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Fleeting Emotions

Habitual Practices to Sooth Emotions

BY: T. Franklin Murphy | September 2018 (Revised 2020)

Fleeting Emotions. A lady standing on the beach. A Flourishing Life Society article

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When emotionally flooded, cognitive functions shut down, limiting our ability to regulate the emotion. We need habitual practices to calm our emotions.

We struggle to imagine a different emotion than the one we currently swamping our system. When I am sad, I think sad thoughts. When I am happy, I think happy thoughts. Our current mood influence perceptions and our perceptions solidify the mood.

When we feel down, it’s difficult to consider future joys. We get stuck in the current emotion. Dreary days lag on, inviting dreary futures. We feel the weight of hopelessness closing in and pulling us further into the abyss.

"Our current mood influence perceptions and our perceptions solidify the mood."

Much of the well-being advice is very antidotal, ignoring the dilemma of mood altering perceptions. Anxiety and fear flood the the brain, interfering with the balancing regulations of the pre-frontal cortex. Implementing advise, largely a function of the pre-frontal cortex, is strained when cognitions is blurred by overwhelming emotions.

Key Concept:

Powerful emotions impair cognitive thought processes and regulations. This is a built in, evolutionary shut-off valve to direct attention to serious threats to survival and wellbeing.

Feeling affects are fleeting. Jumping to work to alert the system of danger. Once they warn and the threat subsides they can resume normal functions. However, as the arousal settles, cognitive functions begin, ruminating on the event, keeping the moment alive.

We must calm the arousal. A healthy practice is to have several emotional soothing techniques available. Activities that we automatic employ without much cognitive coaxing. Even in moderate states of arousal, implementing a new tool regulation practice is difficult.

Key Concept:

Emotional regulation techniques are more likely to be employed when they are practiced and planned during low states of arousal.

Once our system has settled, if the problem still exists, such as a dispute with a partner, we can re-approach with our cognitive functions back on-line to find a creative solution or properly consider the problem against other priorities.

Bessel van der Kolk explains, "Successfully working through stressful and overwhelming emotions requires a conscious combining of top-down approaches with bottom-up methods" (2015).

Key Definitions: Top-down; Bottom-up

Top-down and bottom-up are psychological terms referring to differentiated brain functions influencing other areas of the brain.

Top-down refers to the cortex applying techniques that calm the nervous system.
Bottom-up refers to emotional centers (amygdala, brainstem) influencing cognitive functions.

There are many top-down practices that calm emotions. We must explore different avenues to find the best practice for us. Albert Bandura wrote, “having a serviceable coping skill at one’s disposal undoubtedly contributes to one’s sense of personal efficacy” (1977). We need serviceable tools to calm our system, establish safety, and open our mind to address vexing problems.

Key Concept:

Techniques for Soothing Arousal:

Slow, deep breathing exercises
Yoga
Exercise (a jog, walk, or fitness training)
Activities demanding focused attention
Meditation
Mindfulness
Nature

Life’s full of ups and downs, successes and failures, pleasure and sorrows, happy beginnings and sad endings. It’s the nature of the rich experience of living. Hold on with patience when life’s not going so well, calm your mind, and implement change. Even sadness, we can maintain hope of a better future—even though we can’t envision exactly how the future will be.

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T. Franklin Murphy

Wellness. Writer. Researcher.
T. Franklin Murphy has a degree in psychology. He tirelessly researches scientific findings that contribute to wellness. In 2010, he began publishing his findings.