Customizing My
Emotional Spin Cycle:
Data Analysis
Psych 409a—Fall 2001—G15
Dr.Leon James, Instructor
By: Melanie Warlick
November 26, 2001
Table of Contents
Introduction
Sampling and Differentiating
Modification
Discussion
Conclusion
The purpose of report two is to observe our daily behavior (for one week) towards negative events by describing our thoughts and feelings in that moment. During the second week, we will choose two or three events that occurred the most during week one and try to modify our negative emotions into positive emotions. We must try to bridge our negative emotions from the red zone into positive emotions from the blue zone. In the following report, I explain my week of stress and my solutions to my problems.
Week 1: Sampling and Differentiating
Sunday, November 4, 2001
Morning:
Every morning I wake up feeling happy and thinking that my day will be good. But today was different. When I woke up this morning, I wished my roommate a good morning and she looked at me and snubbed me. Just last night she was fine and this morning she’s a witch. I’m tired of her mood swings. I’ve been dealing with her all semester. I’m so irritated with her. What’s her problem? Well, I made an effort to talk to my roommate but she just ignored me, so I decided to do the same to her. I’m not going to waste my breath on her.
I just go off of work. I work for the University of Hawaii football team. My duties include fixing the equipment, prepare the players lockers and the football field for practices and games and laundry. My job is easy but sometimes it can be a little tedious. Today I had to do laundry for over 100 football players and 10 coaching staff all by myself. It’s a pain when you have to do it by yourself. Normally I don’t mind because it’s a "no brainer" job but today, I had things to do and I wanted to accomplish them by a certain time. But I had to waste 3 hours of my time doing laundry. I complained to myself a little but doing that irritated me even more because I realized that I was getting anywhere by complaining.
Before I left to go to work, I noticed that there was a bunch of dishes in the sink and when I arrived back home, the same dishes were in the sink and more. My roommates and I have a rule that we have to wash our dishes right after each use so it doesn’t accumulate in the sink. But this rule hasn’t been working at all. What’s the point of having rules if no one follow them? I was irritated looking at all the dishes so I ended up washing them myself. I find myself always cleaning up after my roommates. They’re adults; they should know how to clean up after themselves.
Stress: 5
Satisfaction with myself: 7
Effectiveness or productivity: 6
Coping successfully: 6
Current level of hope for the future: 6
Negativity or selfishness of some other people: 8
Monday, November 5, 2001
This morning I was having the best sleep. My bed was warm and comfortable. Usually, I have to wake up early in the morning but this morning I had a chance to sleep in and I was going to take advantage of that. But my roommate was making a lot of noise. It seemed that she was trying to wake me up on purpose as she slammed her drawers and turned on her music. I was pissed. I thought to myself: Doesn’t she have consideration for others? After about 10 minutes, I had enough so I finally woke up. She asked me why did I get up so early. I told her if someone wasn’t making any noise then I could’ve gotten some sleep. She laughed like she was quiet as a mouse. That made me even madder.
Today is supposed to be payday. I was excited because I’m low on cash right now. I went to work earlier only to find out that my boss didn’t turn in the time sheets on time. So, I’m not going to receive my paycheck for another week. I was mad. I thought my boss was the most irresponsible person but I guess mistakes happen. I decided that I shouldn’t get mad because there’s nothing that I can do about it anyway. And I will get paid eventually.
My roommate is going out with my best friend. I don’t approve of this relationship at all because she is so bossy and controlling. My roommate has scared off all of my best friend’s friends. No one wants to put up with my roommate. I’m the only person that hasn’t been pushed away from my best friend’s girlfriend (my roommate) I think she’s insecure about herself. She probably asked me to be her roommate so she could keep an eye on my best friend and me. No matter how many times my best friend and I tell her that we have been on a brother-sister relationship right from the start, she is still sketchy about our friendship. That makes me so pissed. I know for a fact that she has tried to come in between my best friend and I. If her goal is break our friendship, then she has another thing coming to her. I can’t stand her.
Stress: 7
Satisfaction with myself: 6
Effectiveness or Productivity: 6
Coping Successfully: 4
Current level of hope for the future: 5
Negativity or selfishness of some other people: 7
Tuesday, November 6, 2001
I was having a bad morning today. When I woke up, I stubbed my toe against my dresser, and my elbow hit the towel rack, I was in pain. When I went to school, the stairs leading up to my class was slippery and as my luck would have, I slipped. Luckily I caught myself in time before; I fell on my face. I was angry with myself because I was being such a clumsy. What did I do to deserve all of that? Then to top my morning off, my professor kept picking on me in class. Just because I went to Spain, he thinks that I know all this Spanish. I’m in Spanish but there are others who are way better than I am and there’s also native Spanish speaker in my class. Why doesn’t he pick on them? I was having a bad morning.
