Part 2: To Feel or not to Feel- And, how to deal

Today we finally drop Part 2 of this podcast. We continue our exploration of the human body with respect to Feelings/Sensations and Emotions.

Living Embodied

To really be able to feel our emotions and deal healthily with the challenges in our lives, we need to experience embodied living. That is, to live and be present in our minds and whole bodies while experiencing each situation in our daily lives. Watch a child really live in his or her body and not in the head like grownups tend to do. Children engage with the world using their bodies, they don’t mind getting dirty and they feel things very deeply. Sometimes they will tantrum or lose it because they feel so much, but have little experience how to deal with big emotions. (Sometimes adults do as well.)

2 E’s of Emotional Metabolism

One method I have found that really helps metabolize BIG emotions is to use the 2 E’s. Doing so helps us deal with BIG emotions from a healthy place. The first E is to really Experience the emotion in your mind and body, not ignore it or try to avoid feeling it. Really let yourself be in the experience. Then use the 2nd E, Expression. Take a moment to feel the emotion and decide how best to Express it in that moment. That might mean speaking out loud to another person, or it may be something internally that you do. But you give the Emotion some form of Expression so it stops living inside you. Doing both allows the BIG emotion to break down into a smaller experience that is easier to handle.

Expanded Emotional Range

One great gift of using the 2 E’s is our emotional range gets expanded and we are able to be with all kinds of different emotions. A painter can make a much more expressive artwork by using many colors rather than just a few primary ones.  So hopefully today’s podcast will be another helpful tool for you to add to your emotional toolbox.