We know from experience that our emotions seriously challenge our willpower. Love and fear will test our will every time. Our determination and tough-mindedness shake at their onslaught. Emotion can easily gain the allegiance of our will and use it in its service, making decisions all the more problematical. The strongest will has fallen to the call of love. And the most devoted has been known to sell his friend out for greed. Willpower is often the helpmate of emotion instead of its challenger.
Which Emotion Requires the Most Willpower?
Love, fear, and anger are some emotions that gain increasing power from a mind that obsesses with them. Each emotion demands the commitment of a one hundred percent focus and feeds on the energy that focus provides. Previous decisions become obsolete and we scrap plans when these and other powerful giants of the mind take over. We are under their control — at least momentarily .
Should we fear this takeover? We would be foolish not to. But of all the emotions that dominate us, love is perhaps the most demanding and requires our wills to sign an exclusive contract. And only if we do, can love become all it can be.
What Strengthens Willpower? Emotion!
Emotions, it turns out, in turn feeds and strengthens willpower, which has no power without an emotion gaining control of our minds. Therefore, of all the types, those with an F are able to be the most stubborn when their emotions take charge. It’s the tenacity formed from the alliance of emotion and will that gives the emotions of the Fs such power. The tough-mindedness of the rational thinker is based on their rational analysis plus their emotion to be right. But the world of the F is dominated not by rational thought, but by the strength of emotion, making the mind that is controlled by emotion the stronger mind.
Focus on the Right Emotion to Maximize Willpower’s Positive Effects
“It seems as though the more I focus on being calm and the more I breathe and try to steady my nerves before I stand up to speak, the more nervous and panicky I become,” complained this public-speaker-to-be. “I sit there, heart pounding, hands sweaty, and I concentrate on every heartbeat and I breathe, trying to calm myself. Why can’t I just face my fear and overcome it? I have been told to face my fear and that’s what I am doing. What is wrong?”
“Your fear has co-opted your will to do its wishes,” I explained. “Therefore, the focus of your will is creating negative energy that feeds your fear. Facing your fear only helps dispel the fear if you focus on believing you can overcome it, not on trying not to be afraid. The change in focus is a fine tuning but a necessary one. You don’t want fear and the focus of your willpower in partnership if you want to be free from fear. You need your faith and your will working together. So place the focus on the right mental condition: faith, not fear. Your willpower serves whatever emotion dominates your mind. He thought, “So it’s all about focusing on the emotion you want, not the one you don’t want?” “Yes,” I encouraged.
He had plenty of willpower, as his persistence had evidenced. His fear had claimed his attention and, therefore, made him captive to his fear. Our emotional mind has a mind of its own. Focus it on the right emotion and it will cooperate with your willpower and serve your purposes well.
Emotion Can Command the Will
How we feel is often how we act. Emotion can, and often does, command the will. Therefore, be careful to analyze and evaluate all emotions, especially those that worry you or intrigue you. Focus on the ones that will build you according to the pattern of your temperament’s strengths.
My hope is that this book will lead you, as its content has led many others, to be intelligently emotional. If it helps you to develop the intelligent use of your emotions and a rewarding lifestyle, my labor will not have been in vain. You can access it HERE. If you are subscribed to our weekly updates, our next issue will provide a link to purchase it with a 15% discount and free shipping.
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