There is always a lot of emphasis placed on maintaining a healthy body and the effect it has on our ability to give to the things and people around us. In fact, it might be safe to say that in order for the average person to reach their full potential in life, they must be right physically. And part of being right involves maintaining good mental health. What does this mean and how do we go about ensuring that we’re whole mentally? Let’s begin with how to deal with negative emotions and the keys to releasing suppression associated with it.
Understanding your emotions
“Some emotions are positive; think of happiness, joy, interest, curiosity, excitement, gratitude, love, and contentment. These positive emotions feel good. Negative emotions like sadness, anger, loneliness, jealousy, self-criticism, fear, or rejection can be difficult, even painful at times,” explains Julianna Asare-Amankwah, Counseling Therapist at Evolve Counsel.
But at what point do these emotions become painful?
“When we feel a negative emotion too often, too strongly, or we dwell on it too long,” Asare-Amankwah clarifies. “Sometimes we try to run from [it] by consciously pushing it aside; compartmentalizing it or suppressing it, however, negative emotions, just like positive ones, are impossible to avoid.”
According to Asare-Amankwah, suppression doesn’t make the feeling disappear but rather stays inside of you and causes more pain, resulting in physical and psychological stress.
“Suppression gets held in the body and creates a host of downstream effects, including anxiety, depression, stress-related illness, all the way to substance abuse and suicide,” she elucidates.
How to deal with it
So, how do you avoid getting into such a dark place? Asare-Amankwah advises that the unpleasant emotions must first be identified. Some questions she recommends asking yourself are: What am I feeling right now? What happened to make me feel this way? Does the situation have a different explanation that might make sense? What do I want to do about these feelings? Is there a better way of coping with them?
“Take action,” she advises. “Think of the best way to express the emotion. Keep a mood journal, take a deep breath, go for a walk, know yourself, give yourself some space, try mindfulness meditation.”
Asare-Amankwah suggests talking to a therapist and getting help with [the] difficult emotions.
Wellness Coach and Yoga Instructor, Araba Ofori, also recommends the following simple activities: “Finding a quiet space to scream or shout. [Engaging] in physical activities such as dance, workout, running or doing something creative.”
Clearly, suppressed emotions can cause more damage than one can imagine. There are many simple activities you can do to help free yourself of the burden of negative feelings. Make a decision to take the first step towards being right, mentally.