Does Controlling Our Emotions Lead to True Happiness?

It seems contrary to pop-culture… but what if it’s true?

Photo by Ümit Bulut on Unsplash

I’ve been thinking a lot about not allowing emotions to run wild inside of me these days — about the benefits of living within rational thought and seeing the world through purely sober eyes.

I have been reading the works of ascended masters and one thing that intrigues me is their insistence on controlling emotions. They teach to control the body, the mind, and then the heart.

For me, I have spent the last 20 years learning to listen to my emotions. I had always suppressed them which was actually causing me great sadness and I ended up making choices that really weren’t in my best interest. So, I don’t want to suppress them any longer. I want to feel what I feel to help guide me… because my emotions express my truth.

Aha! Here is the rub!

My emotions were needed to express my truth. That is what I was actually oppressing. Because of that, my body and mind became a cavalcade of chaos and stress because I wasn’t living my true life. In order to walk in that false path, I had to tell myself stories about my world that weren’t true — in fact, I needed to repeat them over and over to others as well.

Until one day, the levy broke, and the power of the emotions burst forth and I told the truth.

So, what if our philosophy first said that we must always tell the truth? What if we were honest all of the time regardless of the possible consequences?

Aha! Here is where the emotional trap comes in again! Are we telling white lies (or bigger ones) because we are afraid of what someone else might think? Are our fears controlling our decisions? Are we afraid of being left alone? Are we afraid of conflict? Are we afraid to tell the truth in case someone thinks that we are weird, crazy, or unintelligent?

What if we shifted our philosophy to not fear abandonment, conflict, or the reactions of others? Perhaps, then, we would be able to just tell the truth to our spouse, friends, colleagues, boss, parents, and children.

Hmm. That feels calmer.