We all have emotions – both the good and the bad. They control us physically and psychologically. Emotions can control how we behave, act and think. For some the mere act of feeling can be scary and downright devastating, so we start to think it’s easier to suppress how we feel, instead of learning to express our emotions in healthy and sensible ways.
The truth is that stuffing feelings is not helpful and can be extremely harmful. The goal is not to wipe out your emotions or to suppress them. The goal should be learning how to manage, process and convey them in healthy ways.
Communication is essential. Keeping your emotions bottled up will only lead to a meltdown later on. It can also lead to chronic diseases, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and cholesterol.
Confronting whatever emotion, you may be feeling may be hard, but necessary to maintain your emotional and mental wellness and overall contentment and happiness in life.
In order to be able to move forward, you must find a safe outlet for your emotions where you can express how you feel without fear of judgment or criticism. How you express your emotions is the defining factor in whether you’ll be accepted or shunned by others.
Here are 5 ways to express emotions in a healthy way:
1. Cooldown.
Count to 10, breathe deeply, meditate – all these techniques are great ways to help you regain composure and get some perspective. Exercising is a great way to gain a fresh perspective. It also improves your mood by balancing out your hormones and clears your head, helping you think better.
2. Keep a journal.
Writing down thoughts and feelings is a great way to channel your anxiety. Studies show that those who keep a journal tend to have lower stress levels than those who don’t. Also, when you release all those pent-up emotions and put them down on paper, they have less of a hold over you. It also gives you bird’s eye view somewhat, into your life which can help you assimilate your emotions in a healthy way.
3. Understand your emotions.
Think about what’s really making you mad or scared. It could be another underlying emotion which you’ve been holding onto without realizing it, like loss or sorrow. Similarly, you could be feeling unhappy or stressed and you take it out on the first person or situation that rubs you the wrong way. More often than not, it’s usually someone close to you which could be hazardous to your personal relationships.
That’s not to say you should swallow your emotions and not let them out. If you’re sad, allow yourself to recognize it and go through the process of being sad. If you’re angry, take it out on a punching bag or scream into a pillow. Do the same thing with your other emotions, and soon you’ll have a pretty good understanding of your emotions and how you can manage them.
4. Empathize.
Have compassion and try looking at things from the other person’s point-of-view, instead of simply assuming the worst and just lashing out. This can truly open up doors of communication, and help you understand and respect the other person and why they behave or react the way they do.
5. Stay aware.
Self-care should be your number one priority, so you can learn emotional awareness. Being aware means you’re conscious about the types of emotional and mental processes you’re experiencing. Becoming aware of your emotions early on means you can be in control of how you react to them, instead of the other way around.
Learning to feel and process feelings in healthy ways is well worth the effort and struggle it takes, your emotional health will thank you.
– Scott Blessing