Going On a Bear Hunt: Moving Through Emotions
- At October 06, 2012
- By Bonnie
- In Articles, Uncategorized
0
Remember the camp song “Going on a Bear Hunt” and how you keep coming up against blocks in the trail?
“Oh, no! There’s a swamp!
Can’t go under it,
Can’t go around it,
Can’t go over it,
Have to go through it!”
It reminds me of the emotional blocks that we all carry around and face repeatedly. Except that the last thing we usually want to do is go through it.
Emotions can be uncomfortable. Many of us learned early in life that expressing our feelings was not safe or acceptable. So when an uncomfortable emotion comes up, we’ve learned various ways to avoid it: go under it, go around it, go over it, stuff it, ignore it…
We know (I hope!) that it is very unhealthy to stuff or avoid our emotions. How can we allow ourselves to feel and process our emotions in a healthy way?
The first step always is to create awareness. Not as a judgmental watchman but as a neutral observer. Pay attention to yourself and your reactions. As soon as you notice that you are feeling something, just pay attention. Being aware of and owning your feelings is so important!
Once you are aware that something is coming up, you have the power to choose to manage it in a healthy way.
Ideally, you will release any judgment around that feeling and allow yourself to feel it fully. Just drop right into it.
Is that a scary thought? Many of us are afraid that if we allow ourselves to “go there” we’ll explode or get out of control! That is often a sign that we have been doing a lot of emotional stuffing.
Just to be clear: allowing yourself to feel the emotion does not mean acting out. I am not advocating acting on your anger, for example, just allowing the feeling of anger to be there.
Did you know that the physiological response to an emotion can be complete in about 90 seconds? In other words, the chemical reactions caused by an emotion in the body (adrenaline rush, stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, etc.) can clear the body very quickly IF, and this is a big IF, we do not in some way block that emotion.
Here’s a simple tool to keep your emotional gates open. As soon as you notice an uncomfortable feeling coming up, allow yourself to drop into it and begin tapping your wrists together gently. Think of it as clapping with the insides of your wrists instead of with your hands. The energy of emotions flows through your body like water. Tapping your wrists together stimulates several energy meridians and keeps the flow going.
You will be surprised at how quickly the feeling dissipates! You may still need to act on that feeling, but you are now in a much better place to do so without those emotions clouding your good judgment.
What about situations where it is not appropriate to go into that feeling? For example, you’re in a meeting with your boss or you’re driving on the freeway or you’re in an emergency situation and have to deal with the circumstances at hand. Then you will need to set aside your emotions (not stuff or ignore them) with the promise to yourself that you will allow yourself to process them later when you can safely do so. And keep that promise!
As with all things, processing your emotions gets easier with practice.
So, as you continue on your “bear hunt,” remember that you have the tools to move right on through those blocks.
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