In my experience, after spending a decent amount of time on self-work, I’ve found that mind, emotion and mouth, otherwise known as the mind-mouth connection, seem to be closely related. One is often triggered by the other by force of habit and without much thought – is often purely reactive. The effect of emotions upon the mind and the mouth are as follows: Emotion is triggered by thoughts or environment, mind processes and slots accordingly to past experience, and the mouth starts a flappin’.
My older brother once told me in my early days in the publishing business, that when an email comes in that may be off-key in some way, its best not to respond in the heat of the moment, but to put it aside for a day and come back to it. Fresh perspective in this regard has saved me a lot of grief. I look at the incoming mail from my gray matter the same. There’s no need to respond immediately. Come back to it when cooler synapses have prevailed and thought and emotion have simmered down.
To take it a step further, I ask questions of myself like, Where did that emotional response come from? Is it a habitual response? or is it based on reasonable logic? What beliefs do I have about the situation that give rise to these emotions and where are they rooted? Is there a better way?
The benefits over time of this kind of self-work and self-reflection have been many, not the least is that I’ve found being firmly in charge of how thoughts and emotions and triggers play out offers a sense of command presence over self and situation, a perfect calm confidence in facing the awesomeness and challenges of life and living.