Are you carrying unhealthy negative emotions?

Negative emotions aren’t necessarily bad – it is natural to experience concern, sadness, anger, remorse, regret, disappointment, healthy jealousy and healthy envy. Life is, after all, complex and difficult. What matters is how we respond to and channel these emotions into actions that help ourselves and others. Learning to accept these types of negative emotions is part of healthy psychological functioning.

This is not the same for unhealthy negative emotions like anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, shame, hurt, unhealthy jealousy and unhealthy envy. These types of emotions interfere with our ability to take positive and constructive action and can result in destructive (and often self-sabotaging) behaviour.

The first step is awareness. How are you going to choose to respond?

– Written by Natalie Snodgrass Tan, Quiet Space Ltd