Few of us will ever face the harsh realities of being imprisoned or enslaved, but we are at risk of being captured by the undue influence of others through emotional targeting of our needs and desires. Let’s talk about how to protect ourselves from this type of maligned influence.
Needs and Desires
Everyone has basic physiological and psychological needs and, when properly regulated, our emotional system is tuned to help us behave in ways that enable us to meet these needs. Typically our needs include food, water, shelter, safety, security, connections with others, and personal fulfilment.
Desires are more about seeking quality and quantity in order to achieve an optimum state of advantage in meeting our basic and higher order needs. Again, we find our emotions at play here as a sense of satisfaction can be replaced by a feeling of jealousy or inferiority which increases our desire to feel satisfied again.
In a healthy and helpful state our emotions provide the drive and motivation required to seek out opportunities, capabilities, and the capacity to make sure our needs and desires are met.
The Emotional Hijack
One of the beautiful things about being human is that we are storytellers. A good story fills us with hope, encouragement, and a sense that we can model our lives in a way to live up to the ideals communicated through the stories we tell.
Unfortunately there is a wicked side to storytelling. Our proclivity for reacting emotionally to the stories we hear makes us vulnerable to emotional manipulation that can impact our thoughts and behaviors in a way that prevents us from living the life we would have otherwise chosen.
I like to think of these stories as emotional hijackers. They sneak past our security and defenses and worm their way into a position of control in our lives. Before we can even realize what is happening they have control and we are now at their mercy.
Trapped
One of the challenges of being under the control of maligned influence is that much like Neo in the Matrix we might not even be aware of the level of control we have given over to outside influences.
If your emotional states are skewing towards the negative with no known or identifiable reason stemming from your physiological and psychological needs then there may be a source of maligned influence hijacking your emotions.
You might not see it, but there will be signs. Outside manipulation of your emotional system may manifest as a general sense of depression or anxiety, feeling down or on edge for no specific or identifiable reason. You may also have an increased sense of irritability from an over stimulated nervous system resulting in increased fear or anger. There could be an overarching sense of despair or emptiness… maybe even a hunger that can’t be satiated.
Break Free
So what can you do about it? Here are some tips.
- Conduct an Influence Audit – Take a look at the media you consume and assess its impact on your emotions. Look for overly emotional content designed to capture your attention and entice strong emotional responses.
- Take a Media Break or Digital Cleanse – Just shut it all off for a day and see what happens
- Practice Mindful Awareness – Learn to identify your emotional states and look for the outside influences that can activate them.
- Develop Emotion Regulation Skills – Take responsibility for your emotional response by learning how to control your physiological and cognitive responses in a way that allows your emotions to help you.
- Challenge the Stories – Check to make sure the feelings you have are valid based on facts and not problematic thinking or cognitive bias. Whose thoughts are you thinking?
Live Free
I hope today’s reflection has given you some insight into how influence can hijack our emotions to drive our behaviors. Ultimately, it is up to each of us to protect ourselves from maligned influencers trying to manipulate our emotions. When we take control and responsibility we can secure our autonomy, resist captivity, and live free.
Thanks For Reading
If you found this helpful, you can read all of my Daily Reflections at www.tacticstotalwellness.com/blog
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