EMOTIONALISM - EMOTIONAL MINDEDNESS

In our previous talk, we began to look at those times when our emotions got out of hand, and we got trapped in, or by, our feelings.

Something went terribly wrong, it’s called Emotionalism.

Someone said the problem is not in our emotions, but in our emotionalism. We want to control a situation, but we need to control our emotions in the situation.

To that end, today, we’ll be looking at Emotionalism - Emotional Mindedness.

Emotional Mindedness simply refers to a person’s capacity to be introspective.

It’s all about us asking ourselves to be self-aware. Look inside first.

We can easily see others, but it takes some training to be able to see yourself.

Here is some free advice that God offers us.

“Let a person examine themselves.” “For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged.” 1 Corinthians 11:28-31

In another place he says this.

“Examine yourself…you should check yourself regularly…Do you even know yourself…” 2 Corinthians 13:5

And again, in the book of James he exhorts us to look in the mirror at ourselves.

Emotional Mindedness is about knowing you are in touch with what you feel. What’s your EQ?  Emotional Quotient/Emotional Intelligence.

We all feel things, but what are those feelings? Why do we have them? Where do they come from? These are all great questions we should be asking ourselves.

Many times, we are not sensitive to the feelings of others simply because we are not always in touch with our own feelings.

But if you can receive what I am sharing, then all that can change here today.

These are My Truths, but with your personalization they can become Your Truths.

I have been suffering from severe emotionalism. I would be extremely high one minute, and then extremely low the next. This was a regular cycle for me.

I got to a point where I was just out of control. A lot of this was attributed to grief.

I lost my mother, two sisters, nephew, and little brother all within a ten-year period and I was the officiant for each of their funeral services. To add to that, years prior I lost my father, oldest brother, and two little sisters, ages 4 &6. Out of my family of nine children and both parents, only myself and two older brothers are left.

My heart was in pieces. I couldn’t even recognize myself at times.

Every new issue/problem/challenge that I faced was piled upon all that loss. Loss of that person and the loss of what they added to my life. I was an absolute mess!

Proverbs 4:7 states “in all your getting be sure to get understanding.”  

I had no understanding of what was happening and wasn’t really sure how to get it.

Sometimes we know The What, but we can’t move forward without The Why!

In our last talk, I shared Truth #1, Our emotions were given to us by God.

God feels everything that we feel because he has felt everything that we have felt. Anger, hurt, remorse, vengeance, repentance, concern, joy, happiness, loneliness.  

Our feelings are The What. But we need understanding to know The Why.

Here is Truth #2, Understanding comes by way of Awareness.

I was not aware of all that was going on within me, so I had no awareness. I was directed in my spirit to seek therapy. In all my needs, I needed understanding. I needed to become emotionally minded. I needed to become more self-aware.

Most of us are aware of our Natural Senses of smell, touch, taste, feel, and sight.

But not all of us know about Spiritual Senses of smell, touch taste, feel, and sight.

Like, Ears to hear the Spirit or Tasting Gods Goodness, Smell of a Sweet Offering.

Look at this Spiritual Sense that Luke 24:42 offers. “…the eyes of understanding need to be opened and enlightened, so we can know.”

I needed the eyes of my understanding opened. I was blinded by emotionalism.

God directed me to a wonderful therapist through my work Employee Assistance Program /EAP referrals. She is well decorated in her field of study, and she is also quite devout in her faith. God is using her to help me understand My Why.

Many times, to get to Our Why we need to know How. How do I find Why.

Please allow me to share with you How I found my Why.

I was completely unaware of all the feelings that I went through in a day.

So, the first thing you need to do is to take inventory of your feelings.

Write down the various feelings that you have or can possibly have.

List them all out one by one. Sad, angry, hurt, fearful, disappointed, happy, etc.

Now, go about your day as you normally would. Do nothing differently.

Notice when you feel an emotion and then make a mark by that emotion on your list, if it’s not on your list, just add it.

Want more? Assign a number to measure the level of intensity, ranging from 1 to 10, ten is the most intense. Also, note what happened just before that feeling came.

This is how we begin to inventory our emotions. Please join me in our next Truth as we learn how to use this data to become better emotional managers and thrive not just survive.

Until then, let’s keep praying for God to open the eyes of our understanding.

Lord, please help me understand why I do the things that I do. I don’t want to continue being unstable in my emotions. Increase my understanding so I can see what is behind those feelings and emotions. Amen. 

This is a Thompson Truth