"Meggles;15076760" wrote:"CathyTea;15076732" wrote:
Hi, @Meggles ! :)
I like to approach challenging emotions--especially the ones that seem a little nebulous, like they're not really caused by one specific event--from the perspectives of mindfulness, positive psychology, and self-compassion. I've had good luck with these in combination--I don't really think I could do without any of them, and they all seem to contribute and help. They're pretty inter-related, too.
There are a lot of resources you can find on your own. I'll share some of my favorites!SpoilerI'm putting this one in a spoiler tag because even though it's free, it's being given free to help persuade folks to take an online class that isn't free. I'm using the book and loving it--and I'm not taking the class. So you definitely don't need the class to benefit. But just since I feel they're a little sneaky with their marketing ploy, I'm spoilering this...
The book is "Don't Let Anything Dull Your Sparkle." (and it looks like you might need to be super quick if you want it, because I think they're already redirecting to the class....)
The book's about dealing with trauma, which is something that nearly every sensitive person has experienced on this planet. What I love about it are the healthy ways that Virtue talks about handling difficult relationships, the good advice she gives for supporting through diet, and also the way she explains how trauma and stress change our brains and brain chemistry. Understanding this provides many ways for us to support ourselves when we're feeling stressed.
I also make a lot of use out of the Greater Good website, http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/ . Just this morning, I was reading an article about anger, and it was so helpful in giving me insight into a challenging encounter I had a few days ago (that I'm still feeling the effects of).
Greater Good rests on the tenets of mindfulness, positive psychology, and self-compassion. It's SO useful!
Barbara Fredrickson's work on Positivity and Kristen Neff's work on Self-Compassion have been super useful to me. I think that Neff's Self-compassion book made some deep and useful changes in me. I recommend it to everyone!
As far as talking with a counselor or therapist, there are some good ones that use mindfulness and positive psychology! You can always think of your first visit as "auditioning the counselor" to see if she or he will work for you. If not, find someone else! It can be fun and quite a relief to have someone who will just listen, and after the first visit and once you've got someone you like, you might find yourself actually looking forward to going! I've loved the times I've worked with counselors--it always felt like an adventure and gave me fun "homework" to work on in the week after!
Hang in there... and in the meantime, while you're waiting for the shift to feel better, you can hang out in the space around your feelings and watch them! This way, when you need to draw on these feelings for writing, music, or art projects, you'll already have an understanding of them...
@CathyTea Thank you! I'll have to do some browsing of the links you supplied (as long as I don't procrastinate reading them, haaaa!) A lot of my friends have these problems, too, so I'm not used to being on the other end. :/
