Finish Your Feelings

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As the holidays approach, we encounter big feelings such as excitement, stress, grief, disappointment, worry, you name it. But in this busy season, it can be so easy to stuff those feelings down and say the all too common lie of “I’ll deal with that later.” But later doesn’t come. Life doesn’t slow down. Next week proves to be just as busy as the last. And just like that, we never finished our feelings. Stress is a biological response and with all biological responses there is a beginning, middle, and end. The beginning is the triggering event and the initial release of cortisol in our system. The middle is the resulting emotion. And the end, well, that’s where we usually get stuck.

Emily and Amelia Nagoski point out many ways we can finish our feelings in their book Burnout: The Secret To Unlocking The Stress Cycle. When we encounter emotions, it is necessary to process those feelings and also to finish those emotions. There are four wa ...

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Posted in:

  • Emotions

Tags:

  • stress

Embodiment

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One of the most impactful books that I have ever read is called “The Wisdom of Your Body” by Dr. Hillary McBride. Think of this as part book review, part encouragement to go read this book and an invitation to step into wholeness, connection, and healing through embodiment. 

So, what exactly is embodiment? McBride states that “there is no unified definition of embodiment.” It is often understood as a ‘quality or idea that is being lived out.” For example, an author or speaker hopefully lives out what they write about or speak about, thus embodying their platform or message.  In the context of this book, McBride describes it as something farther reaching. That is, “the experience of being a body in a social context.” It means that to live embodied is to unapologetically take up space. 

McBri ...

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Posted in:

  • Embodiment

Tags:

  • body
  • compassion
  • compassion
  • compassion
  • feelings
  • trauma

Listening to Respond vs. Listening to Understand

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Have you ever been listening to something, possibly music, a book or a podcast, and suddenly you realize you have no idea what you’ve been listening to? Or have you ever met someone and that person introduced themselves and you instantly forgot their name? Or finally, have you ever found yourself listening to someone but all you can think of is what you’re going to say back to them when they stop talking? I’m sure most of us can relate to one or several of these examples. The reality about listening is that it isn’t as simple as just listening. 

There are four main types of listening that we utilize in different scenarios in life. All of which are important, have value and are needed. The challenge is learning to employ the right type of listening for the right scenario, because when we use the wrong type of listening it likely won’t lead to the desired result or outcome. After learning the dif ...

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  • Listening

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