How does mindfulness heal emotional distress?
The practice of mindfulness teaches you a different way to relate to your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. The key is in learning to approach and acknowledge whatever is happening in the present moment, as it arises, AND setting aside your lens of judgment, and I add, analysis. This will strengthen the connection, which will form the habit or increase its likelihood of manifesting with the smallest of triggers.
Instead, simply be with whatever comes up rather than avoid, judge, or try to fix it right away. It’s the mind’s attempt to avoid, distort, criticize, numb-out or embellish that fuels the distressed mood.
If you don’t curtail or stop the looping, the thoughts will go into overdrive and bad emotions won’t be far behind. I’m a failure,” “I can’t do anything right,” “I’m weak,” “I’m worthless.”, and on and on the negative and critical self judgments will flow and influence your viewpoint, decisions, behavior and emotions.
In essence, you can get stuck in habitually relating to your life or a problem, and to your emotional reaction to the problem. Habits form very easily and quickly in your brain and memory. Try this tool the next time you feel the looping. The sooner you can stop it the better. You can use this mindful intervention many times a day,or in an hour until you have snapped that habit.
Focus your thoughts on your breathing, or as you breathe, your chest moving up and down, in and out. As negative, worried, anxious thoughts or thoughts of the past come to mind, let them float away like a cloud does in the sky. No analysis or judgment, just let go of the thought and any feeling that’s piggybacking on it. Come back to your breathe and repeat as necessary. +
Over the days, weeks, and months of repeating this new way of being with yourself, of detaching, and letting go of habits, it will change how your mind operates.
Try it! It’s not always easy, but that’s because habits are hard to change physiologically in your brain. It takes repetition to learn a new skill to replace the old skill. You can do this!
Kimberly Wulfert, PhD, Licensed Psychologist & Coach in Ventura & Ojai California, virtually
Are you seeking personal growth and transformation? If you are holding back and blocked from within, feeling anxious, fearful, unfulfilled, trapped, indecisive, invisible, or yearning for the release of your natural self and breaking through blocks to creative or business success, let my help you. My mindfulness-based approach may be just what you need to turn things around. The methods I use have proven their value as seen in current research on mindfulness, meditation, and neuroscience when combined with psychology. I bring 35+ years of training & work as a psychotherapist to this cutting edge work I now exclusively offer.
I help you broaden and deepen your awareness, to think outside your box, to develop your gifts, and recognize and integrate the wisdom you've gained to guide you. Working with me you will feel seen, heard and understood for the unique individual you are. This is not traditional therapy. Let's talk first to see if this is right for you.
As The Woman's Coach, I help women over 40 who are stuck, stagnant and yearning to move forward, to Revitalize precious dreams and goals that fell to the wayside. Cultivate ~ Integrate ~ Act is my coaching motto, awareness and acceptance before action. Click on the coaching tab to find out more or contact me. Let's talk before another year gets away from you.