stabilization during difficult emotions

Difficult Emotions often stem from previous experienced trauma. If not stabilized, difficult emotions can re-traumatize us. Some tips to consider when experiencing difficult emotions:

• Stay in the present

• Be the observer of your feelings, rather than the victim of what is happening

• To the extent that it is possible, use reasoning and logical language to avoid dissociation

• Allow yourself to feel what you are feeling by noticing 

• State what you are noticing (i.e. “I am feeling sad”

• Allow yourself to also notice other things in/on your person and in your surroundings for self-regulation

• Count to ten while breathing

• Notice your environment and state several things that you see

• Notice what you are wearing and state the articles of clothing one by one

• Identify other sensations such as a cool breeze or the warmth of the sun on your face that you are experiencing

• Practice being present and feeling while also directing your brain with strategy to alleviate the suffering.

• Healthy self-regulation strategy can be simply to observe the dialectics or opposites that are also present