Steps to Regulate Your Emotions

• Take care of your body. See a doctor when necessary. Take prescribed medications.
• Don’t eat too much or too little. Stay away from foods that make you feel overly emotional (such as foods with lots of sugar or caffeine).
• Stay off non-prescribed drugs, including alcohol.
• Try to get the amount of sleep that helps you feel good. Keep to a sleep program if you are having trouble sleeping.
• Do some sort of exercise every day; try to build up to 20 minutes of aerobic exercise.
• Try to do one thing each day to make yourself feel competent and in control (for example, cook a favorite dish, write a letter, fix something broken, clean one room, rake some leaves).

Why Learn to Observe and Describe Emotions?

Studies have shown that people who can identify their emotions move through depression faster. By learning to observe and describe your emotions, you learn both to be separate from them and also to accept them so they don’t distress you so much.

In order to better regulate your emotions, you must be able to separate or step back from them so you can think of using coping strategies. At the same time, remember to accept them as part of yourself and not something outside of you.

Taking Steps to Get Back in Control of Your Emotions

• Start by taking a time-out…decrease the stimulation around you; go to a quieter place away from distressing triggers.
• Stop what you’re doing….when you feel warning signs of strong anger or distressing feelings and you start to thinking angry or disturbing thoughts, tell yourself to stop. This may help you calm down and think more clearly.
• TRY TO RELAX
  • Count to 10 or 100
  • Get a drink of water
  • Take a walk
  • Take several slow deep breaths
• Return when you’re calm…Once you’ve got your overwhelming emotions under control, go back and talk to the person or face the situation that triggered your emotional distress.

The Function of Emotions

What good are emotions? Why do we have emotions? Until we begin to understand the functions of emotions, why we have them, what their effect is on others, we cannot expect to change or regulate them.

• Emotions communicate to and influence others: We communicate our emotions to others with verbal and non-verbal (facial expressions, body gestures or postures) language. In human society, we use non-verbal communications to better understand each other and respond to each other’s needs.
• Emotions organize and motivate action: Emotions prepare for and motivate action. There is an action urge connected to specific emotions; it’s an automatic, built-in part of our behavior.
• Emotions can be self-validating: Emotions can give us information about a situation or event by providing subconscious signals that something important is going on.