The soundtrack of my life is crying, roaring, yelling, whining, even joyful noises at high decibels. Sometimes I wish my kids would turn the volume down a few notches. Emotions are hard to ignore on high volume.
I don't want to ignore their emotions, but I also don't want my life to be a complete emotional rollercoaster in response to the ups and downs of kids around me.
What are the choices in such a scenario?
Ignore (lying and pretending)
Fight (trying to change the person)
Manipulate (try to change the circumstance)
Flight (avoiding the perceived trigger)
Reflect (mirror back the same emotion and action)
Listen (be curious, seek to understand)
Love (Thinking understanding loving thoughts)
Our brain does this too when we ignore our feelings. It turns up the volume until we respond. The emotion doesn't go away, it gets louder. Until it's loud enough that we can't ignore it.
Personally, the last two on my list are how I want to respond to other people's emotions - listening when I don't understand which naturally leads to loving when I do.