The Emotion Filter

A magical aspect of filmmaking is that you can change the mood of a scene entirely by tweaking the lighting of the set and the characters.

You can change the same scene with the same people in the same environment from sinister to peaceful just by adjusting where the lights are placed and the colour they emit:

This is how movie directors evoke different feelings in the audience without any of the threats and emotions shown in the movie being real for us.

The way we see and perceive the world around us works similarly.

But instead of lighting, our emotions make the present moment either gloomy and depressing or happy and hopeful.

So, in a way, our emotions act as a filter over our perception of our surroundings.

When we're feeling happy and content, we see hope and goodness in even the mundane elements around us. The same environment can look depressing and hopeless when our minds are clouded with negative, doubtful thoughts.

Think of the last time you looked around and found the world dark, hopeless and not a good place to live.

Was the world really such a bad place, or were you simply having a bad day?

While we can't do much about the world around us, we can regulate our emotions by noticing the negative thoughts and stealing attention away from them to allow the light and hopeful ones to take their place.

The two ways I found effective at this task are:

1. Being grateful for what you already have. This morning, I saw a school friend share photos of her new home on Instagram, and it immediately evoked a sense of inadequacy in me. Why didn't I own a house yet? But then I realised I knew nothing about her life. Why was I comparing mine with hers? My feeling of lack immediately turned into gratitude because although I didn't own a house yet, I have the privilege and freedom to work and live on my terms and don't have to shoulder the burden of a massive home loan. I wish to buy or build a house in the future, but I'm pretty happy with where I am right now, and this momentary comparison anxiety doesn't negate that truth.
2. Being hopeful of a better future. The beauty of situations and moments is that they are ephemeral. Good times don't last, but so do the bad ones. Having confidence in your abilities to get you out of a rut and hoping for a better future can quickly turn a depressing situation into a plan for a better one. I remember feeling so trapped in a job I disliked that I didn't feel like getting out of bed in the morning. I was looking at life through a gloomy filter every day. The moment I realised that I didn't have to be stuck in this loop of despair and could work to build a better future, I saw fragments of a plan come together in my mind, which ultimately got me out of that stressful situation.

How we perceive the world around us and, by association, our lives is largely dictated by our current emotions — we look at the world through an emotion filter.

Choose a filter that helps you progress in life, not hold you back.