On today’s episode, I share all about emotions, how ignoring and suppressing them is making us sick, and what "making space" for emotions actually means.

What I witness people do every day is push their emotions away, suppress them, judge them, label themselves as "low vibe" or dramatic or weak, try to avoid the emotion with fake positivity. Or they use some good ole distraction...grabbing the phone to doomscroll, overworking, overcommitting, or pretending to feel ok. Really what I see is people not FEELING their emotion, but rather thinking about the emotion and how to get it to go away.

Cue a busy mind, rumination, and ineffective "problem solving"

All of this keeps us stuck. It keeps the emotion stuck, the energy stuck in our bodies, and it robs us of the wisdom that our emotions can bring. After all, beneath every feeling is a NEED. One of my fav quotes sums it up perfectly:

_“Beneath every behaviour is a feeling. And beneath each feeling is a need. And when we meet that need, rather than focus on the behaviour, we begin to deal with the cause, not the symptom." ~Ashleigh Warner_⠀

So this is what I'm teaching in this episode. How do we sit with the feeling and how do we honour the underlying need? Most of us weren't taught this growing up, so it's a skill set that needs practiced!

One of my fav clips (along with so many other therapists) that I discuss in this episode is one from "Inside Out 2". Find out my thoughts on this scene and what it can teach us.

I also share types of anger and that the research shows, when we suppress adaptive anger, it lowers our immunity. Talk about evidence of body-mind connection!

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Check out Vanessa’s website to find a freebie and all about her intuitive eating and body image programs: Vanessa Preston (podia.com)

Or her practice website: http://www.greenlifepsychology.com

Disclaimer:
This podcast represents the opinions of Vanessa Preston and her guests to the show. Vanessa is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and abides by ethics of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW). The content here should not be taken as medical or therapeutic advice. The content here is for informational purposes only, and because each person is so unique, please consult your healthcare professional.