Emotions can work as the most powerful forces inside of us. Under their power, human beings can perform the most heroic as well as the most barbaric acts known to man. Emotions can motivate a person to sacrifice their own life to save another, as in fire fighting; or intentionally take their own life and others in a suicide bombing. How we channel the power of our emotions will ultimately determine most of the actions that we perform during our lifetimes. You can view emotions as fuel and our mind as the pilot which together propel one's actions.
As human beings we hope to attract THE POSITIVE into our lives. We yearn for comfort, safety, security, peace of mind and happiness. These basic necessities can be the building blocks of a wonderful life. There are several emotions that can trigger us into action, en-route to obtaining what we want in life. In this week's lesson, we will be reviewing how the emotion of DISGUST, can make a profound difference in our lives.
One does not usually equate the word "disgust" with positive action. Yet properly channeled, disgust can change a person's life. The person who feels disgusted has reached a point of no return. He or she has had enough of a situation and says "Enough is enough. I cannot take anymore of this and I WILL change this RIGHT NOW!"
You can be disgusted with a terrible relationship that you are involved in or perhaps a job that you hate going to every day. A humiliating or embarrassing experience can also make you so disgusted that you resolve yourself at that very moment to CHANGE. You do whatever it will take to never, ever, repeat the same mistake again. Being totally disgusted makes people spring into action to get a divorce, go back to school, to train for a new career, or learn new skills to insure they will never embarrass themselves again. As humans, we are VERY habitual. We tend to resist change, even if that change is for the better. A major reason for this is the fear of failing at something new, or the fear of making the wrong decision. These two fears will hold people in place, enduring the pains of the status-quo . Even if a person is experiencing daily pain or discomfort, as long as they believe it may be more uncomfortable to change, they tend to tolerate their pain, and resist change.
A low level of disgust will not be enough impetus to CHANGE. Plenty of people are disgusted with certain situations, yet they stay put. What eventually forces a person to change is disgust at a HIGH LEVEL. In other words, the disgust has to reach a level that has MORE force than the fear of failing or the fear of making a wrong decision. When that level is reached, a person will not think twice and make the change they know is necessary.
I believe disgust can be separated into two categories: A) Disgust that serves you, and B) Disgust that harms you.
Disgust can SERVE you if it forces you to become better than you are. If you're not doing what you love in life, then you really shouldn't be doing it. In fact, if you hate what you do every day, everyone around you will suffer with you. If you're an accountant, but deep down inside you always dreamed of being a scientist, a chef, or an artist, then we're all missing out on the greatness you may have inside of you. If the emotion of disgust takes you from a job that you hate to lifestyle that you love, then disgust has SERVED you well. Life is too short to be miserable every day and suffer.
But there are also forms of disgust that can cause you great harm. For example disgust that is focused on things that are totally out of your control. Let's say that your favorite baseball team loses in the playoffs. It's quite normal to be disappointed, but what if you're totally disgusted and depressed the next day or worse yet, the next week? This type of disgust can actually cause harm to you and those around you. Or what if you order a pizza and it shows up in 45 minutes instead of the promised 30 minutes? Again, it's normal to be disappointed, however many people just can't let a simple incident like this fade away. They may become disgusted and enraged and ruin the rest of their night. This type of disgust saps you of your vital energy and doesn't serve you at all.
To be totally disgusted can be a very powerful motivation to CHANGE THINGS NOW! Learn and study this emotion so that you can distinguish and utilize its powers in order to positively impact your life. Resolve yourself to CHANGE those negative things in your life that you have control of, that make you miserable every day. Don't procrastinate and wait for miracles to happen to you. Be in control and MAKE things happen. The powerful emotion of disgust can give you the impetus you desperately need to make CHANGES RIGHT NOW!