Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are overwhelmed by pessimistic thoughts? Or are the negative thoughts too much to handle, sometimes? Just like the body, the brain needs exercise to stay fit. Listed below are ten mental exercises to strengthen emotional fitness.
Ten Mental Exercises to Strengthen Emotional Fitness
Exercise 1. Do not run away from your emotions and thoughts
You need to accept your thoughts and emotions. Once you start accepting, you will need to figure out what triggered the negative emotions. You can not do anything about your emotions; it is ok to feel bad. But you need to work on what triggered the negative thoughts.
Exercise 2. Don’t suppress your emotions
A lot of people have a certain perspective on certain emotions. It might seem to you that experiencing certain emotions makes you weak. But it important to feel everything. You need to learn from your thoughts instead of suppressing them.
Exercise 3. Investigate your emotional activity regularly
It is recommended to check in with your emotions three to four times every day. You need to make sure the positive emotions are not overwhelmed by the negative ones. You also need to understand why you feel a certain way in different situations.
Exercise 4. Don’t feel guilty or shame about your emotions
Emotions are pretty much involuntary, you can’t do anything about it except for accepting them. If you feel guilty or shame about certain emotions, you tend to suppress them. But if you let yourself feel everything, you will be more relaxed.
Exercise 5. Accept the challenging situations and prepare yourself emotionally
There is a saying, “Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.” You can increase your mental fitness by putting yourself in challenging situations. Then you need to fight with the situation created by you. That is how you can prepare yourself for situations when you face them in real life.
Exercise 6. Provide yourself with an emotional “timeout”
Sometimes, overwhelmed by our emotions, you may act on impulse, without a second thought. Later, we regret that action. Sometimes, it is better to try to calm ourselves, because it will feel better afterward.
Exercise 7. Learn to forgive
Sometimes it is better to forgive people. We are always tempted to react in certain situations. Those situations are just our insecurities. It is better to just ignore and forgive them, instead of investing in them emotionally.
Exercise 8. Do not engage in unnecessary emotional triggers
If someone does us wrong, we are tempted to reciprocate as well. But by doing this, we just enter the endless cycle of trying to pull each other down. Instead, if we choose to not engage, we can live more peacefully.
Exercise 9. Try a simple breathing exercise
There are a lot of breathing exercises in yoga that are meant to make your thought processes peaceful. If you are constantly stressed or anxious, it is a good idea to include a breathing exercise in your daily routine.
Exercise 10. Meditation
The benefits of meditation are endless. It increases your awareness of your emotions. It prevents you from acting on impulse. Additionally, it helps your thoughts be at peace. Just ten minutes of mediation every day can improve your emotional fitness significantly.
