Master Your Moods

I started the new chapter on mastering my emotions over the weekend in the greatest salesman book. I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear this. I like to think that I am in pretty good control of my emotions and my moods but I realized this week that in a subtle way I most certainly am not as in control as I thought.

I have slacked off my MKE work for about 6 weeks now. I haven’t been feeling the best. Not feeling good I was slipping back into my old habits, my old blueprint, the comfort zone.
I’d fallen victim to the force known as resistance mentioned in Steven Pressfields War of Art.

“Instead of showing us our fear. Resistance presents us with a series of plausible, rational justifications for why we shouldn’t do our work.”

“Most of us have two lives. The Life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance.”

Steven Pressfield -The War of Art.

I have to in a way go to war with this mechanical resistance on a daily basis, or awake with a plan for battle as Og states. The first thing though is to bring enough awareness into my day to see when the hidden hand of resistance is at play.

“If you don’t feel like working, force it. Because something is forcing you not to work.”

I once was working with a mens mental health group and one of the men said to me, that one of the best pieces of advice he’d been given was to “live in the land of the opposites”. If he didn’t feel like getting up, he had to get up.

We usually dread doing any task that might pull us out of our dreaded comfort zones or ruts, but if we ignore the usual inclination to “leave it until tomorrow” we are rewarded. The reward always comes after our effort not before.

I cant count how many times I didn’t want to go to the gym because I was tired or play a soccer match because it was raining and cold outside each time I overcome my resistance, my mood, I’d experience a massive high upon leaving the gym or soccer game.

Live in the land of the opposites. Og mandino surely recommends this in this weeks chapter.

“If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill, I will double my labour”

And to keep us humble.

“If I become overly proud, I will remember a moment of weakness”

Becoming master of your emotions, your moods is all about non critical self observation. Observe how your moods fluctuate and what I found interesting in this weeks Og chapter was to make allowances for others.

Last week someone let me down, I asked them for a favour, to show up for just a few minutes to a free class I was running to sign their name in, they didn’t show up. I was disappointed, thinking that if they just could have shown up they would have gained so much.

I know people probably have the same feeling about me when I don’t follow through on things and am wasting my potential.

I realized this week the people who don’t show up for things in life struggle like I struggle with resistance, their moods and emotions, that inconsistency and unreliability I pointed out in them is in me also and I must work on this daily. Its so easy to project on others.

I must be more watchful now. Everyday I get up is an opportunity to watch where I am emotionally and use the tools I have learnt in the MKE experience such as the law dual thought.

“Consider the word responsibility. Transform the definition and transpose it into two words. ‘Response Ability” you can decide your emotional response to anything. This is Huge! And in fact, this does distinguish us from every other animal and plant”

The 7 Laws of the Mind -Mark Januszewski and Lori Hammond Enrico

When I feel a certain way I always have the power to transmute it, with practice this will become easier. I must be on the watch now everyday for that little devil on your shoulder “resistance” is never far away and it thrives in the dark. When I am unconscious of it.

I must shine a light on my moods and emotions daily if I am to have any hope of carrying out my task of continuous actions towards my goals and not fall victim to the killer of time procrastination. I must make it my business to know where I am dwelling psychologically every morning I wake. Jim Rohn once stated “Either you run the day or the day runs you.”

I think another useful statement would be “Either you take charge of your moods or your moods take charge of you.” Being aware and watchful is key as always and then you can act consciously to transform negative states to get what needs to be done done, you are then master of your destiny, you steer your ship.

The alternative is to drifting aimlessly on a raft at the mercy of a vast sea of fluctuating emotions and moods. This is not the way anybody to live, for a happy life we must be conscious, self directed and purposeful, it’s so important we catch ourselves when we forget this, I’m glad I have and am back on track again.

See more about what I have learned in my Master Key Experience by clicking here.