We may know that we feel sadness, but do we really acknowledge that sadness is there? And I mean truly acknowledge, as if you’re meeting a friend for coffee and you really know you’re sitting down with them. One of the first steps to build emotional regulation is to acknowledge our emotions. If we feel sadness, just by knowing sadness is simply not enough. As a matter of fact, it will just keep screaming louder. Acknowledging our emotions looks like really seeing that it is there, and it wants to tell us something. Acknowledging that they are calling our name and wanting to tell us something. Even if we don’t have the capacity or circumstances to really feel them, we can still take 5 seconds to acknowledge them. Notice that they sat with us to drink a coffee and have a chat, even if for you it’s not the time. How would you greet a friend you were meeting up with?
The dialogue might look like something like this:
“Hey! How are you? How have you been?”
“I’m good, thanks. How about you, how’s life?”
You see, if you just knew that your friend was there, you may see them from a distance and just walk away. That’s different from acknowledgement. Acknowledge your emotions, say hi to them, and notice that they are there trying to signal a sensation for you to feel. If that feeling is difficult, it’s okay, they only work in our favor to help guide us. Feelings of sadness signal us that maybe we need to give our mind and body some love and attention to grieve something. Anger could be protecting us from a deep fear inside, or simply giving us the signal that we feel we may have been mistreated or disrespected. Fear signals a full protection of some pain underneath. Let’s acknowledge those emotions, and really say hi to them.
By acknowledging our emotions we are showing them we care, and they will be taken care of soon, at your pace. This can create feelings of relief and care because you understand their presence is there.
The Emotional Dialogue: (even if you don’t know which emotion it is, it could simply be numbness).
Go ahead and say something like:
“Hey (Emotion). I know you’re there. Thank you for signaling me, how are you? How are you feeling?”
Allow the signals and thoughts and images in your mind to respond. Just notice…like your watching a movie.
Go ahead and reply something like:
“Ok, thank you for showing me all this. I acknowledge that you’re here. Let’s make time for this later, don’t worry you will be taken care of with love.”
Feel free to completely reword this to your needs. But the objective remains the same: really acknowledge it like you are acknowledging another person. Build this relationship with the signals inside your body so you can become even more connected to yourself and in control. Watch the power of acknowledgement of your emotions.
Go ahead and do this now. Take a few deep breaths if you need to, and really tune into yourself.
As you may know, we believe writing is one of the strongest healing tools to help our positive growth happen at a stronger and faster pace. We always provide mental exercises and writing depending whether you have the five minutes or your own the go.
Write a small paragraph to your emotions on a scrap piece of paper or even a napkin. Acknowledge your emotion the same way as above only writing it in letter-format. For example,
Dear Numbness,
I know you’re here, I see your present. Thank you for showing yourself to me, and working to protect me. I acknowledge that you are here…
Etc.
Feel free to personalize it. Make it feel most true to you until you feel it has been seen. This only takes a few minutes. Practice doing this as much as you can, whether mentally or written so you can become very good at acknowledging what’s happening inside your body. Of course, the next step is to feel them, but no need to rush this. We have many packets that fully guide you, so you never have to go through it alone. We always suggest getting an Amma Packet and giving some YOU time once a week so you can remove blockages and feel free-er even more each time.
Keep doing you, keep being awesome.
See you on the other side 🙂
Bea