Blog: 184 We need to be ‘grounded’ to: deal with and understand our emotions

Emotional awareness helps you know what you need and want – plus what you don’t want in your life. It helps you to build better relationships.

That’s because being aware of your emotions, it can help one to talk about your emotions more clearly, avoid or resolve conflicts better and move past difficult feelings more easily. Understanding and recognising your emotions is vital for your well-being.

When we fail to express our emotions, one’s brain goes into a fight or flight state. This is a physical reaction that sets off a chain of events throughout one’s body.

It increases our heart rate and affects our digestive functions. This makes one feel anxious or depressed.

Emotions can affect one’s behaviour directly. One’s behaviour could be aggression, or one could focus on hurting others. When one feels frustration, anger, tension, or fear, one is more likely to act aggressively towards others.

Happiness, sadness, fear and anger are the core emotions.

Most of us just want to feel happy all the time, to help you feel happy when you’re struggling with your emotions you should try to ground yourself.

Feeling grounded means to feel present in your body, and connected with the Earth, time, and place. These moments usually occur when one feels most comfortable and at home in one’s current situation. One might say that one feels most ‘in tune’ with everything and every sensation is fully felt.

To feel grounded - so you can feel every sensation in your body and mind which will help you gain your emotional awareness follow these 8 steps:

1.    Breathe.

2.    Prioritise your physical wellness through sleep, nutrition, and exercise.

3.    Get out in nature.

4.    Find magic in music. Listen to music and have a boogie to it if it cheers you up.

5.    Do something soothing and tactile. Meditate if you can, to give your mind a break from over thinking about everything in your life.

6.    Avoid catastrophizing.

7.    Get a different perspective. Ask what your: friends and or colleagues think about your current situation.

8.    Identify your circle of control.

Grounding yourself will help you to manage acute stress and reduce your anxiety.

It involves identifying things you can see, smell and touch. It will help you to stop catastrophizing things that you can’t control.

The circle of control is the inner most circle. These are things that we can change or influence directly - such as our thoughts, emotions, and behaviour.

The first and smallest circle at the centre is the circle of control. This represents aspects of your life that you have direct control of. It is the sphere in which we can effect change. Your circle of control symbolises the area where you can take meaningful action and make a positive difference.

Once you have identified your circle of control and you feel comfortable with your new way of being, you’ll be able to understand your emotions and you’ll feel happy enough to be more in control of them. This is because you’ve become grounded.

Becoming grounded is a win win! for you and your emotions! So go for it! Become grounded by doing the 8 steps listen in this blog.