Emotions are important because they give you more insight than just logical thinking. Emotions are a response to different kinds of stimulation. Your feelings can play a big part in how you react to things. In my personal and totally professional opinion, you can’t control your emotions, only how you respond to them. I believe you can’t control the chemicals in your brain that make you feel the way you do about certain things. However, I do believe that you can control what you do afterward. What do other people think? Most say that it’s not possible to control your emotions.

PsychCentral agrees with me by stating, “While you can’t control what emotions surface for you, you can control how you act.” They even add that emotions are good information and can lead to a new view or approach to things. While many states that emotions are powerful, things such as taking deep breaths, paying attention to how you’re feeling, and giving yourself some space may help your emotions not take control over you or your thoughts.

Tony Robbins says that one thing you can do is replace negative thoughts with something positive. Focusing on negative emotions just makes them worse. Notice those emotions and think of something better, and use this to divert yourself. Robbins also states that “While we can’t control the triggers we encounter in our lives, we can control the meanings we extract from the events that occur, therefore controlling our feelings and, more broadly, our lives.” One quote that I found while reading this article is along the lines of “you have the power to shift the meaning of an event because it’s not happening to you, it’s happening for you.” I think that’s really powerful and a good thing to remember. I think this because it’s saying that you can’t control your emotions, but you can control your actions afterward by giving the event a positive meaning. I know that sometimes this is easier said than done and it might not even be the same case for everyone. Sometimes a bad event is just a bad event and you shouldn’t change it. It’s okay to feel your emotions, but not let them control you.

Based on what Crystal Raypole states in her article when you’re in tune with your emotions it can help with day-to-day interactions and decision making. I agree with this because if you just feel bad all day you have a higher chance of reacting negatively to things. They state that you shouldn’t repress your emotions. I agree, knowing that usually just makes things worse.

Emotions are important and powerful. I believe that you cannot control your emotions. I believe that suppressing or repressing emotions just makes things worse. You can react and respond to emotions and help guide them by taking deep breaths, paying attention to how you’re feeling, and giving yourself space from the problem. You can try and give negative events positive meanings. Every emotion is acceptable and okay to feel. The important thing is what you do with that information. It can help you see things differently and have different approaches to things.