Mindful Skill #5 - Mindful Emotions

What do I feel? Let me see! Where do I feel it? Let me check, let's name it, to tame it, and take a mindful breath! Emotions are so powerful and so important. They can make us feel on top of the world or very overwhelmed. In mindfulness, we learn to treat each emotion like a good friend. We welcome them and don't judge them. This mindful sit will be to practice this! The more we train our mind, body, and heart to welcome our emotions the more we can stay in our upstairs brain (PFC!).

Transcript

Hi, This is J. G. Larochette over here at Mindful Life Project. Welcome and thanks for joining. Let's go over what mindfulness is, As we always do. It is paying attention to the present moment with kindness or paying attention to the here and now without judgment. So I hope you've been practicing and I hope you've been using your skills. This practice is skill number five. It's mindful emotions. Remember that there are seven main mindful skills we practice. How many? Yep, Seven. And this skill is really about naming our emotions and tame them. Repeat after me. Emotions come. Emotions go. We treat them all like friends. That's right. There are no such things as good emotions or bad emotions, Right emotions or wrong emotions. All emotions are part of being human and we can learn to welcome them like friends. Sometimes those emotions hit the downstairs friendly and make bill it right. Those are hard sometimes to feel. Sometimes the emotions hit the upstairs brain and those are easier to feel. So joy, Happiness, Love. Downstairs anger, Fear, Sadness, Those can be harder. But with mindfulness, We learn to welcome them all and we can name them to tame them. So repeat this little tagline out loud if you'd like. Repeat after me. What do I feel? Let me see. Where do I feel it? Let me check. Let me name it, Tame it, And take a mindful breath. Awesome. So when we welcome emotions, Sometimes those emotions are a little harder to welcome. And then we can name it to tame it, Right? So if I have sadness or anxiousness or fear, I can just say in my mind, Sadness, Sadness, Sadness, Sadness, Naming the emotion and then checking to where I feel in the body and then letting the body relax. We're using a mindful breath or using mindful listening. We use our mindful skills. What do we got? Yep, Mindful skills. So today let's do our mindful sit on mindful emotions. Go ahead and find your position and repeat after me. I've got my feet on the floor. I've got my spine in a line. I've got my hands in my lap and my heart to the sky. And then as always, The offering invitation is to gently close our eyes so we can really work on our mindfulness practice without getting distracted by things around us that might take us away. And let's begin as always using mindful listening, But trying to hear mindful sounds in a way like it's brand new because it is. There are no two sounds that are going to be exactly the same in the present moment. So let's hear this bell like it's brand new. And as we come into our strong, Courageous, Powerful practice of mindfulness, Practicing our mindful skills, Just check in. How's the body feeling in this moment? Not good, Not bad, Not right, Not wrong. Just notice. How's the heart feel right now? Just noticing. And then checking in on the mind. Are there lots of thoughts or few thoughts or in between? And now let's practice mindful emotions. So emotions, Like we said earlier, Are like friends and we welcome them to visit. So right now, Just check in. What emotions are present? Maybe there's some easy to find emotions. Maybe you feel peaceful or calm. Maybe you feel anxious or frustrated. Maybe you feel bored or excited. Just notice them and then start naming them as you feel them. So we're naming them to tame them. So if I'm feeling a little bit of peace right now, I can just say peace, Peace, Peace in my mind or out loud, Whatever feels better. And then just wait and notice, Are there other emotions that will come? Emotions come and go like clouds in the sky. So if we pay close attention, We'll notice that they change, They come, They stay a little longer sometimes and they go a little quicker sometimes. Just notice. So what emotions are present right now? And then check into where those emotions might be showing up in the body. The body is always paying attention to what the emotions are to help us. But sometimes we don't pay attention to the body and we don't listen to what's happening. It can take a little while and the amygdala downstairs might get triggered. So maybe if you're feeling joyful right now, Find where that feels like it's showing up in the body. Or maybe you're feeling a little worried, See where that shows up. But most importantly, Welcome every emotion like a good friend. Maybe you want to bring some heartfulness practice in. So you're feeling strong emotions, Some of those downstairs emotions, Like we say in Mindful Life, The downstairs friends. Maybe it's sadness. Maybe it's fear. Maybe it's nervousness. Maybe it's anger. Those will sometimes hit that amygdala, Trigger the response and we feel like, Oh, It doesn't feel good at all. But instead of thinking something's wrong, We can bring heartfulness. It's okay right now. It's okay to feel that emotion. It's a friend. So we're closing today's sit by just knowing that whatever emotions are there, They're normal, They're fine, They're welcome. And then we're closing practice by noticing where those emotions are showing up in the body. And by naming it to tame it and by checking the body, We can let them come and go as they want. So closing with that, Just see if the emotions have changed in the last few minutes. Are they still the same? Don't judge it. Just notice. And we'll close practice as we always do with the sound of the bell. I'll only hit it once this time. See if you can hear all the way to the end. Awesome job. And then wiggling, Stretching, Coming out of practice. Not really coming out of practice. So mindfulness can happen at all times. If we're present, We're mindful. Check in with yourself right now. If the eyes are open, You're feeling different than you were five, Six minutes ago. If you're feeling the same, Is that okay? Of course. Anytime we can check into our emotions, The more we're in tune with what's happening in the here and now. So use your mindful emotions practice, Name it to tame it, Practice with other people, Share your practice. Excellent job. See you next time.