When you feel an emotion rising up in you, is it coming from an outside source or from your own thoughts?
One thing I tell myself and those I counsel is to truly feel the feeling that you are feeling, for only 90 seconds.
Truly feel joy, happiness, anger, sadness, whatever emotion shows up “FEEL IT”. After the 90 seconds, you are no longer feeling the feeling because of an emotional response, you are now creating that feeling from your thoughts and beliefs.
Stop!!!
Don’t stay caught up in the emotional loop.
That is how you find yourself living in the known past or the predictable future.
Live in the now.
Feel the emotion of “NOW”!
Not what has happened or what could happen.
The only true reality is the present moment.
The present moment is the reality that we need to base our emotional wellbeing on.
“When a person has a reaction to something in their environment,” she says, “there’s a 90-second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop.”
“Something happens in the external world, and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body, it takes less than 90 seconds. This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away.”
“After that, if you continue to feel fear, anger, and so on, you need to look at the thoughts that you’re thinking that are re-stimulating the circuitry that is resulting in you having this physiological reaction, over and over again.”-Harvard brain scientist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Break the Emotional Loop
1)Identify the Emotional Response:
How does it feel?
Does it have a color, shape, or size?
Where in your body do you feel this response?
2) Label/ Name the Emotion
Emotions are Intense: Joy, Fear, Anger, Enthusiasm, Attraction. Simple terms to ask yourself do I feel mad, sad, glad, afraid, or ashamed.
3) Feel the Feeling
Feelings like happiness, worry, contentment, bitterness, love, are all side effects of the more intense emotion of joy, fear, anger, enthusiasm, and attraction.
Allow the emotion to happen without judgment for 90 seconds. Feel the feeling fully for 90 seconds then release it.
Let it Go!
If you find you can’t let it go it is because of the words you are telling yourself and the pictures you are creating in your head.
If you find you are having a hard time breaking those thought patterns/beliefs find out how I can help. Schedule your 20-minute consultation, now.
Donel Rourke, CCHyp RTTP