My afternoon was okay but for some reason as soon as my next-door neighbor called out my name, I got irritated. I’m not sure if I was already irritated subconsciously but just the sound of her voice made me angry. Out of reaction, I gave her attitude. I couldn’t stand being around her. I stayed away from her the rest of the day so the irritation feeling would go away. Evening One of my roommates has very low self-esteem about herself. Everyday she constantly puts herself down and thinks that people are weird if they like her. She doesn’t think she’s very pretty or skinny. My roommate has a great personality. She’s tall, thin and smart. I get frustrated with her when she has negative opinions about herself. I have never once heard her say anything positive. I feel like screaming at her. I can’t stand when people are so negative. I realize that I can’t change a persons thoughts and feelings overnight, especially when the person has thought and felt a certain way their whole life. I keep asking myself, what can I do to help my roommate develop a positive aspect about herself.
Global Ratings
Stress: 4
Satisfaction of myself: 5
Effectiveness or Productivity: 5
Coping Successfully: 4
Current level of hope for the future: 4
Negativity or selfishness of some other people: 2
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Morning
I woke up this morning to find ants all over the kitchen. Someone didn’t wipe the food crumbs and sugar off the counter. I felt so disgusted so I started cleaning the entire house. My roommates knew about the ants and they seen me cleaning up but no one offered to help. That really pissed me off. I live with a bunch of pigs.
My next door neighbor, whom I will call Ken, is a really nice guy but he can be inconsiderate of people feelings sometimes. He knows that my roommate has low self-esteem about herself and he still puts her down. Even though my roommate and I both know that he’s joking, it still hurts my roommate’s feelings. I was annoyed with him. My roommate can’t stick up for herself so I had to stick up for her. Since Ken kept persisting with his comments, I kicked him out of the house.
The comments that my neighbor made earlier today about roommate have been replaying in her mind. Her self-esteem has plummeted even more. She moping around the house and I can’t do anything to cheer her up. I’m having a hard time convincing her that Ken didn’t mean what he said. Before I kicked Ken out of the house, he tried to tell her that he was joking but it didn’t work. I’ve never met anyone with such low self-esteem. I’m used to people to have some confidence in themselves but my roommate is ridiculous. I try to understand her point of view but it’s hard because I see her as the exact opposite of what she views herself as. It makes me mad that I can’t help her.
Stress: 4
Satisfaction with myself: 5
Effectiveness or Productivity: 5
Coping Successfully: 5
Current level of hope for the future: 6
Negativity or selfishness of some other people: 6
Thursday, November 8, 2001
Morning
This morning I woke up to my roommate’s alarm. The alarm was going off for a time that felt like forever. When I finally found the energy to lift myself out of bed I found my roommate staring at me and she finally turned it off when I woke up. I thought she was the weirdest girl. She feels that if she has to wake up then I have to wake up. I told asked her what was she doing staring at me and not turning the alarm off until I got out of bed. She said that she was day dreaming and didn’t hear the alarm. I thought that was the most ridiculous story that I’ve ever heard. I was mad that I had to wake up earlier than I had to. Granted I only had 15 more minutes of sleep left but that’s a lot when you’re tired.
I am stressed. I have so many things to do in so little time. I have to work at 2:00pm-8:00pm. I have to study for 2 tests and revise my paper. Everything is due tomorrow. I study a little during the week but not enough to be ready by tomorrow. I should have done more during the week and revise my paper sooner. I always stress myself like this. I’m getting mad at myself because I allowed myself to be put in this predicament. All these thoughts are going through my head like why didn’t I start studying sooner? Or if I did go out this week, I would’ve finished all my tasks. I’m so frustrated right now.
I’m still stressed from this afternoon. My mind feels like it’s going to explode because of all the studying that I was trying to do for my tests tomorrow. Will I remember everything since I’m trying to cram a month’s worth of lectures from 2 classes in one night? On top of all this stress from studying, I’m also irritated that I have to stop everything I’m doing in order to write my feelings down for this paper. But, maybe it’s a good thing because I’m trying to keep up with this class.
