Negative emotions are a part of being human. We feel sadness, anger, and hate just as much as we feel happiness and love. However, we have a negativity bias hard-wired into our minds and bodies.
We tend to ruminate over negative emotions. We can spend hours thinking about the nasty interaction we had in traffic or ruminating over the angering things our partner, coworker, or neighbor said to us. Our survival-tuned mind fixates on negative experiences to remind us what to avoid in the future.
This tendency to focus on negative emotions, believe it or not, comes from our ancestors. They needed emotions like fear and anger to stay hyper-vigilant in dangerous environments.
While it was useful for the survival of humankind, negativity bias is a significant cause for concern today. Emotions should be free-flowing and expressed without judgment. That’s when they’re considered healthy and necessary. We can use meditation to help express healthy emotions including anger without judgement. But, when we’re constantly judging, hiding, and repressing our emotions, it’s not just our mental energy they affect, but our physiological well-being as well.
Repressed emotions are emotions that we never get to process. That doesn’t mean that they go away. They lurk in our subconscious mind until we decide to address them, or they begin manifesting as physical symptoms.
How Harmful is Stress?
The National Institute of Mental Health acknowledges that ongoing stress is dangerous to mental health. By keeping the body on high alert, chronic stress forces our psychological flight or fight responses to stay on permanently.
It also depletes brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which we need for happiness. The mind can easily get addicted to negative emotions like sadness, fear, and anger, causing it to create a cycle of negative thought patterns.
That’s how chronic stress causes mental disorders like depression, anxiety, and irritability. In addition, it often drives people to substance abuse and isolation, which spurs more feelings of loneliness, insecurity, and low self-esteem.
Chronic levels of stress have a physical impact as well. The immediate physical symptoms of ongoing negative emotions include dehydration, appetite changes, sleep problems, fatigue, digestive problems, and muscle pain and tension. They can also contribute to:
- High blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
There is also a study that proves a correlation between emotional repression and reduced immune system function. Toxic emotions like hate and anger can make you more vulnerable to sickness and affect how quickly you recover.
The Dangers of Unresolved Anger
Anger is one of the strongest emotions we express. Even though most anger is destructive, it is a necessary emotion, one that we shouldn’t run away from or shun. That’s why we are encouraged to find productive ways to release our anger.
When it’s pent up, anger can have significant health consequences. If you find it difficult to release anger, you’re at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Repressed anger is also a common cause of high blood pressure.
One of the telltale signs that you’re not processing anger correctly is digestive distress.
In a WebMD article, How Anger Can Hurt Your Heart, they stated…
“In one report, researchers found that healthy people who are often angry or hostile are 19% more likely than calmer people to get heart disease. Among people with heart disease, those who usually feel angry or hostile fared worse than others.”
Negative Emotions Can Decrease Our Lifespan
What is Negativity Bias and Can Addressing it Help Us Let Go Of Toxic Emotions?
Ideas from video to address Negativity Bias…
- AWARENESS –
- VELCRO THE POSITIVES –
- GRATITUDE JOURNAL –
- KUDOS FOLDER –
- A DROP OF INK IN A BOWL OF WATER –
Want to try adding mindfulness and meditation to your self-care routine? Click below to get details about the Introduction to Mindfulness & Meditation mini-course.
Want to try adding gratitude to your self-care routine? Click below to get details about the Grateful Living: 5-Day Gratitude Challenge.