Emotional Control: Soothe or Riot?
Posted by: Luke in personal development, tags: anger, compassion, counterpart, daily basis, distrust, emotions, equilibrium, feelings, forgiveness, intensity, mistborn, peace, riot, sanderson, self confidence, sense of fear, wikiIn Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, characters have various powers, fueled by metal. Those who use the power of brass are called Rioters, because they can increase the intensity of others’ emotions, whereas those who use zinc are called Soothers, and can reduce the intensity of specific emotions.
While we can’t influence the emotions of others, we can influence our own emotions. In a sense, we are able to both soothe and riot specific emotions in ourselves to a limited degree.
What is interesting about this is that emotions exist in a sort of equilibrium, with each having an opposite counterpart. So if you reduce the intensity of one, it increases the intensity of others. For example, if you soothe your sense of fear, distrust, and anger, it tends to amplify feelings like love, trust, and forgiveness.
So the two powers are linked, in the long run at least. Which method do you prefer to use, though? Is it calmly meditating to accentuate feelings of peace and compassion? Or do you carefully stoke and riot up your sense of enthusiasm and self-confidence on a daily basis?
Most people don’t consciously control their emotions in this manner. They let life toss them around and react to events however they happen. But if you learn to carefully soothe down or stoke up your emotions in the right way, you can achieve amazing results.
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