Tag Archives: emotional response

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

The little Voice in your Head

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That little voice talking inside your head exists in everyone. That little voice is called inner speech, and you can hear it when you’re thinking or silently contemplating.

There are many unique variations of the voice.  Sometimes it arises instinctually as an early warning.  The message, in this case, is usually fear driven and focused on risk avoidance.

The voice could just be part of an unconscious direction reinforcing your values or learned behaviors from your environment.  For example, telling yourself to be nice when the situational context is driving you in the opposite direction.

Listening to your Little Voice

It is not a bad idea to trust your inner thoughts, but verify.  That is, your instinctive reaction is usually developed based on sub-consciously viewed and stored facts and worth considering.

The little voice can be a very useful guide but it can also include over-reaction and emotional drivers (e.g., fear) and should be validated to ensure extraneous feelings are not being incorporated in the direction provided.

Acting Prudently

The smoke test of a good decision or direction to proceed can be the little voice in your head but to reduce the risk of unhappiness (unsatisfactory outcomes) consider carefully before acting.

It behooves you to examine your inner thoughts in the harsh light of reality (For the existentialists among you the question, “What is the reality?”, is another topic altogether.)

Self-talk, in essence, the voices in your head, is really just one way of filtering information to arrive at a better decision.  It is not wise to ignore nor is it wise to play slave to these thoughts and ideas.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Feel It

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Feelings are a key influencer of your behaviour, sometimes your resulting actions could be questionable as emotional responses are not always well thought out. 

Taking control of responses motivated by emotions can be very difficult.  Immediate response must be checked before a thorough analysis is completed. 

Conscious Response

Often we will react based on an emotion (e.g., anger, frustration, affection, etc) without conscious thought.  The action is not based on a reasoned analysis.  

Sometimes, in the interest of expediency, for example in the case of fear, responding quickly is very appropriate and could be the best way to avoid disastrous, even deadly outcomes.

Why Difficult

In the case of emotions the bodies reactions, both physical and mental are pre-programmed to a large extent.  Conscious control of the brain is not a natural practice in these cases.  

Instinctual behaviour is a key part of our lives and strong emotional responses largely fall into that category. 

Anger takes over the analytic and rational functions of the brain, fear can be associated with hormonal releases geared at making you more physically able to respond, and so on. 

 Taking control of the brain in this cases requires strong awareness and motivation.   In essence you need to override your genetic programming. 

Take the Time

Emotions are often associated with behaviours that are time sensitive.  We often don’t take conscious control as that does involve time (and effort) sometimes the best approach analysis can take a long time.

We do have a natural instinct to act quickly, hence, pausing to reflect, analyze, think about it, is often not even a consideration.  This can be to our detriment.   Taking the pause that refreshes is always the best approach, even when danger is imminent.