Four Ways to Instill Emotional Regulation Skills into your Life
Emotional regulation refers to the multistep process of acknowledging and dealing with emotions in a healthy way. It means practicing impulse control. This skill helps reduce vulnerability, increase resiliency against undesired emotions, and enhance overall mental health.
These days, it is important to develop ways to give time and space to your tough emotions. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, you may be experiencing a lot of feelings. If you haven’t practiced tolerating and harnessing unwanted feelings into something manageable, you must know how to instill emotional regulation skills into your daily life. Here are some steps that can help you with this:
Identify your Feelings
A lot of people don’t investigate their emotions as they strike them. They just make a quick judgmental call out what is happening or even brush it off. However, with the complexity of your emotions, you must take a moment to name what you are experiencing and why. No matter your feelings, make sure to explore them with curiosity, not judgment. Try to exercise self-compassion and sit with your feeling without explaining it away. Then, look for ways to express your feelings mindfully and safely.
Work on Having Positive Relationships in Life
Your life relationships can significantly influence how you live your life. More positive and healthier relationships lead to more resilience and optimism. Toxic relationships don’t serve you well and you must eliminate them from your life. The kind of relationship you have in life will influence you physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness practices are found to help increase a person’s ability to regulate emotions, as well as reduce stress, depression, and anxiety. Also, it can help you focus your attention, and observe your thoughts and feelings without judgment. The most common mindfulness practice is meditation, which lets you learn how to calm down your mind. Also, you learn how to practice the art of appreciation and gratitude. These skills help you be present in the moment and mindful of your life’s positive things.
Give Up Painful Emotions and Regrets
Letting go and forgiving is your key to moving forward. But, learning to let go is often not easy to learn. If you manage to release all these negative emotions, your resilience and ability to deal with your life’s curveballs will improve. Accepting that you are suffering will let you stop running from the tough emotions and turn to face them with courage and strength.
