moment.
