Here's a little mindfulness exercise for times when you are experiencing something that is hard. Be it fear, stress, irritability or any other emotion.
Step 1: Acknowledge the feeling (be mindful of your feeling)
Step 2: Let your mindfulness act like a parent and your hard feeling be a struggling child...
For example: "Hello there, I see you there anger, I'm sorry. That's tough, do you want to tell me more about how you are feeling?"
Step 3: Listen, and don't try to eliminate the hard feeling, just be there for it... like a mother attending to a worked up baby. Ignoring it doesn't help, trying to just tell it to stop doesn't help. "It's okay, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere, I know you need me right now."
Step 4: Like you would were you parenting a struggling child, try to look at the root cause of your hard feeling... "Oh, I see you are feeling angry because you feel powerless," or "I see you are angry because you feel misunderstood."
Step 5: Try to implement solutions that will help the root cause. You can't always take away the situation altogether, but you usually can help move in an easier direction. "I can't make myself get pregnant right now, but I can breathe deeply and calm my frazzled nerves or I can find a supportive person to talk with that might help me feel more supported and understood."
Give it a try and let me know what you think. I hope it is a helpful tool for you!
Nicole
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