Emotions & Feelings

“Emotion, the body’s reaction to the Mind. Mind in the way I use the word is not just thought. It includes your emotions as well as all unconscious emotional reactive patterns. Emotion arises at the place where the Mind and Body meet. It is the Body’s reaction to your Mind or you might say it is the reflection of the Mind in the Body. The more you identify with your thinking, your likes and dislikes, judgements and interpretations, which is to say the less present you are as the watching consciousness the stronger the emotional energy charge will be whether you are aware of it or not.” ~ Eckart Tolle

Theory

Over time humans have evolved and developed a sophisticated Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) allowing for the survival and evolution of our species. The ANS stems from the brain and spreads throughout the body readily available to detect any perceived threats of danger to trigger a “fight”, “flight”, or “freeze” response. This built in survival mechanism served our ancestors greatly when we were nomads and needed to be on guard against larger prey for making instant “life or death” decisions. However in modern day society there are few situations that are actually life threatening but the Mind perceives them to be as such therefore triggering the same physiological responses. Increases in heart and breathing rates, release of hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) into the bloodstream, development of tension throughout the Body, constricted thinking and many other reactions become activated to get us ready to run away or prepare for battle.

Emotions are physical sensations. They are happening in the body. It can be valuable to explore them as “just” physical sensations. Notice what emotion is happening and where in the body it is happening. You can only know that it is happening if it is happening somewhere in the body. What are the specific physical sensations happening? Can you explore these physical sensations without adding meaning (thinking) to them; that is, can you let them be “just” physical sensations rather than having ideas about what the sensations mean?.

Practice

RAINS Acronym; to be done on the spot and or during formal meditation practice as a way of reflecting back on a situation when you noticed strong bouts of emotions and or feelings.

Recognize, Realize; The first step in solving a problem or making a change is to first notice or become Aware that a problem exists. The same is true when it comes to Our emotions and Feelings. The first step is to realize, recognize, notice, become Aware that you have lost your balance and the Body’s ANS has been activated.

Accept, Acknowledge, Allow; Give the Feelings and Emotions room to exist within your Awareness without trying to get rid, push away, and fight what you are experiencing. Give the uncomfortable Feelings and Emotions space to “Hang Out” for a little bit until they momentarily pass.

Investigate (examples of questions you may want to ask yourself in your investigation); “What Feelings and Emotions am I experiencing?” “Is there another emotion underneath the surface?” “What caused me to get activated?” “Is this the first time this has happened or is this a pattern of reactivity?” “What Emotion(s) am I experiencing in relation to these Bodily sensations?” “What Thoughts are am I experiencing in the presence of these Feelings and Emotions?” “What story am I telling myself?” “Is there a more balanced perspective of the story?” “What is the quality of my thinking?” “Is it all or nothing? Either or? Black and White?”

Non-identify; Hopefully during your investigation you will experience an “Ah Ha” moment where you will discover the root source of what caused the Body’s ANS to become activated. Non-identify is also the recognition that we are imperfect by nature and having Feelings and Emotions are just a part of being human . Similar to water allow the Emotions and feelings to pass through your Body.

Self Compassion; The usual knee jerk reaction after getting triggered or activated is to react towards Oneself with criticism and Judgment for being a bad person or subpar human. It’s okay to have Feelings and Emotions. Remember to be kind, Loving and gentle with yourself especially during those moments you notice you have become emotional. It’s just all a part of being human and thank goodness for that otherwise we would be robots without any choice or freedom .