Controlling the Emotions

Emotions often feel like sudden weather changes, we’re caught in a storm, basking in sun, or swept into fog without warning. But if we pay attention, there’s usually a subtle chain at play: Situation → Emotion → Reaction. We encounter something: a glance, a message, a memory, and without realizing it, we’re already reacting. But between the emotion and the reaction, there’s a small space. That space is powerful.

Imagine emotions as a pot on the stove. The situation turns the burner on. The emotion is the water heating up, maybe it’s bubbling joy, restless anxiety, tender sadness, or quiet contentment. The reaction is the steam escaping: a spontaneous smile, a shaky voice, a sarcastic comment, a warm hug. The pot isn’t bad, it’s life. But left unattended, it can overheat or cool off too much, distorting how we respond to the world and to ourselves.

The trick isn’t to shut the stove off entirely. It’s to learn to adjust the heat. Maybe you’re in a high-stakes meeting and feel excitement bubbling into distraction, you turn the heat down slightly to stay focused. Or you’re overwhelmed with sadness, and instead of pushing it away or drowning in it, you hold space for it, softly. When joy visits, you let it stay warm without boiling over into recklessness. Emotions become something you move with, not something that overtakes you.

It takes awareness of your body, your patterns, your triggers. But that small shift in noticing can be the difference between acting with intention and being dragged by the current.

This isn’t about being cold or calculated. It’s about learning how to live in your own skin without constantly being scalded or frozen. It’s about feeling deeply without losing direction. Emotions will always be there. The goal is just to learn the art of cooking with them, instead of being cooked by them.