Welcome to the Know Your Mind series.
Thank you for joining me today to explore the relationship between emotions and our energy.
Have you ever wondered why you feel exhausted at the end of the day?
Even on days when we don't do physically challenging work,
You may notice that you still feel tired,
Right?
And of course,
There are physical reasons for feeling exhausted like lack of sleep or not enough movement or rest or hydration,
Nourishment.
And there's another very big reason why we feel exhausted and that is our high intensity emotions.
So not just the unpleasant ones like anxiety or fear,
But even the pleasant ones like excitement or elation,
Those can be depleting as well.
So I read this research finding recently,
Which I thought was really interesting,
That many of us in America feel that we need this high intensity emotions to succeed,
Especially to lead or influence.
And here's the thing that high intensity emotions,
They can be physiologically taxing because it triggers our stress response,
The fight or flight response.
And that's just not sustainable.
And so the idea is not that we should never,
Ever experience high intensity emotions.
Rather,
The invitation is that we turn towards our emotions so that we have a choice and we can choose how to channel these emotions in a way that meets our goals without us burning out.
And so that's what we're going to do today is we're going to turn towards our emotions,
Visit our emotional room.
So inviting you to come to a comfortable posture,
Lowering or closing your eyes,
And returning your attention to your body,
Sitting here,
Breathing.
Nowhere to go,
Nothing to do.
Just for these few minutes,
We're going to create some space to just be with ourselves,
To notice our emotions.
No agenda,
No trying to fix anything.
Just learning to be with and listening to our emotions.
So starting out by just becoming aware of your breath,
Moving in and out of your body.
No need to change your breath in any way.
Just following the natural rhythm of your breath.
Following the natural rhythm of your breath.
If it wants to go deep,
Letting it go deep.
If it wants to be shallow,
Let it be shallow.
All you're doing is giving your full care and attention to every in-breath,
To every out-breath,
And the spaces in between.
With each in-breath,
Perhaps feeling spaciousness in your mind,
In your body.
And with each exhale,
Softening just a little bit more.
And using your breath as an anchor to be here now.
And even during this practice,
At any time,
If you feel overwhelmed or any kind of discomfort,
Feel free to return back to your breath.
And when you find that your mind and body is stabilized,
Turning your attention to your experience of the emotions that you're feeling right now.
Just noticing what's happening in your emotional room today.
Again,
Without any judgment,
Just noticing if you can effortlessly label the emotion doing that.
Whether it is excitement or boredom,
Anger or inner calm,
Just noticing what's there in your emotional room today.
Remembering to open the windows if you need to in this room.
If you notice your emotions,
Noticing your emotions,
Using your in-breath to create that spaciousness.
And using your exhale to soften whatever is rigid in your body.
Just making room for your emotion to move,
To be,
And to tell you what's going on.
So emotions are there for a reason.
They give us information about our inner and our outer landscape.
So using this time to turn into your emotion and seeing what is the information this emotion wants to offer to you.
Just listening in without any kind of judgment.
If you're feeling inner calm and peace,
Just noting that without any kind of grasping or wanting this emotion to continue.
Seeing if you can receive the information,
The thoughts underlying this emotion of inner calm or peace.
Just noting that life is okay in this moment.
Receiving that sense of okayness in your body without any kind of striving or grasping.
And if that is not your emotion right now,
That's not what you're feeling,
That's okay too.
If you're noting slightly unpleasant emotions like anxiety or stress,
Just looking at that,
Turning to that emotion with kindness and asking for guidance.
What do you want to tell me,
Dear emotion?
What is this emotion preparing us for?
Maybe it wants you to focus on something in your environment,
Something within you.
Just listening in.
And even if nothing is coming up at this time,
That's okay.
Just using your breath.
To create that spaciousness,
Using your exhale to release,
To soften.
Just being open to whatever thoughts may be arising,
Noting those.
And just knowing that if you are still feeling anxiety or fear and you're not entirely clear what to do about it,
Just maybe even making a note of a person that you can reach out to for help.
This is our time to be in the room of emotions,
Making space for it all.
And if that is not your experience,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant emotions,
Maybe you're feeling excitement or elation,
Make room for that as well.
Seeing what are the opportunities,
The gifts that lie in that emotion.
Seeing if you can receive the gifts from your emotion in this moment without needing to rush or react in any way.
Before we end the practice today,
Just taking a few moments to notice,
Were you able to turn towards your emotions with kindness,
With curiosity?
And if not,
That's okay.
This is a practice.
The more we're able to see and turn towards our emotions,
The more we have a choice to transform our anxiety or our other emotions into actions that we can take to reach our goals for our full and for our well-being.
Even as we end today,
Maybe taking a time in between your work to listen into your emotions and checking in what is your emotional energy need today.
Maybe you need to be with friends who can uplift you or help you find more joy,
Or maybe you need to do some activities that give you joy,
Or maybe you need,
You know,
Calm and quiet,
Some time alone.
Whenever you feel ready,
Opening your eyes,
And seeing if you can commit to doing one activity today that will nourish your emotional energy.
Like I said,
Whether it's being in the company of friends who can uplift you,
Or it's doing an activity that gives you joy,
Or even doing something good for someone else in your community.
And that can also help to reach your goals for your full and for your well-being.
That can also help to revitalize this emotional energy.
Thank you for your practice.
