The Key to Healing: Feeling your Feelings

These days many of us are in autopilot and rarely take time to actually feel our emotions. We have become accustomed to phone scrolling, over working and mindlessly going through our day. As we get older, we may come to realize that if we don't allow ourselves to process our feelings we become disconnected with our true self and it takes a toll on our mental and physical health. Our feelings are vital as they give us feedback on what's occurring around us.

Three reasons to begin processing your feelings:

It is only when we feel our feelings fully that we can move forward instead of getting stuck. Letting yourself feel them actually lets you move through them faster

• When you block less "desirable" feelings like sadness or fear you also decrease your ability to feel emotions like joy and and calm.

• Being in touch with our feelings helps us connect better with our intuition to know what we need and want and what we don't want.

  Four Quick Steps to Feel Your Feelings:
  
  

  1. RECOGNIZE that you are feeling something- If we are used to being on autopilot and distracting ourselves we may not even know we are experiencing a feeling. This step is to slow down and begin to notice when feelings come up

  2. IDENTIFY the feeling- Try and name what the feeling is- anger, sadness, anxious are some examples. Need more help? Check out a list of feelings to choose fromhere.

  3. NOTICE in your body where the feeling is- Often before we are aware in our mind we are feeling something our body will let us know. Common places are the stomach, chest, shoulders.

  4. BREATHE into the feeling- Research shows that most feelings only last 90 seconds. When we notice we are having an uncomfortable feeling the best thing we can do is sit with it and breathe. When we do this the intensity of the feeling decreases and we can move through it.

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  Allowing ourselves to fully experience our emotions can be hard at first so it's important to be patient and gentle with yourself! For daily inspiration and support head over to my instagram.

How to Stop Procrastinating and Take Action: The 54321 Technique

This rule was designed by Self Help author Mel Robbins to help you beat procrastination, hesitation, and fear by interrupting negative thought patterns and taking immediate action.

How it works:

When you feel an instinct to act on a goal or make a decision that you know is good for you, but your brain starts hesitating or talking you out of it…

Count backwards: 5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 — GO!

Then move — take physical action immediately.

For example, if you are needing to get out of bed: Instead of hitting snooze, count 5-4-3-2-1 and get up. If you are wanting to speak up in a meeting: Don’t overthink it. Count 5-4-3-2-1 and raise your hand. Thinking of working out or going for a walk that you know will be good for you but feeling resistance? Count down and just start putting on your shoes.

Why it works:

• Interrupts negative thought loops: Our brains love habit and predictability. When we hesitate, even for just a second, the brain defaults to "staying safe" and not doing the hard/uncomfortable thing. The pause allows fear and excuses to flood in. The counting down and taking action short circuits this loop by acting before the brain can sabotage us!

• Activates the prefrontal cortex (responsible for decision-making): When we count backwards we disrupt the default mode which is the part of the brain involved in overthinking, avoidance and anxiety. We instead activate the prefrontal cortex which is the part of the brain that is involved in planning, focus and decision making. The mental shift of the counting helps us take action.

• Shifts your brain from autopilot (avoidance) to action: Most of our behavior is automatic and the act of counting backwards requires mental effort. That effort breaks us out of the autopilot state and jars us back into conscious control.

The truth is often it's not fun to do hard things and motivation isn't always accessible especially if you're struggling with depression or anxiety. Sometimes the only way to to do the thing that we know will make us feel better is to "force" ourselves to take action by using this technique.