Managing Those “Dark” Days
Banish Those “Dark” Days
For some unknown reason, lately, I’ve been harboring negative emotions. The weather has been unusually warm day after day, my friends have been extremely kind inviting me to join them at magnificent immersive art exhibitions, winery tours, and on and on. So, there’s absolutely no reason for me to feel unhappy, lonely, and rejected with negative thoughts “bouncing around” in my head!
The mind-body relationship is becoming clearer thanks to the advent of modern science. Likewise, the link between our thoughts and our emotions are also becoming better known. Research has demonstrated an obvious correlation between good emotions and a strong psychology.
The Circle
Our thoughts and our emotions both form a circle reinforcing the other. Negative thoughts will generate emotions of a similar nature and these emotions will then result in more negative thoughts. This forms a vicious pattern that is most clearly observed in patients suffering from PTSD and other traumas. It is very difficult for these people to break free, and the events keep recurring in their minds.
Over time, such patients heal to an extent. The main way to heal is gradual, as these patients can focus their energies on things that they enjoy so that the memories fail to repeat themselves and lose some of their previous force. Calming therapeutic modalities work overtime to gently alleviate these traumas. However, modern society is anything but therapeutic.
On the other hand, healthy emotions are linked with successful and a powerful psychology. Happier people have more success and better interpersonal relationships. They have better concentration, memory, and social skills. It is far easier to be successful when you have a positive emotional framework as a foundation than to be struggling internally.
How to Manage The Relationship
Everybody is in a situation where they need to better manage their thoughts and emotions. It takes some time, but there are proven ways to reinforce the strengths of our thoughts and emotions. These include:
- Meditation
- Mindfulness
- Deep Communication
- Creative Work
Meditation and mindfulness are practices where we simply observe what is happening in our minds. This is very beneficial in a world that is so externally orientated. We can observe how we feel and how these thoughts stimulate certain emotions. Over time, we can catch the negative thoughts before they gain too much momentum and ruin the whole day.
Deep communication is another technique where we work with a therapist or practitioner to document and analyze our own patterns for further insights.
Creative work is about self-expression. An intense dedication to creative work is an excellent way to remove any negative tendencies. What can happen is that we are so focused on artistic inventions that we are not focusing any of our energies on the things that make us weak. This works far more quickly than meditation and mindfulness if we can find something that we are truly passionate about.
Step by step and your dark days will soon be behind you.
A daily habit that keeps me on an even keel during my negative days is meditation. On dark days, I find myself meditating twice a day, sometimes three times. The combination of meditation and deep communication is working for me and managing my emotions and thoughts will soon be another habit that I will have learned.
I firmly believe the combination of deep communication and meditation will work for you, too!
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — Aristotle
This article was originally published on my site https://donnapresents.com/managing-those-dark-days/.
Meditation is a habit that may come easily to some. I have been meditating for over five years, but there were many days I found myself slipping. These days, not so much, not since I’ve printed out and put on my vision board over my desk these Positive Mindset graphics from Alice Seba at Publish for Prosperity. You can get these graphics at no cost here.
If you’re interested in revitalizing your life through meditation and would like to learn a virtually risk-free, and cost-effective practice, that people of all ages can do with a little patience and guidance and that will serve you for the rest of your life, I would love to connect with you. You can connect with me here.
I’m Donna SLam, who loves to blog about how meditation brings self-compassion, peace of mind, and clarity to my life and others by sharing tips and strategies to live a fulling and purposeful life. I enjoy championing others to lead a healthy and happy life through meditation, walking, self-development, and spending time with loved ones.
