Mindfulness of Emotions - Video Transcript

Hi, everyone! I'm Kristen, The Anxiety Therapist. Today I'm going to be talking about mindfulness of emotions. We all know that emotions can be extremely powerful and challenging to navigate at times. But ultimately emotions sort of flow through us like waves, but they tend to carry that same force or sense of power as a storm.

We find ourselves sort of overwhelmed by this experience of unease or discomfort and unable to find any sense of clarity or peace. The biggest struggle with emotions is that it's really typically not the raw emotion itself that's problematic, but rather the story or the narrative that accompanies it and then the mood that results. So when emotions arise, we might subconsciously decide that they're sort of too unbearable or too powerful to sit with.

We attempt to deal with them in a variety of ways through various defense mechanisms or avoidance. Some examples might be trying to talk ourselves out of it rationalizing or justifying our experience. We might withdraw from our support systems or the outside world, we might distract ourselves with an activity or technology like scrolling through our instagram feed. We might try to sort of numb or drown out those sensations and emotions by drinking or emotional eating or using other substances. 

In some cases it is actually helpful to withdraw from the situation in order to see things more clearly, but more often than not, we sort of tend to revert to these habits and these ways of being in an attempt to suppress, avoid, or distract ourselves from whatever it is we're experiencing in that present moment.

The problem with this is that it doesn't help us overcome this discomfort or sense of suffering that accompanies these raw emotions and sensations. But, once we understand what emotions are present, we can look at them a little more closely to see what they're trying to signal to us because emotions serve a purpose. They have a function and they help us survive. So we just want to explore what they're trying to indicate when we experience that. 

I'm going to go through four emotions that every human being on the face of the earth experiences. Those are anger, fear, disgust, and sadness to give you a little bit of background on what that particular emotion is trying to signal to you.

1. Anger

Starting with anger, we kind of have each emotion that can occur along a continuum. Anger can range from dissatisfaction to somebody, somebody challenging our boundaries, or pushing our boundaries to a perceived or actual threat. The message behind anger is get out of my way and it can sort of be along that continuum. 

2. Fear

With fear, this is along the continuum of slight concern or worry about something to full blown panic. The message of fear is to help me and it can go from a low level worry or concern to full blown panic attack. 

3. Disgust

Next is disgust, this can range from wishing for something to be kept away to the belief that something is socially or morally wrong or unclean. The message that disgust is trying to convey is to get away from this and it can show others that whatever that target of disgust is, it should be kept away. That target is unclean, dirty or socially or morally unacceptable.

4. Sadness

Finally, sadness is a desire for comfort and empathy. The message behind sadness is the need for comfort. It encourages or tries to encourage that compassion and empathy from others. 

Getting to know these signs and meanings can really help us see emotions in a new light and understand the deeper meanings behind them. It can help us let go of those stories or narratives that we are attached to and look more closely at what's trying to be conveyed and how we're trying to convey it. We in turn become more aware of that raw physical manifestation of that emotion rather than being attached to this story that led to it. So, how do we become more mindful of our emotions? It's easier said than done, right? There are four techniques or steps.

Four Techniques to Become More Mindful of our Emotions

1. Turn Towards the Emotions

The first one is to turn towards the emotions. Our common tendency is again to avoid or move away from difficult emotions when they arise, but we just want to take a few deep breaths and open ourselves up to whatever is there, whatever is present. Kind of lean into it, invite it. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but the more we try to resist something, the stronger it comes.

2. Create Space

Second is to create space by identifying the emotion but without judgment. So again, it's easy to get caught up in the story. So, why do we feel a certain way? Who's responsible? How could we have avoided this? There is a time and a place to reflect on that and explore those things, but it can also be useful to detach from the story when we're in the heat of the emotion and just notice what is present without being judgemental. We want to bring compassion and curiosity into it, whether it's anger, grief, sadness, or whatever the case may be and look at that emotion as though it's almost like a separate entity that we're observing.

3. Notice any Bodily Sensations

Third, we want to notice any bodily sensations that are present. We want to open our awareness to our entire bodies. Is there increased or decreased activity anywhere? Do we experience any numbness? With anxiety, we might feel a tightness in our chest or like a pit or butterflies in our stomach. Paying attention to that and feeling the way the emotion presents itself in your body can also help to create some distance if you kind of think about it as this, like energy moving through us.

4. Become Aware

Finally, become aware of the fact that these are temporary feelings, thoughts, sensations and emotions. They all come and go. If we remind ourselves that these things are transitory, then our experience becomes much more tolerable and we open ourselves up to allowing those emotions flow through us as opposed to being consumed by them or completely overwhelmed by them. 

That was a lot of information I threw out. Let me know how it goes. Try out some of these techniques and try to practice mindfulness of emotions and leave a comment or ask a question and I'm happy to give feedback. Be sure to follow me @catharticspacecounseling. I do put out new content each week and I also have a YouTube channel called The Anxiety Therapist, where I upload my videos with just some helpful mental health tips, tricks, psychoeducation about anxiety, things like that. So I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to you next time!