Stress: 8
Satisfaction with myself: 5
Effectiveness or Productivity: 7
Coping Successfully: 5
Current level of hope for the future: 3
Negativity or Selfishness of some other people: 8
Friday, November 9, 2001
Morning
I was conversing with one of my roommates this morning. She a plays a sport for UH. She was telling me that she has no time to do her chores because she has to wake up early in the morning for practice, go to school during the day, and attend bible study at night. She feels that it’s tough being an athlete. WHATEVER! My other roommates and I get up just as early as she to exercise, go to school, go to work and do our chores. We still have enough time for ourselves before we go to sleep. I don’t think that my "star athlete" roommate has no excuse. She gets more sleep than the rest of us with all the naps that she takes during the day. When she was telling me the difficulties of being an athlete, I just shook my head. I told her that she’s needs to learn how to manage her time wisely. She is an adult; she shouldn’t have to be told to do her chores. This girl is lazy.
My father called me today to irritate me. He did a good job. We always have these moments when we just cause trouble to each other and today, he felt like irritating me. We were having a nice conversation until he made a comment about my aunty. My father know how much family means to me and how much I hate when he speaks negatively about them especially my mother’s sister, whom he doesn’t get along with. I started to snap at him. Then he got mad at me because I never do take his side. My father and my aunty had a quarrel more than 10 years ago and my father has never gotten over it. He lives on the past. I told my father that I’d start taking his side when I feel that he’s right but in most cases he’s wrong. Now, my father and are going to give each other the silent treatment. This usually turns into a game to see who will break down and apologize first. Most times I win.
I’m tired of writing about events that irritate me or that make me angry. I just want to forget about all the negative events that have happened today and throughout the week. I want to relax and forget about all the negative events that occurred. I’m going to sleep early tonight and hope that tomorrow will be a good day, free from anger and irritation.
Stress: 4
Satisfaction with myself: 5
Effectiveness or Productivity: 6
Coping Successfully: 6
Current level of hope for the future: 5
Negativity or selfishness of some other people: 7
Saturday, November 10, 2001
This morning I was having one of those clumsy days again. I went to work and it seemed like I was hurting myself left and right. First, I scrape my leg against a latch on a trunk. My leg started bleeding. Then, I hit my shin against a bench and now I have a big bruise that hurts at the tiniest touch. I almost dropped a whole rack of helmets. I was so frustrated with myself.
I can’t stand my roommate, my best friend’s girlfriend. I have no idea what I did but she has been mad at me this whole week. She’s been giving me the silent treatment. But do I care? NO! She isn’t my friend and I’m not hers. The only reason that I am civil to her is because she is my friend’s girlfriend. I think she’s a spoiled brat. She’s the only child and gets her way all the time. She’s just pissing me off because she’s playing baby games with me. I can’t stand her. I am not going to suck up to her. What for? She’s no one to me.
My evening is okay. I’m not as mad as I was before. My roommate and I still aren’t talking to each other but it’s okay with me because I can’t stand the sound of her voice. I can’t wait till I move out. This is my last semester so I won’t have to live with her ever again. She puts too much drama in my life and everyone else, I think.
Stress: 4
Satisfaction with myself: 7
Effectiveness or Productivity: 6
Coping Successfully: 6
Negativity or selfishness of some other people: 7
During week 1, I found that I had negative emotions towards my roommates. One of my roommates, who is an athlete for the University of Hawaii, made excuses as to why she couldn’t do her chores. In the beginning, I used to keep my feelings in and do her chores for her. But I realized she is an adult and should be responsible and learn how to manage her time wisely. She will not learn anything if people always bail her out. I noticed that I started to give attitude when she wasn’t doing any of her chores. This was making me very angry. I know that I can’t change a person’s habits in a short period of time so I suggested to my roommates that we start a chore list. We will take turns in cleaning the house in order to make it fair for all of us. So far, the chore list has been a good idea.
My second roommate has very low self-esteem about herself. She has indicated to me that there was never a day when she felt good about herself. It made me mad that she never had any positive thoughts. She convinced herself that she was ugly and incapable of finding love. I wasn’t used to being around anyone who had very low self-esteem that my roommate has. I gave her advice. Since, she never fixes her hair and always wears old, baggy clothes, I suggested that one day, she should just dress up for school and do her hair. A girl always feels good when she looks good. After weeks of trying to help her gain self-esteem about herself, one day she comes down stairs all dressed with her hair done and says that she feels felt pretty. That was the first positive comment I heard her say.
