Healing Through Emotional Awareness
What does it truly mean to feel your feelings? It sounds like it should be all in the phrase, but in truth, many people find it hard to really sit with their emotions.
Emotional suppression is an all-too-common behavior in adults, and ignoring or minimizing your feelings can lead to an increase in stress.
Taking the time for true emotional awareness may be what you need to genuinely heal from unprocessed feelings that weigh you down.
Talk to Your Child Self
When you’re experiencing high-intensity emotional strife, sometimes it can be good to receive outside perspective. Luckily, that outside perspective can still come from within yourself.
Putting yourself back into your child mindset has the potential ability to bring yourself back into a space of managing emotions in a healthy way. Participate in first identifying your feelings and giving them a name (“I am feeling mad”).
Become aware of any and all physical symptoms of that emotion, like feeling hot in the face. Then, take your stated feeling and present yourself with a positive coping mechanism, paired with gentle language.
Simple actions, like giving yourself a hug or punching a pillow, while identifying and validating your emotions are positive ways that parents use to teach children how to handle their feelings. However, engaging in these early development methods of emotional awareness can be healing for people at any age.
Make Art for the Fun of it
Another method of managing emotions in a healthy way is by engaging in an artistic activity. The act of using your hands to creatively express your feelings is a form of emotional release.
Whether that means cooking a new recipe, crafting with sculpting clay, or doodling in a coloring book, getting artsy has been shown to have a multitude of mental health benefits.
Research suggests that engaging in creative activities can help reduce cortisol levels, the hormone responsible for managing stress in the body. Engrossing yourself in a creative activity is more than just a fun stress-reliever; it can also help you develop new connections in the brain surrounding ways to communicate.
Booking a session with an art therapist can help you flex your creative skills with the benefit of a professional to guide you.
Practice Mindfulness in Nature
What can also help someone who is experiencing troubles with emotional suppression is to get out and practice mindfulness in nature. Outdoor time can help you clear your head from stagnation by getting you back into the awareness of your physical body.
Plus, being in a natural environment with plant life, even something as simple as a public park, can help reduce stress levels as well. Once you’ve found your outdoor space, it’s time to get into a calmer state of mind.
You can maximize your time outside by bringing a few supplies, such as a blanket or yoga mat to sit on, pen and notepad, and perhaps a music player with headphones. Then, get situated, take some slow deep breaths, close your eyes, and begin your personal process of emotional awareness.
Contrary to popular belief, meditating doesn’t have to mean sitting in silence and “emptying your mind.” Getting in a quiet space to sit with your emotional awareness is a meditative experience in itself.
When you allow yourself to experience your emotions, with only the sounds of nature or relaxing music in the background, you may find it easier to process and navigate through your emotional state with fewer distractions.
Ask for Support From Loved Ones
Rather than seeking space in solitude to manage their emotions, some people may feel better reaching out to loved ones for support. If you spend a lot of time with friends and family, odds are they know you almost as well as you know yourself.
You can call up a trusted companion for a chat over coffee, or simply pay them a visit at their home for a conversation. Remember to preface your visit by asking your loved one if they have the capacity to stay present with you for the duration of the conversation.
Then, talk about how you’ve been feeling and how you’ve been working through those emotions. Let them respond with any insight they have to share (personal experience, advice, etc.) and consider how their input can help you move forward from there. Sometimes, just having someone available to listen is helpful in itself.
