February 03, 2018

Quote of the Week

"Positive people have negative thoughts too. They just don't allow these thoughts to grow big. And they make sure to stop them from following them around all day." -- Karen Salmansohn

Managing Strong Emotions Mindfully

"Are your feelings dangerous? Never. But most of us are afraid of our strong feelings. And we're afraid of our children's emotions. Why? Because the power of our emotions can be overwhelming.

We all know what it feels like to want to hit someone. And so often when we act on our feelings, we do things we're sorry for later, whether that's smacking our child, screaming something hurtful at our partner, or throwing a "tantrum" at the office. But it isn't the feelings that are dangerous. What's dangerous is taking action based on them. We think we're "fixing" things, but the action we take is designed only to alleviate our upsetting feelings. So despite our urgent need to take action, the action we take when we're upset makes everything worse." In this week's feature, Dr. Laura Markham offers ten ways to hold space for strong emotions and guides us through the options we have to manage them in mindful and healthy ways. [read full article]

Reading Corner

Title: My Many Colored Days
By: Dr. Seuss
Ages: 4-8

Why? "In this book, Dr. Seuss uses bright illustrations with animals and colors to address the different types of moods that people go through. It begins by saying that not everyday is the same. Then, after taking the audience through different emotions that come with each mood, he concludes by reminding the readers that as long as you are only temporarily in these different moods and “go back to being...me,” then that is perfectly fine." -- GoodReads Review

Be the Change

The next time you or your children experience "big emotions", remind yourself that feelings come and go and that this, too, shall pass. Try to "sit with your emotions", watching them slowly dissipate as time passes.