ABC For Overwhelming Difficult Emotions

Often in mindfulness traditions, we focus on the tendency to resist, block, avoid, and numb out from emotions. But some of us, some of the time, tend to drown in emotions: we feed them, maybe even indulge them, and get overwhelmed. Or we are such diligent mindfulness students that we want to face the tiger of our emotion, look at it square in the eyes, and deal with it by really embracing it. This might not always be the most wise or compassionate move, especially with emotions related to trauma.

So what else can we do? Maybe approaching the emotion gently rather than blasting through our defenses: using homeopathic doses of mindfulness and self-compassion. ABC is a useful pneumonic for A Bigger Container and this audio guides you through bringing some space around the emotion along with other suggestions.