Managing Emotions
Emotions can be described as a “conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioural changes in the body”.
Many things such as life events, thoughts, medications, other drugs, foods, physical illness, and spiritual experience trigger emotions. So, emotions often communicate to us about things happening in our life, whether they are internal events or external ones.
In Mindfulness training there are many strategies for coping with emotions that enhance our distress tolerance when emotions overwhelm us. These strategies are know as Distraction, Self-soothe and Improve the moment.
DISTRACTION
With Activities
- Engage in exercise or hobbies; do cleaning; go to events; call or visit a friend; play computer games; go walking; work; play sports; go out for a meal; have a coffee or tea; go fishing; chop wood; do gardening; play a board game.
With opposite Emotions
- Engage in emotional books, music or movies. Be sure the experience creates different emotions. Ideas: scary movies, joke books, comedies, funny records, religious music, upbeat songs, going to a shop and reading funny greeting cards.
With other Thoughts
- Count to 10; count colours in a painting or a tree, windows, anything; work puzzles; watch TV; read.
With intense other Sensations
- Hold ice in hand; squeeze a rubber ball very hard; stand under a very hard and hot shower; listen to very loud music; put rubber band on wrist, pull out and let go.
SELF-SOOTHE
With Vision
- Buy one beautiful flower; make one space in a room pretty; light a candle and watch the flame. Set a pretty place at the table, using your best things, for a meal. Go to a museum with beautiful art.
With Hearing
- Listen to beautiful or soothing music, or to invigorating and exciting music. Pay attention to sounds of nature (waves, birds, rainfall, leaves rustling). Sing to your favourite songs. Hum a soothing tune.
With Smell
- Use your favourite perfume or lotions, or try them on in a shop; spray fragrance in the air; light a scented candle. Put lemon oil on your furniture. Put potpourri in a bowl in your room. Boil cinnamon; bake cookies, cake, or bread. Smell the roses.
IMPROVE THE MOMENT
With Imagery
- Imagine very relaxing scenes. Imagine a secret room within yourself, seeing how it is decorated. Go into the room whenever you feel very threatened. Close the door on anything that can hurt you. Imagine everything going well. Imagine coping well.
With Prayer / Meditation
- Open your heart to a supreme being, greater wisdom, God, your own wise mind. Ask for strength to bear the pain in this moment. Turn things over to God, a higher being, Mother Nature, or the universe.
With Relaxation
Try muscle relaxing by tensing and relaxing each large muscle group, starting with your hands and arms, going to the top of your head, and then working down; listen to a relaxation tape; exercise hard; take a hot bath or sit in a hot tub.