5 Tips to Emotional Processing
As our lady Brené Brown says:
“We cannot selectively numb our emotions. When we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions”.
Emotional numbing involves suppressing difficult emotions for short term relief and a sense of control. People can do this through a number of behaviours that attempt to reduce the unwanted emotion. This can result in becoming more disconnected from your emotions altogether - including the positive ones!
Emotional numbing becomes a problem when those behaviours have a long term unwanted consequence. A common long term consequence is that the emotion your numbing never gets dealt with, and ends up seeping into your life - your work, your relationships, and your health, in unwanted ways.
As long as we’re emotionally numbing, we’re depriving ourselves from feeling the full extent of our positive emotions while missing out on the opportunity to process and move on from our unwanted emotions.
If you read my previous newsletter, and recognised your own numbing tendencies through the exercise I shared, you may want to find ways to start processing your emotions. Here are 5 tips to get you started.
Notice your numbing behaviours. What do you do to avoid dealing with your emotions.
Remember, you started numbing for a reason. What were you avoiding in the first place?
Take a break from your go-to numbing behaviours and see what comes up. Challenge yourself to start dealing with the emotion behind the numbing.
You could start by naming the feelings and thoughts that cause an urge to numb. This can create some distance between you and what’s going on inside.
Recognise that your body communicates to you through emotion. Take time to feel what you are feeling. A safe way to do this is through emotional acceptance techniques. By doing so, you can learn how to feel your feelings instead of numbing or dismissing them.
But remember - there’s a reason why you started numbing in the first place. It’s your brain’s way of trying to protect you from pain. So if those emotions are too painful to face or too sticky to process, PLEASE seek support.
You do not have to process your emotions alone.
