Thibaut Meurisse - Master Your Emotions

M any books discuss emotions and how they affect your life, but they rarely provide a comprehensive view of what emotions are, where they come from, what is their role, or how they affect your life .

Emotions are among the trickiest things to deal with and, unfortunately, too often you and I will fall prey to their mystical power. We find ourselves unable to break their spell. Because they affect every aspect of our lives and determine the quality of it, our inability to understand how emotions work can prevent us from designing our ideal life and from fulfilling our potential .

By the end of this book, you will know how emotions work and, more importantly, you will be better equipped to deal with them .

If you struggle to deal with negative emotions, or want to learn how emotions work and how you can use them as a tool for your personal growth, this book is for you .

The mind in its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven .

John Milton, poet.

W e all experience a wild range of emotions throughout our lives. I had to admit, while writing this book, I experienced highs and lows myself. At first, I was filled with excitement and thrilled at the idea of providing people with a guide to help them understand their emotions. I imagined how readers lives would improve as they learned to control their emotions. My motivation was high and I couldnt help but imagine how great the book would be .

Or so I thought .

After the initial excitement, the time came to sit down to write the actual book, and thats when the excitement wore off pretty quickly. Ideas that looked great in my mind suddenly felt dull. My writing seemed boring, and I felt as though I had nothing substantive or valuable to contribute .

Sitting at my desk and writing became more challenging each day. I started losing confidence. Who was I to write a book about emotions if I couldnt even master my own emotions? How ironic! I considered giving up. There are already plenty of books on the topic, so why add one more ?

At the same time, I realized this book was a perfect opportunity to work on my own emotional issues. And who doesnt suffer from negative emotions from time to time? We all have highs and lows, dont we? The key is what we do with our lows. Are we using our emotions to grow? Are we learning something from them? Or are we beating ourselves up over them ?

So, lets talk about your emotions now. Let me start by asking you this :

How do you feel right now ?

Knowing how you feel is the first step toward taking control of your emotions. You may have spent so much time internalizing youve lost touch with your emotions. Perhaps you answered as follows: I feel this book could be useful, or I really feel I could learn something from this book. However, none of these answers reflect how you feel. You dont feel like this, or feel like that, you simply feel. You dont feel like this book could be useful, you think this book could be useful, and that generates an emotion which makes you feel excited about reading it. Feelings manifest as physical sensations in your body, not as an idea in your mind. Perhaps, the reason the word feel is so often overused or misused is because we dont want to talk about our emotions. So, how do you feel now ?

How you feel determines the quality of your life. Your emotions can make your life miserable or truly magical. Thats why they are among the most important things to focus on. Your emotions color all your experiences. When you feel good, everything seems, feels, or tastes better. You also think better thoughts. Your energy levels are higher and possibilities seem limitless. Conversely, when you feel depressed, everything seems dull. You have little energy and you become unmotivated. You feel stuck in a place (mentally and physically) you dont want to be, and the future looks gloomy .

Your emotions can also act as a powerful guide. They can tell you something is wrong and allow you to make changes in your life. As such, they may be among the most powerful personal growth tools you have .

Sadly, neither your teachers nor your parents taught you how emotions work or how to control them. I find it ironic that just about anything comes with a how-to manual, while your mind doesnt. Youve never received an instruction manual to teach you how your mind works and how to use it to better manage your emotions, have you? I havent. In fact, until now, I doubt one even existed .

This book is the how-to manual your parents should have given you at birth. Its the instruction manual you should have received at school. In it, Ill share everything you need to know about emotions so you can overcome your fears and limitations and become the type of person you really want to be .

Youll learn what emotions are, how they are formed, and how you can use them for your personal growth. Youll also learn how to deal with negative emotions and condition your mind to create more positive emotions .

It is my sincere hope and expectation that, by the end of this book, you will have a clear understanding of what emotions are and will have all the tools you need to start taking control of them .

More specifically, this book will help you :

• Understand what emotions are and how they impact your life
• Identify negative emotions that control your life and learn to overcome them
• Change your story to take better control over your life and create a more compelling future, and
• Reprogram your mind to experience more positive emotions .

Here is a more detailed summary of what youll learn in this book :

In Part I, well discuss what emotions are. Youll learn why you are wired to focus on negativity and what you can do to counter this effect. Youll also discover how your beliefs impinge upon your emotions. Finally, youll learn how negative emotions work and why they are so tricky .

In Part II, well go over the things that directly impact your emotions. Youll understand the roles your body, your thoughts, your words, or your sleep, play in your life and how you can use them to change your emotions .

In Part III, youll learn how emotions are formed. Youll also learn how to condition your mind to experience more positive emotions .

And finally, in Part IV, well discuss how to use your emotions as a tool for personal growth. Youll learn why you experience emotions such as fear or depression and how they work. Youll then discover how to use them to grow .

Lets get started .

I encourage you to read all the way through this book at least once. After that, I invite you to revisit the book and focus on the section(s) you want to explore in more depth .

In this book, I include a number of different exercises. Though I dont expect you to go through them all, my hope is youll pick some and apply them in your life. Remember, the results youll get out of this book depend on how much time and effort youre willing to put in .

If you feel this book could be of any use to your family members or friends, make sure to share it with them. Emotions are complex and I believe it would benefits us all to deepen our understanding of the topic .