Healthy Ways to Process Heavy Emotions

April seems to have been fraught with a whole slurry of messy, heavy, and uncomfortable emotions for a lot of people. While I believe it’s all part of a collective cleansing we’re experiencing as integral to our ongoing evolution and expansion, I thought this month’s blog would best serve in offering tips for processing emotions in a healthy way.

First and foremost, there are no “bad” emotions. Emotions are information. They give us data on what is out of alignment in our life or where we perceive we are suffering.

Emotions are also energy in motion. If they don’t move and flow, that energy can get stuck. Stuck energy creates blocks that can turn into disease and illness in the body. Stuffing uncomfortable feelings down, or numbing them with food and alcohol, are coping mechanisms that only serve to further block us and compound the energy until there is either an explosion or massive health failures.

Therefore, it’s important that we process emotions when they arise to move that energy through and out of the body. Here are a few uncomfortable emotions and corresponding helpful ways of processing in a healthy way.

Anger or Frustration

·      Punch or kick pillows while screaming until exhausted. May scream into pillow or shove a twisted towel in your mouth to deafen the sound.

·      Smash fruits (such as squash, tomatoes, coconuts, or oranges) against rocks out in nature while screaming out what is angering or frustrating you.

·      Take a kickboxing class.

Sadness or Grief

·      Give yourself permission to have a good, deep cry.

·      Play sad music and dance the grief in a dramatic fashion.

Fear

·      Go for a run, swim, or bike ride and move as fast as you physically can.

·      Shake every body part with intention to release the fear and focused attention on shaking it loose from every cell.

Shame or Guilt

·      Find a compassionate witness to bring your shame into the light. Give voice to the shadows you’re hiding with someone you trust (or a stranger you’ll never see again). Ask their permission before sharing, and then ask them to simply listen without offering feedback, judgment, or advice.

·      Even if you’re not Catholic, I believe you can still “go to confession” in a church with a priest. The act of confessing whatever you harbor shame or guilt around is cathartic. It makes space for the other uncomfortable emotions to arise. When they do, follow one of the suggested forms above to process those subsequent emotions.

As always, I’m just an email away if you’d like to schedule a session to help you work through and process whatever is present for you that you’d like support in moving through.