Most people pride themselves on making logical decisions, but research conclusively proves we mainly make emotional decisions because we, at heart, are emotional beings.

Question: Did you see the movie "E.T."? If you answered yes, the next question is: Did you cry? Chances are about 4,000-to-1 that you answered either "yes" or "almost." Now, is that logical? E.T. was the figment of a very fertile imagination and was neither human nor animal — and, yet, your emotions were triggered and you shed tears as a result of the story.

Many of us reacted emotionally when our states passed mandatory seat-belt laws. We griped, fussed and complained: "What will the government be telling us to do next?" Strangely enough, no one complains about having to fasten a seat belt in an airplane. The reality is that a seat belt in a car dramatically reduces injury and possible death. However, when an airplane falls out of the sky, a seat belt is seldom of any value.

Our emotions are important, and when they're out of control, it's not healthy. A Psychology Today article pointed out that if you were to think for just five minutes about some emotional event that made you angry, and then think for a few minutes about something that enabled you to feel and accept appreciation, caring and compassion, there would be a dramatic difference in you body's response. When you're angry, your heart beats faster and you feel stress. "It's like driving your car with one foot on the brake and one foot on the accelerator. It costs a lot in gas, and wear and tear on brakes and drive train," observes Rollin McCraty. However, when you think pleasant thoughts and feelings, your heart slows down, your system functions better and your heart ends up in better shape.

Message: Train yourself to control your anger, and instead, think pleasant thoughts, remembering pleasant experiences, and you can divert your anger into a healthy response. See you at the top!

The Compulsive Personality's Dictionary

Jim Norman, the CEO of the Zig Ziglar Corporation, has compiled a quick-reference list of definitions that I find fascinating, profound and useful for those who are serious about change and improvement:

Alcohol: A means of sustaining the agony of combining fantasy and reality and promoting that as life.

Boredom: Self-pity in disguise.

Change/Growth: The process by which my inside begins to match my outside.

Compulsion: An overwhelming desire to destroy myself in the name of pleasure.

Confusion: More than two alcoholics in the same place at the same time without a sponsor.

Denial: The ability to suppress the truth long enough to get what I want.

Envy: Emotion produced by a belief that another's good fortune somehow detracts from my own superiority.

Fear: The need to run from the things I screwed up yesterday that I know will ruin my life tomorrow and I refuse to deal with today.

Honesty: A thing I have no problem with until I get honest about it.

Humility: Being honestly and sincerely willing to learn a few simple things from other people and having no desire to strangle them in the process.

Inventory: The process by which an alcoholic figures out what really happened between blackouts.

Love: When listening to you is more fun than thinking about me.

Low self-esteem: A modern psychological term that used to be called "shame."

Persecuted: The way I feel when I get what I deserve.

Positive-thinking seminar: A forum that encourages me to create an even longer list of things I'm too lazy to do.

Powerless: A human being without faith in God.

Problems: God's method of revealing Himself to anyone who is interested.

Rationalization: The process of convincing myself I need everything I want.

Self-pity: The door of depression, the fuel of fear, the anvil of anger and the root of resentment.

Willingness: When I expose myself to the truth and refrain from shuffling the facts.

I hope these definitions will inform and entertain you, as well as provide you with some hope and help for your journey to the top!

To find out more about Zig Ziglar and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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