Emotional regulation: this is how we tame our mood

One of the main characteristics of emotions is that they began to exist long before reason. All vertebrate animals express a repertoire of actions that can be identified with different moodsWhether or not they have a developed reasoning capacity, and the same happens with our ancestors, the first hominids.

This is what makes the great passions and emotions have power over rationalizations. Once they begin to spread through our body, it is impossible to act the same as if they were not there.

However, that does not mean that we are not able to influence our moods in any way. In this article we will see what is emotional regulation and how we can benefit from it if we develop it in a proper way.

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What is emotional regulation?

A first definition of the concept of emotional regulation can be the following: our ability to influence the intensity, type and timing of one's emotions. That is, when we do our part to mitigate or intensify an emotion in terms of duration and intensity, or we intentionally make it drift into another, we are making use of the regulation emotional.

In most cases it is understood that emotional regulation is focused on specific objectives, such as example: maintaining your composure in a public appearance or not being discouraged when experiencing difficulties in a public appearance. exercise. That is why it is a skill related to Emotional Intelligence, a potentiality that is often ignored.

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The importance of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is a set of competencies that have to do with the ability to adapt our thoughts and actions to the circumstances we live in such a way that this fit influences our state emotional. After all, if our emotions have an effect on the results we obtain in various facets of our lives, we are interested in being able to regulate them according to our interests.

On the other hand, Emotional Intelligence is a phenomenon that has been studied relatively recently, since it is far from our traditional conception of what intelligence is. However, it is known that mental processes related to emotional regulation are relatively independent from those who are in charge of carrying out cognitive tasks associated with "normal" intelligence.

Thus, those people who they don't just try to find answers through reason but they also learn to modulate their emotional state; they have a much broader, richer and more effective repertoire of options to reach their goals.

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Some competences related to emotional regulation

These are skills that are associated with emotional regulation, although none of them explains this phenomenon separately.

1. Ability to concentrate in the here and now

Much of the effectiveness of emotional regulation consists of perform a correct management of the attentional focus. When it comes to experiencing emotions, it is very common that we get carried away by the feelings they make reference to past moments, or even that we take for granted the prospect of the future that is presented to us in that moment.

For example, when faced with an offensive comment directed towards us, we may think that we will never be socially accepted, or that we remember other past humiliations.

That is why it is important to be able to distance ourselves a little from what is happening and analyze the present from what happens in that context.

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2. Ability to recognize each emotion and its implications

Another of the competences related to emotional regulation has to do with the ability we show when it comes to discriminating between emotions. This way it is easier to predict what effects do these states have on the actions we are going to carry out, and what can we expect from our behavior.

3. Tolerance of ambiguity

As good as we are at differentiating between emotions, it is impossible to have a full understanding of what goes on in our minds. That is why managing uncertainty it is as important as the management of the emotions on which it is based.

4. Mental agility

Emotional regulation is still a skill that always applies to what is happening. That is why it is necessary to find what aspects of the context can be used to intervene on our emotions.

The simplest example is the possibility of using an elastic ball to exercise the arm muscles, or use an ambient sound recording to relax and escape for a moment. In fact, many of the most effective strategies when it comes to influencing emotions do not have to do with tasks based on introspection, but rather with interaction with the environment.

5. Ability to seek a positive reading of situations

Every event offers several interpretations, and many of them also have the particularity that they are reasonable, by adjusting well to reality.

Taking into account that there is never a single of these readings whose superiority over the others is evident, we have a margin of maneuver to base our experiences on those explanations that better fit our experiences and what we know about the lifetime.

6. Resilience

Resilience is the ability to overcome adversity, and that is why it is closely linked to emotional regulation. Be clear that behind emotional regulation there is the objective of enjoying a better quality of life and a greater exposure to happiness leads us to improve ourselves.

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