When Emotions Play Dominoes

There are times in our life that we can recollect when we slumped from bad to worse or rose from good to better/ best. Those times and incidents not only leave us surprised/ shocked but also in wonderment of why and how it happened to us. What could have triggered such a drastic change in an instant, taking us from a point of control/ manageability to a point where things just seem to be sliding away from our grip? The culprit here is none other than our EMOTIONS, the element of our personality that’s most talked about but least understood.

Many a time emotions get tricky and play dominoes in our life if not checked and managed in time. Emotions, per se, are neither good or bad and it’s only our interpretation in the context and our reaction thereafter that lets the emotions loose and starts the ‘dominoes’ effect.

As we move into a sphere of interaction with self or surroundings (environment and people), one of the basic emotions gets activated inside us. This basic emotion assumes proportion based on the intensity of our thoughts and interaction. This intensity sets the dominoes effect in motion and impacts us in 2 major ways –

our activated emotions take a leap from a mild form to a more extreme one, which is not only stronger but very overwhelming too. Once it assumes the stronger format, it becomes extremely difficult to manage the emotion.
it affects us at all levels – mental, physical and spiritual. The dominoes may trigger at one level but then encapsulates the other also.

Irrespective of the nature of emotion (positive or negative, based on our perception), there’s always a danger of the dominoes effect happening. Whatever is the nature, the dominoes effect will put us in a highly energised state and this will be very difficult to tame or harness. More damage is done when the emotion is negative as it severely makes a dent in our subconscious level hitting our self-esteem and confidence.

To halt this roller coaster ride of emotions and stop the dominoes effect of emotions, all that is required is to

Accept that emotions exist and are an integral part of our personality. Nothing could re-iterate this fact more clearly than the existence of an “Emotional Brain” in us.
Understand the damage the emotions could inflict on us.
Learn to identify emotions in our self as they occur. Move from a thinking state to feeling state in situations.
Learn to manage the emotions right when they occur by positive and productive actions/ behaviour.

So, let’s get the ball rolling and stop the ‘emotions juggernaut’!

Narinder Bhatia Member since May 19, 2020

Narinder Bhatia is a certified coach (life and happiness), mentor and a motivational speaker with about two decades of professional work experience. He has worked in various senior level roles like CEO, Head of Department and Country Manager. Now, he devotes his time in pursuing his passion for coaching, training, writing and reading. Narinder has been focusing on enabling and empowering his clients (individuals and organisations) on various aspects of holistic wellness and better performance. He conducts various online and face-to-face programs for individuals, groups and corporates and has been helping clients in reaching their full potential. He integrates his knowledge of NLP, visualisation, affirmations and psychometric tools in all his interventions to ensure a profound impact. He writes regularly on topics of self-development and maintains a blog on the same at www.createyourbest.in . His personal website coaching4betterlife.com provides more insight into his background and offerings.