YOUR EMOTIONAL PHONE IS RINGING. ANSWER, PLEASE!

“Negative emotions are like a phone ringing in your body. Don’t block the call; instead, give it a clear line into your brain.
When negative emotions start surfacing and your internal-feelings phone is ringing—pick it up. A ringing phone indicates a need for recovery. Minor needs are signaled by soft rings—that is, by light negative emotions or feelings. You feel mildly irritated, hungry, tired, bored, or something similar. Urgent needs are signaled by loud, painful rings—by strong negative emotions such as intense fear, anger, depression, hopelessness, exhaustion, or something else with similar impact.
The feelings and emotions you’re hearing are stress/recovery talk. Work at learning the skill of understanding and interpreting the meanings of negative emotions. A ringing phone—your awareness of negative emotion—serves a critical role. If you don’t get the message and respond in ways that fulfill the need, the phone will continue to ring. It will get louder and louder (cause you more and more pain) as time goes on without the need being met.”

—James E. Loehr from Toughness Training for Life

I love this quote that I picked up from Brian Johnson’s Philosophers Notes.  Don’t ignore your emotional phone.. pick it up! Through being mindful we can open up to what our emotions are telling us… is it a story you are believing about yourself or others? Is there something in your life that needs to change? Do you need more exercise, down time or socializing?

Don’t let it go to voicemail. We all pack around a heavy bag of messages in our mailbox.  Listen. There’s an interesting message for you.

Have a great week my friends!