How to close an emotional cycle, in 6 steps

Different guidelines to give a sense of completion to the phases of life we go through.

Human beings tend to experience tend to experience what surrounds us as if it were a narrative..

Beyond the knowledge that describes things, as encyclopedias and manuals do, we like to see things by interpreting them as if they were stories: not something fixed and immobile, but something fluid and in motion. Our own identity, without going any further, is a set of memories about ourselves that we are unconsciously animating to give it a narrative form: from the past to the future.

Therefore, we also experience emotions as if they were narrative arcs. In this article we will see how to close an emotional cycle and, in this way, be able to turn the page and give dynamism to our psychological development, avoiding stagnation.

What is closing an emotional cycle?

By closing emotional cycles we mean the fact of assigning a meaning of completion to a stage of our life. That is to say, to feel that it has had a beginning, a development and a denouement. However, beyond this simple definition, there is an emotional factor linked to the feeling of personal development. It is not the same to feel that a stage of our lives has concluded, as it is to feel that it has concluded and also to realize that it has made us realize that it has made us feel that our lives are over. and also realizing that it has made us better ourselves..

It is essential that when closing emotional cycles there are reasons to believe in this evolution and sense of improvement. Otherwise, it is very likely that there will appear a fear of falling into the same mistakes as before, since nothing has been learned from them.

The desire for completion

If we aspire to close emotional cycles by giving meaning to a past stage, it is because in general we do not like to live with the tension generated by the idea that there are things pending in our lives. with the tension generated by the idea that there are pending things in our lives..

This phenomenon is called the Zeigarnik effect, and it indicates that we pay more attention to those things that we feel are not finished. If what we are trying to do is to overcome a phase of life that has been tinged by sadness and emotional Pain in general, obsessions with the feeling of not moving forward can make us feel stuck.

A paradox is thus created: there is a desire to end that stage, but as time goes by, each as time goes by, there is less and less belief in this way out.. Therefore, closing the emotional cycle is important to avoid falling into a self-fulfilling prophecy (pessimism reduces our chances of moving forward).

How to emotionally end stages of our lives

To move on to another chapter of your life, follow these useful guidelines when it comes to ending an emotional cycle.

1. Think about what was the beginning of the cycle

Having a clear picture of when the emotional cycle began helps to identify what can lead to the end of the cycle. helps to identify what can lead us to close it.. For example, the appearance of a problem (the illness of a family member, a dismissal from work, etc.).

Think about how you felt.

It is necessary to go beyond the simple description of objective facts. Stop and think about your emotional reaction in this first phase of the cycle, both positive and negative aspects..

3. Remember how you tried to move forward

At this point, remember what initiatives you took to move the situation forward, both in the objective criteria and in those that have to do with your feelings.

4. Don't omit your mistakes

Mistakes and failures are an inherent part of life, and keeping them out of our memories does not help if we want to make sense of them for ourselves.. In short, we must learn from them in order to be able to notice that the most significant events of this stage led us to a final stage in which we closed the cycle.

5. Think about the direction that can lead you to close the cycle.

With the things you have in mind after going through the previous steps, it is already possible to see a trend that can lead you to close the cycle in the most positive and constructive way possible.

Just as a series of points can cause us to estimate a trend or direction if we link them together, by recapitulating what we have been through, it is easy to to see which completion solutions are more realistic and which are not.

It is especially important to keep in mind the latter: the reasonableness and realism of the solution we come up with. In the imagination, all ideas seem equally feasible, but in practice, we know that their application to reality creates inequalities between these options.

6. Go to the call to action

It is very difficult to close an emotional cycle simply through introspection. Therefore, make your way out of this phase a call to action, make your way out of this phase into an action or a series of actions, so that you can give it a solid foundation.so that you can give it a solidity or physical structure that shows your progress. In this way, you will be demonstrating to yourself that the person who went into that emotional cycle is not exactly the same person who came out of it.