Understanding Thoughts, Emotions & Behaviours

Our thoughts create our emotions and our emotions determine our behaviour.

We can begin to explore what emotions we are feeling by paying attention to what is going on in our mind and body.

Here are some questions to have a think about that will help you to connect to your mind and body.

What emotion am I experiencing?
What am I thinking?
What can I notice in my body?
Where do I feel it?

We can use emotional regulation skills to change our emotions or situations. When we experience strong, negative emotions, it is easy to get caught in the cycle or emotional addiction or a stress cycle. This can lead to unhelpful or destructive behavioural and thought patterns.

Transcript

Welcome to today's meditation.

We are going to begin by bringing our attention to our breath.

Please close your eyes when you are ready and make sure that you're in a comfortable position.

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth during this meditation.

We are now going to think about what is going on in our mind and in our body.

If this feels overwhelming at any stage,

Just remember to come back to your breath and just focus on breathing in and breathing out.

What emotion am I experiencing right now?

Do I notice any physical sensations in my body?

What am I thinking right now?

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth for another few rounds of breath.

It is natural for your mind to wander.

I just want you to imagine that your thoughts are like a cloud in the sky.

We can acknowledge that they are there,

However it's also possible to just let them go.

Just because we are experiencing a thought does not always mean that it's true.

Through meditation we can practice taking a step back,

Detaching and disconnecting the thoughts and the beliefs that we hold of ourselves.

We are now going to think about the concept of wise mind.

This is where our emotional mind and reasonable mind merge together.

Wise mind helps us to make sense of our thoughts and feelings and brings us back to a more balanced and calm state.

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth and just focus on your breathing.

You can continue to meditate in your own time or you can bring your attention back to your body,

Open your eyes and come back into the room.