No No!

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Tonight the Minnesota Twins had a pitcher pitch a no-hitter, for only the sixth time in their long history. His name was Francisco Liriano and he pitched a great game against Chicago White Sox to grab this convicted achievement.
The reason I choose this is because a few weeks ago we talked about emotion regulation and how it is important to be able to control your emotions if you are to mature in your emotional health. I cannot think of another situation that would put this to the test more than pitching nine innings knowing that one mistake will cost you your great night. I am sure that he had to maintain his emotions and be able to perform at a very high level, even thougth he was in an emotional tasting situation. As counselors we must be able to also perform at a very high level, even through the hard times in our lives. If we do not have a mature way to deal with our emotions, we will not be able to get that no-hitter, or perform when others need us the most.

The Value of Emotional Regulation

Rage.

Anxiety.

Depression.

Fear.

How do you handle each emotion? Are you afraid of these emotions, or do you feel like you have a pretty good grasp on your everyday emotional state? Emotional Regulation, as most counselors or psychologists call it, is actually a fairly difficult term to define. Dr. Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault prefers a broad definition which includes the following aspects: 1) The ability to recognize and understand emotional responses, 2) the ability to accept emotions rather than reject, suppress or fear them, 3) the ability to engage in strategies that help reduce or modify the intensity of a certain emotion, 4) the ability to control impulsive behaviors when upset.

The above definition gives a pretty good idea of what Emotional Regulation looks like, but how can one begin to implement such skills?

I'm glad you asked.

Dr. Salters-Pedneault recommends at least three exercises (though there are plenty more). First, one can work on reducing his/her emotional vulnerability by getting plenty of rest, having a regular diet with plenty of exercise, and by practicing good self-care. One can also increase emotional maturity by practicing mindfulness. This exercise involves placing all of your attention on the on the present and experiencing each of your senses. Lastly, Dr. Salters-Pedneault recommends emotional acceptance, which actually goes hand-in-hand with mindfulness. After you have tuned into the moment, you may then begin to observe and accept (but not evaluate) your emotions.

I personally found this article very helpful and would encourage any reader the follow the link above to the web page, as the site is replete with information on a number of topics related to emotion regulation.

A Case Showing Religious Faith, Emotion Regulation and Psychological Well-Being

Here is a story of outwardly looking like cursed person who overcame inner inferiority and built up identity with the positive psychological principle, called “think big.” His name is Ben Carson. I describe his story at the end of this post. Actually, I found his story through internet search after reading his book, “think big.”

When he was in elementary school, he was really bad at studying and relationship with classmates. It is natural for uneducated and untrained student to have a tendency to fail at everywhere. Fortunately, his wise mother let him start to read books and get challenged and encouraged by his teacher. With his education, he could build up the ability to regulate his emotion and control his inferiority. Education is one of the proved way to help people who are in struggle to find answers. The more he challenged for better life, the more he needed the energy and motivation which were enable him to deal his present obstacles with developed psychological ability.

These days, many atheists try to study about the comparison of effects between religious faith and atheistic belief and unreasonably conclude that there is no different effect between two. It means that they have already presupposition that religious beliefs are playing a pivotal role for psychological well-being.

With the strong belief that Christian faith is real, it could be not harmful to open door and have a space for discussing the meaningful relationship between religious faith, including other religion, and psychological well-being.

There are a lot of people who have achieved their academic and scientific pinnacles with healthy religious faith. Here is one of them.

Carson was born in Detroit, Michigan. His mother, Sonya, had dropped out of school in the third grade and married at the age of 13. Carson's father abandoned the family after Sonya discovered he had another wife and kids, leaving his mother to fend for him and his brother. However, his mother insisted that he and his brother Curtis Carson, who is now an engineer, read at least two books a week then proceed to write reports on these books for her. This early education and encouragement shaped Carson's future. After graduating with honors from his high school, he attended Yale University, where he earned a degree in Psychology. From Yale, he attended University of Michigan Medical School, where his interest shifted from psychiatry to neurosurgery. Carson's excellent hand-eye coordination and three-dimensional reasoning skills made him a gifted surgeon. After medical school he became a neurosurgery resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. At age 33, he became the hospital's youngest Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery.
In 1987, Carson made medical history by being the first surgeon in the world to successfully separate twins (the Binder twins) conjoined at the back of the head (craniopagus twins). Operations to separate twins joined in this way had always failed, resulting in the death of one or both of the infants. Carson agreed to undertake the operation. The 70-member surgical team, led by Carson, worked for 22 hours. At the end, the twins were successfully separated and can now survive independently. Carson's other surgical innovations have included the first intrauterine procedure to relieve pressure on the brain of a hydrocephalic fetal twin, and a hemispherectomy, in which a young girl suffering from uncontrollable seizures had one half of her brain removed.