The Three Challenges
negative emotions
Sadness, anger, fear, disgust, anxiety, guilt, shame, regret, envy, loneliness, stress, frustration, despair, hate, contempt, and disappointment. These are just some examples of Negative Emotions — the first psychological challenge that we all must face.
When we are in a state of negativity, we become disconnected from ourselves. We are consumed by, and under the control of, whatever emotion we are experiencing in that moment. We are unable to think clearly or to empathise, and if we remain in this state for extended periods of time, it will inevitably begin to impact our physical health as well.
There is a fundamental truth we must accept about negative emotions: they provide no psychological benefit.
They consume, they drain, and they waste our energy.
This is why it is of the utmost importance that we begin to address them and face this challenge directly. Because unless we do, our psychological health will not improve.
imagination
Imagination is one of our most unique psychological tools, a function of our Intellectual Mind that allows us to create images, scenarios, and experiences that are not present in the moment. More importantly, it is the seat of our ability to create — to bring something non-existent to life, and to express ourselves through our most intimate and creative desires.
But it is also the root of some of our most damaging psychological experiences. An imagination that is not tempered or governed properly will spiral out of control and lose itself in worry — in scenarios and conversations that ended long ago, yet that we cannot stop thinking about, and in situations that are not happening in the present, yet that we cannot move away from.
It can turn the most beautiful day at the beach, with friends and family, into a nightmare, by trapping you in an endless negative imagination.
This is the second psychological challenge we must face if we wish to build a healthy psychological experience of ourselves.
identification
Identification is the third psychological challenge that we must all face, and it is important to understand the way it functions if we are to begin observing it.
Identification is the act of becoming attached to something to such a degree that it creates the illusion that it forms part of who you are.
One of the most common ways we can observe this is in people’s identification with a football team. They become so involved in the successes and failures of their team that it begins to affect them psychologically. They experience the highs and the lows as if those very things were happening to them.
The question is not whether we should support a team, but how we are identified with it. This becomes even more important when we begin to identify with our Personality. When we live under the illusion that who we are is the thoughts we think, the traumas we carry, the worries we experience, and the mechanisms of our Personality.
It is here that we lose distance from ourselves, and with it, the ability to observe, to understand, and to choose.