Happy Monday everyone! It is officially a new month, August, meaning school is starting, fall is right around the corner, college students are moving out, sports are beginning, ect... This month of change brings a lot of feelings, emotions, and moods, which is why we have decided to discuss processing emotions.
Do you ever just feel moody but aren’t able to name the emotion? Or do you ever get stuck on a feeling but aren't sure where it came from? This might be because you are struggling to process your emotions. Processing emotions is, "...Learning to understand, make sense of and deal with emotions in healthy productive ways". Sometimes it can be hard to process emotions but without, you get stuck and can’t move past them. There are a lot of ways you can process emotions and today we are going to share 9 of our favorites!
We have created five steps to processing emotions:
Notice your emotions
Identify what caused these emotions
Name the emotions
Accept the emotions
Release/Move on from the emotions
Below is 9 ways that will aid in this process. Certain ones are better for certain steps but each of them can help you.
9 WAYS TO PROCESS YOUR EMOTIONS
Dance and move your body: Movement in general is a great way to shift towards happier emotions but dancing specifically allows us to feel the music, move around, and get in tune with ourselves. This is a great way to tune into your emotions and better identify, name, and accept your emotions.
Breath work while laying on the ground: Have you ever just laid on the ground and all of the sudden life seemed a little bit better? There is actually scientific studies that show laying on the ground reduces stress, lowers anxiety, improves mood, and allows your body to relax. Adding this technique to a 5x7x5 breath work allows your body to calm down enough for you to process, identify, and release your emotions. This is a great way to go through all five steps.
Mind dump journaling: Take a piece of paper and just write whatever is on your mind. It doesn't need to be full sentences or even make sense but releasing everything from your brain can help you to understand your emotions which aids in processing them. Mind dump journaling is great for steps 2-4, because it allows you to find what caused these emotions, name the emotions, and accept them.
SCREAM it out!!!: SCREAM! As children we resorted to screaming whenever we were upset or had strong feelings. Overtime, we began to move away from this behavior, often because we were taught that this isn't allowed. But, studies show that screaming increases endorphins, reduces pain, and increases pleasure. A good scream is great for steps 4 and 5! Just make sure that if you are screaming with others nearby, that they know beforehand, you are okay.
Say your affirmations out loud: Tell yourself what you are, what you want to be, and how life will become. Affirmations, in general, are great for when you are in a tough time because they can help you move away from the negative emotions. In this case, it can help you accept the fact that you are feeling one way and then allow you to move on from those emotions to happier ones.
Talk to the mirror about your problems: For those that don't like writing down their feelings or don't have someone to talk to, try this. Saying things out loud and shifting your thoughts and feelings into sentences is a great way to go through all five steps.
Shake your body (shake it all out): SHAKE IT OUT! This is similar to dancing it out because you are moving your body but shaking less tuning into your emotions and more releasing them out of your body. Pairing this with dancing beforehand might be the perfect way for you to go through all the steps of processing your emotions.
Art journaling: We've talked about this one before but art is one of the best ways to get through tough times, deal with stress, and process emotions. It is great for those visual people who want a creative way to release their emotions and maybe even understand them better. It is sort of like mind dumping but in a visual way. Meaning, it doesn't have to make sense or be realistic because it is simply your feelings in art form.
Talk to a safe person: This can be a friend, a family member, a therapist, or a counselor. Often times when we turn our feelings into sentences, it forces us to process and identify our feelings and emotions which allows us to then release them.
REMINDER: If you don't process you emotions, you can't move past them.
Have a lovely rest of your week and don't forget to follow us on socials with @beeramagazine.
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