What is Emotional Reasoning? The Importance of Mastering Your Emotions

Psychologists assert that man is a bundle of emotions and tends to express these emotions in his day-to-day routine. Whether this sounds good or bad to you, there is surely a downside and an upside. It is for this reason that we are considering the idea of emotional reasoning. Although it is not a popular term in society, every one of us has experienced it at one point or the other.

When you think about certain ways you acted in particular situations, you begin to ask yourself “what was I thinking?” This is definitely normal as emotions overrun our rationality in some situations. Extreme situations like anger, love, fear etc., also come with excessive outbursts of emotions that make us act in ways we may not find rational.

To understand what really takes place on such occasions, it is necessary to ask the question “what is emotional reasoning?” This will help us to get a clearer view of the term and understand the difference between actions that stem from man’s rationality and those that stem from emotional reasoning.

What is Emotional Reasoning?

This is the mental process of depending on feelings rather than logic and reason as the primary basis of taking decisions. Emotional reasoning could simply be a way of paying attention to our emotions during the thinking process and allowing these emotions to affect the decisions that we make or actions that we take. It could also be a state of mind where one ignores reality and only focuses on the emotions to plan and decide the future.

As much as it sounds abnormal, it is usually easy for people to fall into the trap of emotional reasoning. This is because it comes naturally. Whenever events begin to take place in our lives, emotions are created because our mind is trying to make a judgment about the situation. For this reason, it is important to understand that emotional reasoning is the first point of call whenever one tries to take up the thinking cap. It is then necessary to know how to avoid it and take the right path of rationality.

The Importance of Mastering Your Emotions

Considering the issue of emotional reasoning which creeps in and interferes with our thinking process, there is a need to master our emotions. This entails paying attention to them and knowing their working principles in order to guard ourselves against them. This is by no means a denial or suppression of emotions. Rather, it is a rechannelling of emotions in order to achieve the best results in thought and action.

Mastery of oneself and one’s emotions is usually underrated. Knowing that we are bags of emotions, shouldn’t we be paying more attention to these emotions. Something that occupies a greater part of our lives should be learnt, understood and mastered. This is wisdom because gaining a handle over a greater part of yourself means gaining control over yourself.

Steps to Mastering Your Emotions

#1 Accept Your Emotions

Of course, it is impossible to master something if you keep denying them. To master your emotions, you need to accept the influence they have in your life. This will help you become conscious to the point of knowing the working operations of your emotions.

#2 Understand Your Personality

Everyone isn’t the same and does not react to situations in the same way. It is important to understand what kind of person you are and how you actually behave in different situations. You should be considering how you act when you are angry, happy, sad, feeling loved etc. By understanding your personality, you can know what kind of person you are and what kind of emotions influence you the most.

#3 Discover Emotional Reasoning at Work

Take the time to observe yourself and understand when the emotions are trying to hijack the reasoning process. If you are able to identify emotional reasoning at work, then, you have a greater chance of controlling emotions when they come up.

#4 Consider the 2^nd person and 3^rd Person POV

Most of the time, emotions take over because we only consider things from our own perspective. Considering the second person point of view and even the third person will make a difference in our thought and action. It will give you a new view of what is really happening at every point in time.

Conclusions

The aim of this article is to enlighten all on the meaning of emotional reasoning. With the knowledge of this, it is possible to take charge of conversations and situations where our emotions fail us and lead us to regret. Most times, people do not understand that their emotions are affecting their actions and as such, they keep drifting away from reality.

All persons need to understand their emotions and master them. This is emotional intelligence. The importance of mastering your emotions cannot be underrated because emotions are stirred daily. This is because we encounter people daily and this goes hand in hand with the arousal of emotions. Emotions of love, hate, fear, anger, greed etc. are all stirred in line with people we encounter and activities we engage in.