Emotion regulation

Emotion regulation is being able to cope with an emotion without suppressing it or being swept away by it. The point is not to eliminate the emotion but to be able to keep its intensity and duration at a bearable level. James Gross's research shows that reinterpreting a situation is often a healthier way of regulating than suppressing the emotion; a suppressed emotion does not disappear but often comes out somewhere else. In coaching, emotion regulation is not a clinical treatment but a ground of awareness on which the client can recognize their feelings without judgment and work with them. An emotion that is recognized often settles more easily.