Managing Emotions

I attended a good all-day workshop today entitled "Managing Emotions Under Pressure." I used to think that I had a pretty good handle on my emotions and then some things happened in my work and personal life and I realized I didn't have such a good handle on these emotions. I find that God has done lots of deep work in me digging out the baggage and triggers through most of my emotional stuff...but, there are still those times when I lose it emotionally. In fact, it just happened the other day. My rational mind knows something is not right, but my emotions just do what they want. It's like Paul says in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do; for I don't do what I would like to do, but instead I do what I hate."

I went hoping to get some good ideas on how to identify these triggers and change some behaviors. The instructor shared how we have two areas that control our behavior - the rational part of our brain (the neo-cortex) and the emotive part of our brain (the limbic system.) The neo-cortex is where learning takes place, but then the limbic system is where all the emotions and long-term memories reside. To make it more clear he asked, "Have you ever ridden a horse?" Most people said "yes" and then he asked, "Does a horse ever do what it doesn't want to do?" Most of us laughed, remembering being thrown off a horse or being taken back to the stable when the horse wanted to go. It takes a very skilled rider to control and train that horse to do what the rider wants it to do - not let the horse control the situation.


Our emotions (limbic system) are the horse and our rational thoughts (neo-cortex) are the rider. When the horse inside us - and yes, everyone has a horse! - controls what we do, then we are being controlled by our emotions and not rational thought. Therefore, the key is to train the horse inside us (our emotions) to be controlled by the rider (rational thought) and not the other way around. This means that we can unlearn old patterns and re-learn new patterns - so, you CAN teach an old horse new tricks!! This takes time, effort and lots of hard work. I'm praying that God gives me the grace and strength to work on some of these bad habits in my life. I'll keep you posted on the progress!!