Negative emotions - coping tips

Summary

Anger, sadness, jealousy and hatred are termed 'negative emotions' because they make you lose confidence and feel miserable about yourself and others. There are some simple strategies to deal with negative emotions.

Negative emotions can be described as any feeling which causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions make you dislike yourself and others, and take away your confidence.

Emotions which can become negative are hate, anger, jealousy and sadness. Yet, in the right context, these feelings are completely natural. Negative emotions can dampen our enthusiasm for life, depending on how long we let them affect us and the way we choose to express them.

Holding onto negative emotions causes a downward spiral

Negative emotions stop us from thinking and behaving rationally and seeing situations in their true perspective. When this occurs, we tend to see only we want to see and remember only what we want to remember. This only prolongs the anger or grief and prevents us from enjoying life.

The longer this goes on, the more entrenched the problem becomes. Dealing with negative emotions inappropriately can also be harmful - for example, expressing anger with violence.

Emotions are complex reactions

Emotions are psychological (what we think) and biological (what we feel). Our brain responds to our thoughts by releasing hormones and chemicals which send us into a state of arousal. All emotions come about in this way, whether positive or negative.

It is a complex process and often we don't have the skills to deal with negative feelings. That’s why we find it hard to cope when we experience them.

How to deal with negative emotions

There are a number of coping strategies to deal with negative emotions. These include:

• Don’t blow things out of proportion by going over them time and again in your mind.
• Try to be reasonable - accept that bad feelings are occasionally unavoidable and think of ways to make yourself feel better.
• Relax - use pleasant activities like reading, walking or talking to a friend.
• Learn - notice how grief, loss and anger make you feel and which events trigger those feelings so you can prepare in advance.
• Exercise - aerobic activity lowers your level of stress chemicals and allows you to cope better with negative emotions.
• Let go of the past - constantly going over negative events robs you of the present and makes you feel bad.

Where to get help

• Your doctor
• Your local community health centre
• The Mental Health Foundation of Victoria Tel. (03) 9427 0406

Things to remember

• In the right context, negative emotions like anger, grief, sadness or jealousy are perfectly normal.
• Long lasting bouts of negative emotions can stop you enjoying life.
• Coping strategies can help to curb persistent negative feelings
  
• Better Health Channel

Negative emotions - coping tips

Summary

Anger, sadness, jealousy and hatred are termed 'negative emotions' because they make you lose confidence and feel miserable about yourself and others. There are some simple strategies to deal with negative emotions.

Negative emotions can be described as any feeling which causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions make you dislike yourself and others, and take away your confidence.

Emotions which can become negative are hate, anger, jealousy and sadness. Yet, in the right context, these feelings are completely natural. Negative emotions can dampen our enthusiasm for life, depending on how long we let them affect us and the way we choose to express them.

Holding onto negative emotions causes a downward spiral

Negative emotions stop us from thinking and behaving rationally and seeing situations in their true perspective. When this occurs, we tend to see only we want to see and remember only what we want to remember. This only prolongs the anger or grief and prevents us from enjoying life.

The longer this goes on, the more entrenched the problem becomes. Dealing with negative emotions inappropriately can also be harmful - for example, expressing anger with violence.

Emotions are complex reactions

Emotions are psychological (what we think) and biological (what we feel). Our brain responds to our thoughts by releasing hormones and chemicals which send us into a state of arousal. All emotions come about in this way, whether positive or negative.

It is a complex process and often we don't have the skills to deal with negative feelings. That’s why we find it hard to cope when we experience them.

How to deal with negative emotions

There are a number of coping strategies to deal with negative emotions. These include:

• Don’t blow things out of proportion by going over them time and again in your mind.
• Try to be reasonable - accept that bad feelings are occasionally unavoidable and think of ways to make yourself feel better.
• Relax - use pleasant activities like reading, walking or talking to a friend.
• Learn - notice how grief, loss and anger make you feel and which events trigger those feelings so you can prepare in advance.
• Exercise - aerobic activity lowers your level of stress chemicals and allows you to cope better with negative emotions.
• Let go of the past - constantly going over negative events robs you of the present and makes you feel bad.

Where to get help

• Your doctor
• Your local community health centre
• The Mental Health Foundation of Victoria Tel. (03) 9427 0406

Things to remember

• In the right context, negative emotions like anger, grief, sadness or jealousy are perfectly normal.
• Long lasting bouts of negative emotions can stop you enjoying life.
• Coping strategies can help to curb persistent negative feelings
  
• Better Health Channel

Idioms

pay the piper: face the consequences for something you've done.

"I stayed up too late tonight. Tomorrow I'll have to pay the piper."

pooped: very tired; exhausted.

