Life is full, and it can move fast. No matter who you are, I would guess that statement is true for you too. Sometimes that fast-paced fullness can feel exhilarating, but on a consistent basis, it\u00a0feels more like stress. That stress can cause pretty intense and challenging emotions like anger, anxiety, fear, and loneliness, to name a few.<\/p>\n
While life will most likely always be fast-paced and full, it doesn\u2019t have to be as rough as it feels when you are struggling with anxiety. The key to transcending the overwhelming emotions that fuel your anxiety is mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness enables you to calm your stress and soothe yourself in moments where you find yourself panic-stricken. And as overwhelming as it may feel, you can choose to stop playing into the\u00a0fear-based stories when your mind is circulating, and instead make space to step back, reflect, and thoughtfully respond\u2014rather than react.<\/p>\n
Here are 6 steps to help you acknowledge, understand, and transform worrisome emotions in a mindful way.<\/p>\n
Emotions demand to be felt. Many of us try to avoid negative emotions\u00a0by ignoring them. But the only way they will go away fully is if you acknowledge and accept that they were there in the first place.<\/p>\n
Ignoring something that wants to be seen will only cause it to bubble up and explode later, creating more intense feelings or causing a complete emotional shutdown.<\/p>\n
Extend yourself the same kindness you would to an overwhelmed friend. Learn to listen to yourself when you are afraid or upset, without the judgment or the need to \u201cfix.\u201d<\/p>\n
To become more aware of the emotion you are feeling, notice where it lives in your physical body. You might feel your anxiety as a stomachache, shallow breaths, or muscle tension. Don\u2019t ignore or push away the sensations that arise.<\/p>\n
Your emotions are always trying to show you something that is going on inside (and perhaps outside) of you. Mindful acceptance of your anxiety allows you take an honest look at yourself and your life, with greater self-understanding and compassion.<\/p>\n
A simple place to start\u2014once you have acknowledged the initial feeling\u2014is asking yourself questions such as, \u201cAm I feeling sad? Ashamed? Angry or resentful?\u201d<\/p>\n
It’s important to remember that although you are\u00a0labeling your emotion, you are not that emotion. It\u2019s the difference between \u201cI am angry\u201d and \u201cI am FEELING angry.\u201d The first is tied to your identity, while the other is only a passing feeling.<\/p>\n
A statement like, \u201cI am feeling anxious and overwhelmed right now…and that\u2019s okay. I am just going to allow myself to be with it,\u201d can be profoundly helpful for you to remember that you are not tied to your anxiety. The emotions will pass like clouds in the sky.<\/p>\n
Of course, our bad feelings don\u2019t dissipate immediately\u2014sometimes they are unavoidably quite painful and disruptive\u2014but pinpointing and labeling our emotion allows us to take the fear out of what we may be experiencing.<\/p>\n
When you can remember and recognize the impermanence of your emotions\u2014that you will not feel this way forever\u2014you will begin to experience them in a more fleeting manner. They are here for a little while, then they disappear.<\/p>\n
Maintain that observer perspective and encourage the processing of those emotions with acts of loving kindness toward yourself. By asking yourself questions like \u201cWhat is the kindest thing I can do for myself right now?,\u201d \u201cHow can I nurture myself?,\u201d or \u201cWhat do I need right now?,\u201d you can foster a deep connection with yourself and feel less alone when these emotions flare up.<\/p>\n
Investigating the root of your negative emotion will help you gain critical insight into what you are experiencing. Take the time to dive deep (as uncomfortable as it may be), and explore what happened to trigger this negative emotion in the first place.<\/p>\n
Maybe you are feeling angry or unappreciated, or disconnected from a coworker, a friend, or a romantic partner. Get to the root cause. Ask yourself, \u201cWhat is causing me to feel this way? Was it something I or someone else said, did, or didn\u2019t do?\u201d<\/p>\n
Refuse to just \u201cpush through,\u201d stuff it down, and slog it out. Instead, take time, even just a few minutes to start, to explore your anxiety and create space for authentic answers.<\/p>\n
Another important key to mindfully dealing with your difficult emotions is to let go of your need to over-control or immediately \u201cfix\u201d them. You may find yourself thinking, \u201cBut I\u2019ll feel so much better if they go away, so why NOT get rid of them immediately?\u201d<\/p>\n
But you don\u2019t need to expedite your way through negative emotions to also trust that you\u2019re going to be okay. Sure, it can be\u00a0extremely<\/em>\u00a0uncomfortable to tolerate the anxiety of unresolved emotions, but moving through (rather than avoiding) tough stuff also cultivates personal depth.<\/p>\n Do your best to be patient with your \u201cmessy\u201d emotions. We cannot control them, no matter how hard we try, and the effort we exert in the attempt causes unnecessary stress, worry, and fear.<\/p>\n Meditation \u00a0is proven to be an immediate, effective, and easy way to relieve stress and calm anxiety. Regular meditation has been proven to boost your health and happiness, providing long-lasting calming effects that you can take with you all day.<\/p>\n Especially during moments of panic, giving yourself a moment of quietness can be a wonderful tool to help you hold onto the present moment and come back into your body.<\/p>\n A small practice of even 3 minutes a day, committed to sitting in silence with your emotions, will strengthen your sense of peace and connection in all areas of life.<\/p>\n Remember that being aware of your emotions, acknowledging them, and sitting with them is a powerful and holistic way to let go of feeling trapped in anxiety for good. If you find it difficult to acknowledge, name and understand your emotions on your own a mental health specialist can help you to do it in order to overcome and be able to deal with similar situations in future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Life is full, and it can move fast. No matter who you are, I would guess that statement is true for you too. Sometimes that fast-paced fullness can feel exhilarating, but on a consistent basis, it\u00a0feels more like stress. That stress can cause pretty intense and challenging emotions like anger, anxiety, fear, and loneliness, to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[65],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1092\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eugeniagrab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n