My last roommate is the girlfriend of my best friend. She constantly has mood swings and tries to keep her boyfriend, my best friend away from me. She will not let him be in the same room as me for more than a minute. I tried to put myself in her shoes. I could see why she would the way she does if I was some other girl, but I’m her boyfriend’s best friend. I don’t understand her way of thinking. I tried talking to her about my feelings and asked her how she felt but she wasn’t trying to resolve anything. I tried to be nice to my roommate but it was hard. I couldn’t forgive her for coming between my best friend and me. Unfortunately, my modification to this dilemma didn’t work with her. We’re not talking still.
Lastly, I always procrastinate. This has been a problem of mine since I was little. Sometimes when I’m under pressure that is when I produce my best work but lately procrastination has only brought me stress that I don’t need. I’ve been procrastinating all semester but I have three weeks left in the school then I’ll be able to graduate. Before I graduate, I have a paper, a presentation, a test and a video project to do. I’ve already started on my paper and presentation, which are both due next week. I feel less pressure now that half of my "things to do list" are finished. I realized that getting a head start on things puts you ahead.
I never realized how much stress I would go through during the week until I monitored my behavior. I found that what gives me most stress is living with my roommates. One roommate is lazy and always has an excuse not to do her chores, the other has low self-esteem and has nothing positive to say about herself and my last roommate constantly has mood swings and tries to break the friendship between my best friend (her boyfriend) and I.
The other stress factor that I have is procrastination. I often find that I have all week to accomplish my tasks. Instead of doing my projects during the week, I start it the day before it’s due. I put myself through worries that I shouldn’t have to experience if I had an early start on things.
In my annotated bibliography (report 1) I briefly described what emotions, feeling, threefold self and the hierarchy of motives were. I also found web sites and articles that pertained to the emotional spin cycle. These sources included stories of negative emotions to positive emotions and helpful hints to improve you emotional spin cycle. To view my annotated bibliography, click on to: Report 1
I think that today’s society has a big impact our emotional spin cycle. We observe behavior from sources such as the media, family and friends, strangers and our environment. How we act and react to situations are due to what we have learned from others.
In order to explain what’s happening with our emotional spin cycle. We must first understand what exactly the emotional spin cycle is and the steps we take in order to move from the red zone of negative feelings, thoughts, and actions to the blue zone of positive feelings, thoughts and actions. For an over-view of the emotional spin cycle, click on to: The General Instructions
I’m not certain if we can get the whole world to understand our emotional spin cycle. I believe that if people are willing to improve their cycle and spread the word to others, negativity such as road rage and violence will decrease. In order to be in the blue zone of our emotional spin cycle, society must come into terms with their rage and be willing to change their attitude and thoughts. People may attend anger management classes or see a counselor so that they will improve their emotional spin cycle.
I decided to report on my roommates and my procrastination because I found that those subjects were the problems to my stress. The three-step methods, which are acknowledge, witness, and modify, helped me come into terms with the areas that troubled me.
The sampling technique that I used was a journal entry. I kept a record of my thoughts and feelings and the outcome of my stress factors. Most of my stress occurred in my house with my roommates and also with my procrastination and myself. I also used the global rating scale that was suggested in the general instructions. In this scale, I rated my stress level, level of satisfaction with myself, level of effectiveness, level of coping successfully, level of hope and the worst level negativity of some other people.
The daily spin cycle helps us see what we experience when we come in into terms with the negativity that occurs in our daily lives. The daily spin cycle became visible to me when I tried to improve my threefold self. Getting in touch with my threefold self help me overcome my anger and hostility towards my roommates.
In my global rating scale, my scores range between 4 and 8. Most of the time I found myself having negative thoughts and feelings towards my roommates and my stress level was high whenever I procrastinated with my work. During the second week, I modified my attitude toward negative situations. In the outcome, my stress level lowered and my attitude towards my roommates were more positive than usual. Not procrastinating also helped towards lowering my level of rage. It felt good accomplishing my tasks ahead of time.
This report has opened my eyes as to why it is important to be in the blue zone. If people are always in the red zone of negativity, they’re their thoughts, feelings and actions become impaired. When I felt bothered by a negative situation, I found that I constantly thought about my problem. I had a difficult time trying to do my work. My mind often wondered and I couldn’t concentrate on what is really important to me. Report two, data analysis is a good way to come into terms with our true feelings. We are able to see what is bothering us and come up with ways to modify our actions and behavior.