I was at a lecture on emotional wellbeing and I heard someone say “If only it was that easy”. It is, when you know how, but few of us are taught it, so you have to go out and learn it.

Nobody is born knowing how to drive a car, bake bread or raise children. The understanding and skills have to be learned. It’s the same with emotional management.

If the next question is “How do I learn that”, don’t ask me, I’m a bloke! Men aren’t in touch with their emotions (so we are told), so how would I know?

What I can say, unequivocally, is that emotions get better with practice. The more you do it, the easier it is to do more of it. Practice feeling love, and it gets easier, practice feeling less desirable emotions, like anger or guilt, and that gets easier too.

So maybe the answer is to put some effort into practicing the emotions you want; do it enough and the unwanted ones will simply be pushed aside.