Do You Dislike Dealing With Uncomfortable Emotions? [Episode 279]

 

Think about the last time you felt uncomfortable emotions.

Maybe it was fear, anxiety, sadness or frustration, or a mix. Now, reflect on what you did about those uncomfortable emotions.

Did you allow yourself to fully feel them, or did you do something to make them go away?

If you’re like most people, you probably did everything in your power to NOT feel the emotions. After all, who wants to sit in discomfort?

But what you’re about to discover is that emotional intelligence – which includes learning how to sit with, regulate and process your emotions – is a superpower that can boost your overall performance.

If you can learn this skill, it will lead to better relationships with others, increased wellbeing for you, as well as more trust and confidence in yourself.

And who doesn’t want that?!

This week on the Stand Out Get Noticed podcast, I am excited to introduce you to my guest, experienced psychologist Christeen Waring.

With close to 20 years experience in the industry, Christeen brings an empowering and integrated approach to mental health and wellbeing, offering therapy for the body, mind and heart.

She helps people to navigate the emotions associated with change, challenge and transition. Her work at Positive Moves Wellbeing brings psychology to life including walking therapy sessions.

If you enjoy this episode and want more, I invite you to join our member’s only training program and community The C Method Academy, where you get access to over 200 episodes of this podcast, as well as monthly masterclasses and live webinars. Click here for more information and to join!

In this episode you will discover:

• The difference between emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence
• How the different parts of the brain work together
• High performance is more than simply “knowing stuff”. You need to be able to read the room, build relationships, be resilient etc – which all require emotional intelligence
• Why we’re not taught how to manage our emotions
• Our society is quite sanitised when it comes to emotions – we don’t go into the “messy” stuff.
• Initiatives like RU OK? Day are bringing more awareness to this issue
• How you can regulate your emotions.
• We tend to avoid our yucky emotions, we numb it.
• If we jump to reacting (instead of sitting with our emotions), we never build trust with ourselves, knowing that we can handle it.
• It’s important to give a message to your body that it’s “safe” – you do this by triggering the body’s natural relaxation response.
• We can build tolerance for sitting with the emotions.
• Catch yourself with small things – practice sitting with the uncomfortable feeling.
• Befriend those sensations that come up – after all, those feelings are a natural response to something unfamiliar.
• Christeen’s recommended breathing techniques – box breathing. Breath in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4.
• This brings the breath to conscious attention.
• Exhale needs to be longer than the inhale – “letting go” of more than we’re taking in.

Connect with Christeen:

• Learn more about her work at Positive Moves Wellbeing
• Follow Christeen on Instagram
• Say hi on Facebook