God has given us many emotions to help us make sense and navigate the ups and downs of our life and relationships. And each of these feelings can serve as a type of guide or advisor for us, but must keep their proper place in our internal advisory board.
An advisory board often includes individuals from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. And each offers meaningful insights for the overall direction of the company. But typically the board works collectively and one member doesn’t dominate the whole. And the owner or CEO still holds the ultimate responsibility for making a decision after taking advice from the board.
This is similar to how our inner world should work and the role our emotions should play as well.
Each emotion is offering us advice based on its area of expertise. For instance, Anger speaks to injustices we’ve experienced, whereas Grief reminds us of losses and Fear alerts us to potential dangers. And each perspective provides helpful considerations that we should not ignore.
But no one emotion should take over the board, or make the ultimate decisions for our life. They have an important place in advising us, but we remain responsible for the decisions made. We listen to their advice without neglecting our duty to make decisions aligned with our core values and beliefs.
To be sure, there’s wisdom in having a fully staffed advisory board – with any and all emotions welcome to the table. We’re better equipped to make informed decisions when this is the case. But we must still keep the board in check as simply advisors and not decision-makers.
In the end, learn to listen to each emotion and the advice it offers. But remember you’re ultimately responsible for the decisions you make and not your internal advisory board of emotions.
Photo by Benjamin Child on Unsplash
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