"I went to bed really early last night. I was pooped!"

pop quiz: unannounced short test.

"You shouldn't have missed class yesterday. We had a pop quiz."

pull an all-nighter: study or work all night without getting any sleep.

A: "You look really tired."
B: "I am. I pulled an all-nighter to get ready for the meeting this morning."

pull someone's leg: tease someone by trying to make her/him believe something
that's exaggerated or untrue.

A: "Wow! Carl has done some really amazing things!"
B: "Don't believe everything he tells you. He was probably pulling your leg."

Idioms

pay the piper: face the consequences for something you've done.

"I stayed up too late tonight. Tomorrow I'll have to pay the piper."

pooped: very tired; exhausted.

"I went to bed really early last night. I was pooped!"

pop quiz: unannounced short test.

"You shouldn't have missed class yesterday. We had a pop quiz."

pull an all-nighter: study or work all night without getting any sleep.

A: "You look really tired."
B: "I am. I pulled an all-nighter to get ready for the meeting this morning."

pull someone's leg: tease someone by trying to make her/him believe something
that's exaggerated or untrue.

A: "Wow! Carl has done some really amazing things!"
B: "Don't believe everything he tells you. He was probably pulling your leg."

Does lemon juice really get rid of freckles?

It's possible to do a lot more than just make a drink with lemon juice. You can use it tosanitize a counter top, brighten white loads of laundry, and, believe it or not, you can even use it to treat freckles. It won't actually get rid of freckles, but lemon juice is a strong fruit acid, and it works well as a bleaching agent. Similar to the way people use it to highlight streaks of hair during the summer, lemon juice can lighten to your skin.

Some people are born with freckles, and others develop them after years of sun exposure. Since they're common and almost always harmless, there's not usually any health reason to treat freckles. If you don't want to live with them, however, you don't have to. To fade them out, go to the store and buy some lemons -- or, if you don't like squeezing them yourself, just buy lemon juice, but make sure it's pure. Artificial ingredients and flavorings won't work as well.

Once you've got the juice, all you have to do is apply it to your freckles. A cotton ball or a paintbrush should work. After a few months of continued application, your freckles should begin to fade.

While lemon juice can be effective at fading freckles, any progress you make can be completely undone by a few days in the sun without any protection. So, if you want to keep those freckles away, you need to wear sunscreen. You'll also need to keep applying lemon juice to maintain your results, as it's only a temporary solution [source:Cuming]. If you're looking for something more permanent, you may want to look into laser removal. It can be fast and effective, but it's the more expensive option [source: Bernstein].

Does lemon juice really get rid of freckles?

It's possible to do a lot more than just make a drink with lemon juice. You can use it tosanitize a counter top, brighten white loads of laundry, and, believe it or not, you can even use it to treat freckles. It won't actually get rid of freckles, but lemon juice is a strong fruit acid, and it works well as a bleaching agent. Similar to the way people use it to highlight streaks of hair during the summer, lemon juice can lighten to your skin.

Some people are born with freckles, and others develop them after years of sun exposure. Since they're common and almost always harmless, there's not usually any health reason to treat freckles. If you don't want to live with them, however, you don't have to. To fade them out, go to the store and buy some lemons -- or, if you don't like squeezing them yourself, just buy lemon juice, but make sure it's pure. Artificial ingredients and flavorings won't work as well.

Once you've got the juice, all you have to do is apply it to your freckles. A cotton ball or a paintbrush should work. After a few months of continued application, your freckles should begin to fade.

While lemon juice can be effective at fading freckles, any progress you make can be completely undone by a few days in the sun without any protection. So, if you want to keep those freckles away, you need to wear sunscreen. You'll also need to keep applying lemon juice to maintain your results, as it's only a temporary solution [source:Cuming]. If you're looking for something more permanent, you may want to look into laser removal. It can be fast and effective, but it's the more expensive option [source: Bernstein].

Top 5 Foods for Beautiful Skin

With people all over the globe spending billions of dollars on skin-care products every year, you'd think cosmetics companies had replicated the fountain of youth in the laboratory. In fact, skin creams have gotten more and more expensive and less and less based on real science.

So what are we looking at when it comes to a beautiful-skin diet? In this article, we'll find out what you want to throw in your shopping cart to improve your skin, why those foods work on traits like smoothness and tone, and whether skin-healthy foods are, in fact, different from the foods you'd eat to promote overall health.

First up: You may not like the smell, but you'll love the smoothness…

QUICK TIP: Foods and drinks high in alcohol and caffeine dehydrate the skin, accelerating the development of wrinkles. Click here to learn more >>