October Blog posted in Mental Health
Ever feel overwhelmed? Like there is too much going on in your head and you might explode? You might be experiencing difficulty in balancing your feelings. Balancing our emotions can be a struggle, especially in today's fast-paced and often stressful world. Emotions can be overwhelming and sometimes even controlling, but it is important to remember that we have the power to manage and regulate them.
Finding balance in our feelings is not about ignoring certain feelings or never feeling angry again. The aim is to find better ways to manage, or control certain feelings instead of letting them control us. To help you find balance in your feelings, let us explore the four balance-focused skills developed by Panda: balancing actions, reality, bodies, and positivity.
Balancing actions is about separating an automatic response and the emotion that caused it. Sitting in traffic is a great, low-stakes place to practise: When someone does something like cutting us off or speeding through a red light, we might feel infuriated! But our actions don’t have to repeat the shouting or fist-waving we’ve always done. Instead, we can surprise our brain and practise staying calm, turning up some music and even humming along!
Balancing our reality can be practised in any emotionally charged situation by asking ourselves three questions: what triggered my emotions, what assumptions am I making and does the intensity of my emotions match the facts of the situation or just my assumptions? By asking these questions, we can help ourselves sort facts from fiction and react in a more balanced way.
Balancing our bodies is all about our physical well-being and recognising its impact on our emotions. It’s a good reminder to eat, sleep and exercise well, as well as to take care of any pain or illness, and avoid mood-altering substances. Have you ever heard of someone being described as ’hangry’? It’s a word that was coined to describe someone who becomes increasingly angry or irritable when they’re hungry. It’s a great example of how our feelings are tied to our physical well-being.
It’s easy to focus on, dissect and return to negative situations. It might even feel good to wallow in them. But they are often far outnumbered by positive situations, comments and moments that we forget about. Balancing our positivity is about finding or creating positive moments and making sure we really enjoy them when they happen. It has been shown that someone who receives one negative comment will be more likely to remember and replay it more often than the five positive comments received on the same day!
Try to notice when you’re focusing only on the negatives of an experience. Notice, stop, and try refocusing on the positives. It can be helpful to practice this daily, by consciously making the effort to acknowledge and focus on the good stuff - the roses among the thorns! Actively focus on bringing positivity into your life. Perhaps this can be done by mindfully preparing and then enjoying your favourite meal; or rewarding yourself with some well-earned ‘me-time’; Try going for a walk in a peaceful park or turning up those classic tunes and dancing like no-one’s watching.
Finding balance in our feelings is not about ignoring or suppressing our emotions but about managing and regulating them. By following our balance-focused skills, you can learn how to better control your emotions and lead a more balanced and fulfilling life. Download the Panda app to access free life skills’ packs and assessments to help you on your journey to balancing your feelings.
Posted by Khwezi Mabunda