Do you get overwhelmed by your emotions? The environment isn’t the only thing that triggers your emotions. If you have a rich inner life, your thoughts or memories serve as triggers too.
Psychotherapist Joy Malek, M.S. calls individuals who feel emotions deeply and intensely “Deep Feelers."
Being a Deep Feeler is both a strength and a challenge. Deep Feelers are empathic, intuitive and attuned, she said. This makes them exceptional friends, partners and parents, she said. However, feeling deeply can also be a source of overwhelm. Being constantly and intensely tuned in to your own and others’ emotions can be overloading
Below Malek shared some healthy strategies to help you process your emotions — so you don’t get derailed by them.
1. Take a break.
Take time to process your emotions. Knowing your exact emotion helps you “bring clarity to the conversation."
2. Explore the storyline behind your emotion.
Malek suggested asking yourself: “What’s the storyline here?” Just naming your storyline can help you gain some distance from it, Malek said. Identifying it also reminds you that your “interpretation is not the objective truth.”
3. Practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness meditation trains our brains to stay in the moment, rather than ruminating about the past or fretting about the future. Both are big triggers for painful feelings, Malek said.
There’s nothing wrong with feeling emotions deeply. This can be a good thing. But sometimes, as a Deep Feeler, you might get overwhelmed. Trying tips like the above can help.
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Category(s):Anger Management, Anxiety, Caregiver Issues / Stress, Depression, Empathy, Relaxation techniques
Source material from Psych Central
