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How to Process Your Emotions
Created By The School of Life
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The key to being at ease with yourself is to learn how to regularly process your emotions. This is much easier said than done, as you probably know by now, but luckily The School of Life has a guide to this imperative psychological decision.
Suppressing intense feelings may seem like a viable plan in the short term, but sooner or later you are going to need to allow yourself to actually experience these emotions you’ve been bottling up in order to make sense of them and move forward. If you have difficulty processing painful thoughts you may find yourself compulsively keeping busy instead of allowing them to surface.
Fleeing from vulnerability is extremely common throughout the world for anyone who has experienced some form of hurt, so you’re not alone if this applies to you too. While numbing the pain by turning to unhealthy vices will never resolve internal issues, millions of people across the world find themselves habitually doing so since it’s the only way they know how to cope.
“We grow depressed about everything, because we cannot be sad about something.” - The School of Life
Anxiety, depression, and insomnia can all stem from the inability to face your emotions head on. According to The School of Life, “We need compassion for ourselves. We avoid processing emotions because what we feel is so contrary to our self image, threatening to our society's ideas of normality, and so at odds with who we would really like to be.”
Let’s face it, nobody wants to feel sad. That’s why it’s important to confide with friends, family, therapists, or anyone else you trust with seeing you in that state of being. Once you allow your emotions to arise, try immersing yourself in that feeling by acknowledging it and then allowing it to pass.
Mindfulness meditation can help with this by realizing that you are not your thoughts. Give this a try and you should experience a noticeable improvement in your overall mood.