Your emotion will either pushes you to take action or stops you from getting things done.

MSN Encarta describes emotion as a heightened feeling about somebody or something. It is also an agitation or disturbance caused by strong feelings.

You most likely will notice and able to label a few repeating ones on a daily basis.

Emotional state like anxiety and feelings of doubt, worthless and anger are among the most common ones.

A feeling actually does not just happen. It originates from thoughts, breathing, posture, words, etc.

But, since it is mostly happening through repetitive patterns your reaction tends to be automatic.

What you see, hear or feel in the inside causes your feelings. What is happening outside is only a trigger.

You may have witnessed an event and it had impacted you. You then associated that feeling onto any new situation that provides the trigger.

You can automatically get angry even over a small issue. And you step into memories of old hurts easily. Your feeling overwhelms your rationality.

When you go around wasting your energy on negative feelings you attract more negativity in your life.The feeling of disappointment for example, is destructive and if allowed to linger will lead you to a life of mediocrity.

Your social life will be affected because no one wants to be around someone who feels bad all the time. And the feeling of loneliness will seep in.

Your feelings shape your decisions and determine the quality of your life.

One of the areas to look into if you plan for your personal growth is to develop yourself emotionally.

What you need to decide is a course of action.

• Begin with self-awareness.

Recognize your mood as it happens. Pay attention and monitor it. Once you are aware, you can choose to get out or to stay with it. Otherwise, it will go by largely unnoticed.

• Reframe the event that is giving you a bad feeling.

Whenever you feel a sensation, internal pictures form in your mind?

You may even hear voices, yours or someone else's. Or just a sensation somewhere in your body.

You can distort the pictures, the voices and the sensations. How? Play around with each one. Your brain can do wonders. If you can repeat something over and over again in your head, you can also have fun creating different pictures and sounds.

• Mind your language.

What you say to yourself affect your feelings. You need words to express your feelings and sensations. And how you label it will affect how you respond to a situation.

Your negative self-talks can cause you to feel inadequate and defeated. Carefully chosen words are powerful and can affect your state of mind, shape your self-image and overcome the feeling of inferiority.

• Change your physiology. Do something.

When negative feeling or a tragedy that causes grief overwhelms you, do something to overcome it. Refuse to allow your emotion of sadness to prolong over a long period.

Get busy. Move your body. Go through the motions. Make things happen and create as much joy as you can.

You can control your actions at any given moment. Your feelings will catch up with your motions. You can use humor and laughter to change your negative frame of mind. Just as feelings generate actions, actions generate feelings.

• Ask questions.

When you experience any negative feelings, try asking yourself questions. Questions can break your emotional state.

If you feel down and out and worry creeps in, have a few conversations with yourself. Start asking yourself lots of questions and look for the answers.

• Letting go.

Let go of any bottled feeling and the emotion of frustration that is holding you back.

Why do you keep anything that gives you bad feelings? What would that do to you? Letting go can eliminate your limited feelings like depression, anxiety, guilt and fear. Your pain does not have to live with you forever. Get the destructive feeling of hate out of your system.

• Cultivate a sense of appreciation and gratitude.

Remember that your emotions come and go. They are always responding to a stimulus. Learn to cultivate a sense of appreciation and gratitude on any situation or problem that arise.

The people and challenges that present themselves are trying to teach you something of value.

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