Live Whole Health Episode #248: Don’t fight the feelings

Our first instinct when dealing with challenging emotions in ourselves or others is to brush them away. You may say, "Not today, sadness, today is going to be a good day!" Or you may tell a loved one, "It's all going to be okay," when they are in the grips of fear or worry.

Managing difficult emotions is a tricky thing! As much as we want to push them down, we find they keep coming up. We have all sustained injury, suffered through illness, experienced the loss of a loved one or a beloved pet, or even just stubbed our toe, and we have those experiences to remind us that the feelings are real and don't go away just because we want them to.

You may have heard the phrase, "The body keeps the score," which means when we don't recognize and manage emotions, they can have a negative impact on our health. Headaches, stomach problems, substance misuse and other ailments are often brought about when we push our feelings and fears aside. Noticing, recognizing and managing emotions is critical to our health and well-being.

This 5-minute Mind-Body Stress Management exercise guides us through the feelings of worry, fear, anger, sadness, effort and overwhelm. It illustrates that by noticing and accepting the feelings, we can learn to breathe through them. Dr. Robert Eric Dinenberg from the St Louis VA gently leads us through this experience which can be done anytime, anywhere.

Learn more about mindfulness at your local VA health care facility by reaching out to your local Whole Health Facility Contacts.