Who would like to follow someone who follows only his emotions?

When Cain’s rage overwhelmed his emotions, he allowed his emotions to control him. A wise man will learn to control his actions!

Last week, we talked about how I, as a person, need to have a healthy inner being. This implies that we can have an unhealthy inner being!

An unhealthy inner being results from my negligence towards them.

Whenever I encounter a problem, I adopt the attitude of “Let it Be”. This may be a way for me to rid my problems and hope that things will resolve themselves. But we do not realise what “Let it Be” entails…

When God created the heavens and the earth, God said “Let there be light” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Today, do you want your inner being to be in the light that is good? Do you think it is a good thing to “Let it Be”?

To know oneself, we need to trace our roots back to Genesis.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth— Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the face of the deep.”

Genesis 1:1-2

If we do not make a conscious effort to create a good outcome for our Thoughts, Emotions and Actions, “Let it Be” will always go back to the natural order of things, which is “formless and empty” and “dark”.

If I may use a series of words to describe our inner being –

An Unhealthy Inner Being is Formless, Empty and Dark

A Healthy Inner Being is Structured, Organised, Connected, With Boundaries, Clear

A man’s inner being may be categorised into 3 main parts –

Emotions, Thoughts and Actions – which forms a man’s entire being.

We always think that a man’s Thoughts, Emotions and Actions are unrelated. But yet, they are all well-connected! If these 3 Inner Entities remain separated, our inner being would remain chaotic.

Imagine, if these 3 Inner Entities, Thoughts, Emotions and Actions all held hands to be connected, what shape would we get?

What would be the strongest shape? Someone said, a circle is the strongest shape! But a circle is like a ball, that can be kicked about easily.

If you notice Israel’s flag (the Jews are the chosen people of God in the Old Testament), you will notice that their flag has 2 big triangles in the centre, which makes up the Shield of David.

This is by no coincidence, because triangles are the most stable shapes.

This triangle also represents God, Man and the World. An inverted triangle is World, Man and God.

While a circle cannot represent a stable shape, a triangle symbolises stability.

Do you think that if we use the attitude of “Let it Be” on your Thoughts, Emotions and Actions, is it possible to make it a stable triangle?

A healthy person should take note of his Thoughts, Emotions and Actions.

“Therefore, putting aside the lie, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger, nor give place to the devil. The one who steals must steal no longer, but instead must labor, working with his own hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with the one who has need.”

Ephesians 4:25-28 LEB

The Bible tells us that our Actions need to be controlled. We need to catch our thoughts to know ourselves, and through our Actions, we will understand our Emotions better.

Then we can allow our Thoughts to lead our Emotions.

We have the ability to learn new information and change our mindset. We can then use beneficial thoughts to cultivate healthy Emotions. When our Emotions are inclined to present themselves negatively, it is important that we can control our actions!

Let us take an example.

Parents, when your child throws a tantrum (outburst of emotions), what would you say?

(Child crying) Don’t cry!

(Child continues crying)

There is nothing to cry about!

(Child still cries) (Parent enters into teaching mode)

Child, you need to CONTROL your EMOTIONS!

(Child cannot stop crying) Child, you need to MANAGE your EMOTIONS!

Doesn’t this sound familiar?

Say today if you were cheated of a certain sum of money, or your friend betrayed you, would you be able to keep your cool, control or manage your emotions?

No! Because your emotions would tell you, “I CANNOT BE CONTROLLED!”

Say today you are angry and you start throwing things. And I say, “Control your emotions!” This would be really difficult to do! But you can control your actions such that when you are angry, you do not throw stuff. One can still control one’s actions when one is feeling emotional.

Thus, we do not tell someone to “Control Your Emotions”, but to “Control Your Actions”.

But when you lose your cool, and someone reminds you “Control your emotions!”, there is no need to argue and say “Friend, you should say, Control your actions!”

Instead be reminded that this is a sign that an onlooker has observed that you really need to “Control Your Actions!”

When I have controlled my actions, what should I do with my Uncontrollable Emotions?

Now you can reflect upon your emotions at that time. This will help you to understand yourself better.

For instance,

What do you value?

What was something you cannot accept?

What do you believe in?

From here, you will be able to create a new mindset to teach your emotions, and cultivate a healthy inner being.

Our outward actions can let our inner being enter into an organised and structured situation.

Therefore, I can declare, “I am a Manager of my Emotions!”, instead of letting my Emotions decide what kind of person I am.

Such a Me is a healthy person. In other words, to be a healthy person, I have to take charge of my Thoughts, Emotions and Actions.

It is my wish that this post will help the readers better understand yourself and cultivate a healthy inner being.