“Hold your feeling like a mother holding her baby. It’s an energy.
Invite the mindfulness” – quote, Thich Nhat Hanh
You may have tried to distract yourself from unpleasant emotions. If distractions are about trying to forget anxiety and depression, then mindfulness is the opposite – it’s about embracing your inner reality. You can cultivate present moment awareness and regulate emotions simply by paying attention to what is going on with you. Your inner self wants to be acknowledged. The practice of listening to your feelings heals.
1) Somatic Experiencing – take note of physical representation of
feeling, i.e. intensity and location of feeling in the body.
Rate it on pain scale 1 -10.
… you may realize that the feeling is not as bad as you thought.
2) INOF (=Identify, Name, and Own Feeling), e.g. anxiety, depression,
anger. Allow it to be there in spite of discomfort, easy, without
judging it as bad, and without trying to suppress or alter it.
… allows you to stop over-identifying with the current state (of
discomfort) as you notice that you are the one sitting and noticing,
while the feeling is just that - a feeling – a transient aspect of
your existential condition.
3) Conscious Breathing – attend to your breath, notice how it easily
flows through you. Let go of whatever you’re holding on to.
… imagine that you are just like a funnel for life energy.
4) Gratitude Prayer – give thanks for this day and the blue sky above.
List some good things you can think of at this moment – welcome the
current situation as your fate for now.
… helps to let go of resistance and regain balance.
5) Introduce Solution – ask a Higher Power for guidance on your path.
… allows for hope, creates a receptive mode in your subconscious mind
for solutions to appear.
6) Practice Daily – monitor feelings daily and when agitation recurs -
whenever necessary, take a moment and repeat the process.
… notice how you can regulate discomfort and improve your mood.
"Inhale: I have arrived in the here and now. Exhale: I am home, free of the regret of the past;
life is available only in the present moment" – quote, Thich Nhat Hanh