Healthy, but Tough, Emotions
How often do you feel nervous, worried, angry, or anxious? I feel these often, however they are FAR less debilitating now than they have been most of my life. Early on, I learned to suppress my healthy anger, sadness, worry, and fear because it was typically met with punishment or isolation. This is common, and when we suppress our healthy, but hard emotions, it leads to anxiety and depression. What compassion taught me is how to meet these feelings and be with them, process them in healthy ways, and bounce back to feeling like myself again. Compassion teaches us awareness, acceptance, and love and I want to share these teachings and tools with children and teachers far and wide.
Healthy, but Tough, Emotions
Let’s be honest, nobody enjoys feeling nervous, anxious, angry, or scared. And yet, this is a healthy and natural part of being human. The more we resist these healthy emotions, the more we suppress what needs to move through us, only to rear their ugly heads at a later time and place.
So how do we meet these emotions when they are triggering for us?
We can start by building awareness. We can do this in a few ways, and if you are a teacher or parent and you want a very practical way to help your students and kids build these skills, check out our evidence-based Resilience Toolkit.
Tips to get started building awareness:
- Practice mindfulness
- Journal
- Tune into and share your emotions as a group
- Acknowledge appreciation for yourself
- Use affirming statements
Remember, when these practices are used consistently and daily, they have a significant impact on anxiety, sense of belonging, awareness, and resilience, all of which are foundational to social-emotional wellness.
This week, take 2-5 minutes every day to engage in a practice that builds awareness.
