Uncategorized4 tips to feel and let big emotions flow
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4 tips to feel and let big emotions flow

When you consider emotions as  ‘energy in motion’  it forms the perfect analogy for describing how your emotions show up in our bodies, helping to explain why big ones take up so much space.

When we repress, avoid, or stuff down difficult emotions we hold onto them, we bottle them up.   Finding healthy outlets and practices to recognize and release regularly,  helps to process emotions -allowing them to naturally flow. 

‘what we resist, persists’ ~ Carl Jung

Have you ever noticed that certain emotions elicit an avoidant reaction when experienced? That depending on the emotion it feels differently in your physical body? Maybe you sense constriction in your throat, chest, or stomach? All of this is invaluable information to gather as you become attuned to how and what you are experiencing emotionally, and how it shows up in your body and mind. 

Here are 4 tips to help you feel and process big emotions: 

Recognize ~ see your emotions as messengers,  practice simply becoming aware of your emotions, non-judgmentally.   Doing so will help you become more attuned to yourself, your thoughts, feelings, and in-turn- needs. Get curious. 

Acknowledge ~ practice acknowledging your emotion when it surfaces. Name it, where does it show up in your body? what triggered this emotion, was it a person, a thought’? What does it remind you of? Who does it remind you of? Where does it come from? A helpful strategy is to take a step back from the emotion.  See it vs. Be it eg. ‘I am experiencing sadness’ vs. ‘I am the sadness’. 

Befriend ~ practice befriending your emotion allows you to receive the message it brings. Helping you to consciously see your emotion with more compassion. 

Release ~ if it feels okay for you, practice sitting with the emotion [insert anger, sadness, grief, anxiety]. If you don’t trust it will pass, give yourself a set time to do so (3-5 min).  Find ways to gently allow for its release (i.e. journal, cry, scream into a pillow, process through creativity, sit with it in a meditation or nature). Above all else, be patient and self-compassionate with yourself.  Seek trusted counsel as you need. 

As Jon Kabat Zinn is known for saying,  ‘you can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf’ certainly rings true for emotions. We can all learn ways to ride the waves of our emotions, appreciating, with compassion, that some are more difficult to process than others.  

Amy is a RN, Psychotherapist in Ontario, Canada, and Founder of AF Wellness, she is passionate about inspiring mind, body + holistic healing.