A Quick Observation

Over time I have observed that my own emotions seem to radically affect my initial perception of problems or situations. For instance, upon being faced with a new problem or unexpected situation, I am often inundated with emotions which seem to artificially inflate my perception of the gravity of the problem or situation. In other words, because my initial response may be emotional (perhaps no one else would know this because I tend to be more introverted when it comes to my emotions), I tend to immediately anticipate that the problem or situation is much more terrible than it actually is, and after some time has passed (which can range from a few hours to a few days) and my emotions have subsided, I realize that the problem or situation is not nearly the threat which I had initially perceived it to be, and that my initial emotional upsets were unwarranted.

None of this should be a huge surprise to those who carefully study their emotions and their volitional responses to them. However, this observation seems to suggest that it would be better to suspend emotional actions and judgments until the initial “rush” of emotion has subsided. With such raw emotions behind us, we are better able to discern appropriate actions and responses, and developing the habit of doing just that would be no doubt greatly beneficial.