As reported in CCA Kids Blog, the state of the world right now leaves us with many unanswered questions that can trigger a mayhem of emotions. When reconciling something that recolors so many dimensions of life, it’s natural to feel the full spectrum of feelings to match. Rather than trying to stifle the moment’s rollercoaster, it’s important to recognize and accept what you are already feeling.

CCA’s blog explains, “Now is a good time to step back, take a breath, and identify the emotions we are experiencing. Our bodies, minds, and behaviors are filled with information about what we are feeling.”

Tuning into your body, finding where you feel stress and pressure, and noticing when you feel calm, can help you hone in on your emotions to alert you to what is causing them and manage them healthily. For parents and caregivers, it’s important to not only learn to do this yourselves, but to demonstrate it to your children so they learn to develop these skills too. How can you practice these skills yourself?

• Take a break, breathe, and listen to your body
  • Take a break from what you are doing and thinking, and give yourself a moment of space.
  • Make sure you are somewhere you can listen to yourself free from distractions.
  • Breathe in, breathe out. Deeply.
  • Hone in on each body part. Go from top to bottom, beginning with your head, feeling how your face muscles may be contracted, see if you are clenching your jaw. Continue to your neck, see if your shoulders are tense. As you continue this body scan all the way to your little toe, take note of where you are tight and holding stress. This is a classic tool of mindfulness and meditation. It alerts you to what you are feeling so later you can figure out why or how to ease that.

• What did your body feel?
  • Take note of what you felt. Honing in on whether you had tight neck, tired eyes, or sore shoulders can help you begin to associate what you feel in your body with your emotional state.
• What was your emotion?
  • Take a moment to describe and analyze your feeling. Are you content? Nervous? Angry? Irritable?

• Match the body’s sensation with your emotion
  • Put the two together. Maybe you feel irritable, and your forehead is tense. When you notice how they relate, you begin to understand and reflect on how your body expresses what you are feeling.
  • You may not have realized that media headline that flashed across your screen made your throat tighten. When you pause to note your state, it can be a cue that it makes you feel uneasy and anxious. This could direct your behavior too; maybe you could disable automatic news alerts which trigger unwanted emotions when you’re trying to concentrate on work.
  • Checking in with how you feel routinely can help you find out what is causing negative emotions throughout the day that may be controllable. You can notice what person, place or situation disturbs you, allowing yourself to re-evaluate if you should change your habits, say something to a person, or adjust your perspective that may be triggering negative emotions.
  • After you identify the negative triggers, you can  reflect, accept the emotion, breathe or meditate, and move onto something positive and calming.

By tuning in, you become aware of your physical self and what its cues mean. Recognizing your emotions and what’s causing them allows you to respond to them in a healthy, proactive way, and manage them before they get heavy and cyclical.