How can you stop intense feelings from affecting your judgement?
12 Answers
Last Updated: 10/03/2016 at 10:42am
Moderated by
Paola Giordani, Psychoanalyst
Licensed Psychoanalyst
I have helped and am helping people cope with loss, divorce, anguish and parenting. Depression is also a major issue that comes up.
Top Rated Answers
Anonymous
May 18th, 2015 9:19am
This takes practice like anything else. A great method is to try and hold off the decision you are trying to make while you are still emotional. If you must make the decision in the heat of the moment, while you're emotional, I find that accepting, admitting and being mindful that you are emotional and it could effect your judgement is half the battle. If you're already thinking like that, you're half way there. Other methods that can help are taking a few deep breaths, and trying to clear your mind to think logically can help too.
Sometimes feelings are hard to control and hard to predict. It feels much better to take a breath for awhile and realign yourself to find your balance so you can make a sound judgement based on logical decisions.
Anonymous
January 29th, 2015 3:56am
Make your decisions and reflect on the facts as though you were a person outside of yourself looking in.
Anonymous
February 8th, 2015 5:03am
It's really hard to control your feelings, but one of the best ways that I have learned to do so is to take a step back and allow the heightened emotions to calm down a bit before making any decisions. There are of course situation in which this is not an option, but try to take at least a quick moment to calm down before making a decision.
Anonymous
June 30th, 2015 9:34pm
Consider postponing judgement until your feelings have normalized again. Perhaps establishing a rule (e.g., I will not decide until I have waited 30 minutes since I was last angry) may be of some use.
Anonymous
July 28th, 2015 4:20pm
Cleanse all your intense feelings with breathing. Stop for a moment, don't act spontaneously. Let your mind process what's going on. Take a while to think over what you are going to do or say.
It depends on each individual on how to stop intense feelings from affecting one's judgement but it is always good to let your intense feelings or emotions subside first before making any decisions [especially those that are important] or actions. Give it some time to subside and relax. Take it slow and steady and do not worry. I believe that anything that is rushed only leads to trouble.
Anonymous
September 29th, 2015 7:02am
To stop acting impulsively and making bad decisions, when you feel intense emotions such as anger, step away from whatever you are doing and calm down, or try to control your emotions before making any decisions or judgements.
It's hard to do, maybe the best way it's to pay attention to that feelings instead of trying to ignore them. Talk with someone about how you feel, it's a good way of work it out :) -sorry about my english
Anonymous
April 19th, 2016 4:31am
I think it can be hard to. And it depends on the feelings in question, what type they are and what actions they predispose you to.
But I think in general, the best way to not let feelings affect our judgement is to know what the best action is to take or not take, beforehand, and stick with it.
This tactic is especially relevant if this has happened before, instances where you think your judgement was at fault because feelings.
A large part of this simply going to be self awareness. Awareness of what you're feeling and why, evaluation of whether what you want to do is what you actually should do, if you're thinking of others/their actions and yourself in a fair way, and finally, to know when you need to take a step back to make sure you're looking at things with the right perspective.
I guess that's a lot of explaination, for what ends up being a basic thing, to think before acting. I know it's not always that easy in practice, but the concept is simple lol.
Just know that you're in control of your own actions. Feelings are neither good or bad except in what you're naturally more inclined to do because of them, and you have absolute control over how you act despite them.
Try meditation to clear your mind. You can also just count each breath you tak.e, and relax your body and regain control
By taking a deep breath , calming your mind and putting yourself in the persons shoes your judgement will not be affected
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