Much of marriage counseling involves helping people feel more empathy, and understand the negative emotions of their spouses.

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They quickly forget the negative emotions of setbacks and press forward.

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Sometimes just giving yourself permission to feel any emotion without judgment or censorship can lessen the intensity of those negative emotions.

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Having the Super Bowl at the Superdome calls to mind how the Saints' victory helped "wash away whatever negative emotions people were holding onto from the impact of Katrina and the levee breaks, " says Early.

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Decades after the event, nearly half of those who did not pass the grammar school entry test said it brought back negative emotions.

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The huge panorama of problems, issues, untoward thoughts, negative emotions, conflicts, sensory dysphoria, interpersonal ineptitude, and intrusive images that bring most people to therapists far outweigh the relatively small number of complaints that are thus far amenable to empirical methods and manualized therapy.

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But while praise should be delivered with conviction or an emotional connection, emotions should be taken out of the equation when giving negative feedback, Zenger says.

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Instead of trying to alleviate some of the uncomfortable and unpleasant emotions you feel by "trying to be positive, " try being negative instead.

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