Sitting with your feelings sounds a bit dumb, right? I mean, who wants to sit with a feeling if it is negative?
When my therapist first told me to sit with my anger, I was like, huh? Lady, you are mad. I want it gone! But as I followed the steps below, I became more attuned to my emotions, pinpointing exactly what triggers me and started learning to manage my response better.
Give it a try; practice makes perfect! You might just surprise yourself.
“Sitting with your feelings” refers to the practice of acknowledging and experiencing your emotions without immediately reacting to them, suppressing them, or distracting yourself. Instead of avoiding discomfort, you allow yourself to feel what you are feeling in the moment, whether it’s sadness, anger, joy, or anxiety.
This process involves:
1. Awareness: Recognize the emotion you’re experiencing. For example, you might say to yourself, “I’m feeling anxious right now” or “I feel really sad.”
2. Non-judgment: Accepting the emotion without labelling it as “good” or “bad.” Emotions are a natural part of being human.
3. Patience: Allowing the feeling to be present without rushing to fix or change it. Over time, the intensity of the emotion often fades.
4. Curiosity: Observing your emotions with interest. Ask yourself where the emotion is coming from, what it might be trying to tell you, and how it feels in your body.
Sitting with your feelings can build emotional resilience, deepen self-understanding, and improve emotional regulation, giving you space to process your emotions healthily.
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