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Controlling Our Emotions
By peace | August 15, 2007
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, one essential way to control emotions is to understand the relations among different emotions, that is, how emotions work on each other. Human emotions, like internal organs in the human body, are not isolated form each other; on the contrary, all emotions are related in three ways:
1. One emotion may give rise to another emotion, which in turn may give rise to yet another emotion. Anger gives rise to joy, joy gives rise to thought, thought gives rise to worry and sadness, worry and sadness give rise to fear and shock, fear and shock give rise to anger.
2. One emotion may overcome another emotion. Anger overcomes thought, thought overcomes fear and shock, fear and shock overcome joy, joy overcomes worry and sadness, and worry and sadness overcome anger.
3. One emotion may reduce the intensity of another emotion. Anger overcomes thought, but when excessive thought turns into fire, it reduces the intensity of anger, returning the body to a state of balance. Thought overcomes fear and shock, but when excessive fear and shock turn into fire, they reduce the intensity of thought. Fear and shock overcome joy, but when excessive joy turns into fire, it reduces fear and shock. Joy overcomes worry and sadness, but when excessive worry and sadness turn into fire, they reduce joy. Worry and sadness overcome anger, but when excessive anger turns into fire, it reduces worry and sadness.
Understanding the three ways in which emotions work on each other will help you control your emotions. If, for example, you feel you are constantly in a state of anger, which is harmful to your liver, you can increase your sadness to overcome your anger. If you feel very sad, which is harmful to your lungs, you can overcome your sadness by increasing your joy. You can do this by thinking about something that cheers you up.
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