Hi there,
My name is Abby.
Today we're going to do a short practice to check in with how we're doing and label the emotions we are experiencing.
We experience emotions all the time,
But how often do we pause to learn from or understand our emotions?
Our emotions can be viewed as something that we can learn from.
They are constantly giving us information about how we are doing and what we need.
When we don't take the time to foster a relationship with our emotions and an awareness of them,
We can have a harder time identifying them,
Regulating them,
And understanding them,
Which can make it harder for us to connect and understand ourselves and others.
Emotions are rich,
They are textured,
They are a lens through which we see the world and ourselves.
They impact the way we view the world and interact with others.
Emotions are products of our humanness,
Not our imperfections,
And they are simply a pattern of feelings that arise.
So with intention,
We can learn how to respond to them skillfully.
For better or for worse,
Emotions can influence our behavior,
Our thinking,
Our decisions,
Our moods,
And even influence our communication,
The tone,
The pace,
The words we choose.
So when we understand how we are feeling,
We can take action to support ourselves.
When we aren't aware of our feelings,
We may sometimes become more reactive,
And that might lead us to experiencing shame about our behaviors and actions.
At the most simplistic level,
Emotions are a kind of energy.
They may be high energy,
They might be neutral,
Or low energy,
And they feel either pleasant or unpleasant.
We often experience these as physical sensations in our body.
If you think about a high energy,
Unpleasant emotion,
That might be something like anger or anxiety,
Or a low energy,
Pleasant emotion might be feeling serene or peaceful.
So let's practice checking in with how we are doing right now.
We'll start with a short settling practice,
And then shift our attention to our emotional experience.
You can find a comfortable seat sitting up tall or lying down with your eyes closed or just looking right in front of you so your attention is on you.
Take a few slow and quiet breaths.
Feeling that breath on the inhale traveling through your body,
And then that breath leaving your body on the exhale.
Breathing in and breathing out.
Then shift your attention to your body,
The parts of your body connected to a source of support,
Like a floor,
A chair,
A bed.
The parts of your body that are connected to the space around you.
And then just ask yourself,
How am I doing right now?
What is my energy level like?
Am I noticing high energy,
Low energy,
Somewhere in the middle?
Do you notice more sensations of feeling pleasant or unpleasant?
And allow a few words to bubble up to name how you are feeling right now.
What emotions do you notice?
Then just notice how it feels to label your emotions.
When we get in the habit of checking in with our emotions,
We can begin to understand them more.
When we check in with the sensations and our energetic experience,
We can label our experience.
Once we label it,
We have more control over it.
The phrase name it to tame it is used to support emotional regulation.
Once you notice you are having a strong emotion,
The next step is to describe it or name it.
Either to yourself or out loud.
You can mentally say,
I am feeling frustrated,
Or my hands are in tight fists,
Or I notice feeling anxious,
Or there's tension in my belly.
Choosing words to describe what you are noticing allows you to have more control over how you respond to your feelings.
Once we are able to label the emotion,
We can take action to care for ourselves.
With awareness of how we are doing,
We have more agency in our lives and can communicate more clearly and more effectively with others.
We can also become aware of the emotions we experience more often and less often and start to identify our go-to habits when different emotions arise.
So during your day,
Reflect on when it would be supportive to pause and check in with how you are doing.
When might this practice support you?
Thank you for practicing with me.
