It’s pretty easy to think your way into an emotion. It’s a lot harder to think your way out of an emotion. Emotions don’t just happen in your brain. They happen in your whole body. Think about the experience of a strong emotion – faster heartbeat, sweat, flushed face, trembling, goosebumps, wide eyes, narrowed eyes, smile, frown, grimace, sneer, raised voice, lowered voice, inability to stay still.
Emotions are physical events. So to effectively regulate an emotion, you need a physical response:
breathe consciously
laugh
cry
talk
walk
exercise
get in water
eat healthy food
do some cleaning
When you are at the top of a mountain and want to get down, you walk down. You don’t think down.
When you are experiencing a peak emotional state and want to calm down, don’t try to think down. Do something physical.
—Jeff
I am a fan of “hate cleaning”. Which is just what I call it when my emotions are overrunning my senses and cleaning is the only thing I can do to chill.
Grow slowly
Skyler