Do you believe that things are true just because they ‘feel’ true? Do you feel this way? “My problems are too big to solve”, “I feel afraid, so I must be in a dangerous situation”, “I am not in the mood to do anything, I may as well stay in bed”. Those are emotions doing the reasoning or thinking.

Emotions can sometimes overwhelm our rational minds and lead to poor decisions or judgments. It is called Emotional Reasoning. It is a cognitive distortion where a person concludes that their emotional reaction proves something is true, regardless of evidence proving otherwise. A common side effect of emotional reasoning is procrastination.

There are ways to work on emotional reasoning so that it has less power to negatively impact you and your relationships. מוח שליט על הלב “the mind rules the heart”

• Remember that feelings are just feelings. While your feelings are always valid, they shouldn’t dictate how you view reality. Understand that your feelings are not representative of your worth. Just because you are feeling a certain way doesn’t mean that it is true.
• Try to identify what parts of your belief are based on emotion and which are based on fact. Push yourself to get objective. Ask yourself, “Is what I’m focusing on fact, or is it a reality I’ve created in my mind?” “What are the facts that can support the feeling I’m having?” “Have I (arbitrarily) discounted, or dismissed, more positive explanations for those emotional findings?” “What facts might lead me to believe something different?