How to Embrace and Understand Our Emotions

Our ability to feel, embrace, understand, and respond to our emotions is usually taken for granted. Most people never really pay attention to what they’re actually feeling. 

However, one’s ability to embrace and understand their own emotions can have a tremendous effect on their mental and physiological states. In this article, we’ll be taking a closer look at how to get into touch with your emotions and keep yourself from staying stuck in a place of pain.

Label Your Emotions 

Most people don’t spend much time thinking about their feelings, even though they know about the importance of emotions. In fact, a huge number of adults have trouble with naming their feelings. 

However, labeling your feelings is essential if you want to make the best possible decisions. It’s easier to make better choices when you understand exactly what you’re feeling at the moment and how it could cloud your judgment.   

Embrace Discomfort 

A lot of people go through their lives giving their best to avoid discomfort. However, wasting all of their energy to avoid discomfort is precisely what makes these individuals feel uncomfortable almost all the time. 

There’s nothing wrong with embracing a little bit of discomfort. In fact, the more you expose yourself to things that cause you to feel uncomfortable, the more confident you will become about your ability to tolerate distress. 

Schedule a Time for Worrying 

“What if” questions can easily consume anyone’s mental energy – there’s no doubt about that. 

Believe it or not, the best way to manage anxious thoughts such as these is to simply schedule a time to worry. While it may sound absurd, this method actually works and can help you better understand your emotions. 

Set aside half an hour a day for worrying and put it in your schedule. Whenever you find yourself thinking about “what if” questions outside this scheduled time, remind yourself that you have a special time for such thoughts.

Build Your Mental Muscle 

The key component of mental strength is learning how to regulate your emotions. Fortunately, there’s a number of healthy habits one can create in order to build their mental muscle – from practicing mindfulness to meditation. 

Core process psychotherapy can be of great help in this regard, too. Working on your mental health can only make you mentally stronger and more capable of facing everyday challenges with success. Just don’t forget to give up the bad habits that keep you from reaching your greatest potential. 

Pay Attention to Your Body 

Emotions are almost always accompanied by physical sensations. Therefore, everyone should be able to recognize their feelings based on their physical symptoms. 

For example, fear is often felt between the chest and stomach, while anger is typically felt between the head and chest. Of course, different individuals will have different physical sensations – try to understand what your body is trying to tell you about your emotions.Emotions are powerful indicators of our desires, longings, goals, and needs. Embracing them, as well as trying to understand them in the best possible way can be extremely beneficial for anyone’s mental health. 

More Insight: Check out this great article by Rebecca on 5 things mindful people do every day.

Author: Rebecca Brown, is a translator and avid traveler, a book worm and horror flick enthusiast. My job has given me the amazing opportunity to travel to dozens of countries around the world, and writing on Rough Draft gives me a chance to try to showcase some of them.