By Ida Jeltova
•
25 Apr, 2024
Working with Feelings:
The most important—and often overlooked—step in developing real emotional wellness. In conversations about mental health, there’s often a focus on containing and controlling emotions: we want to lessen our sadness, transform our anger, and increase our joy. These goals certainly aren’t unreasonable—as adults, it is our responsibility to gain the tools we need to emotionally regulate so that we can show up for our responsibilities and be participants in our communities. As parents and teachers, we want to coach the children in using the effective constructive tools for self-regulation.
But often the focus on changing or shrinking our emotions very often skips over one essential step: understanding that our feelings are functional—they have a purpose. Feelings aren’t just something to be passively tolerated—rather, they are messengers, communicating to us what we need at any given moment.