“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” – Nathaniel Branden
This is ground zero, the first day of school, learning to pull yourself up as though you are a baby.
Below is your Acronym for Stage 1 of PAUSE; :
Identify your Perception & Increase your Awareness to better Understand your Spirit & Emotions
We spend a lot of time doing. There is always something we could be doing, should be doing, or that we are actually doing. When is the last time you had nowhere to be, nothing to do? What we mean by nothing to do, everything on your “To-Do List” is done, you can binge watch Netflix in peace. If you are anything like the average person, it’s been a while. Do you ever ask yourself what you might be missing in all of the doing? Chances are you are missing out on addressing those nagging emotions you keep suppressing.
As an adult, if you work outside of the home, you have on more than one occasion experienced frustration with your job. Did you ever sort through the disappointment you felt the day you found out the lady you trained in the cube next to you got the promotion you wanted? I’m willing to bet you went to happy hour instead.
How about that time, after a long day of work, on your day off, on Sunday, you came home to find your husband hosting a game party with 20 of his closest friends, and their children? Did you ever tell him how you felt? That’s healthy. You let it go because it is his house too, and it’s not that big of a deal. So what did you do the 4th time he did it? Oops, he left the cap off the toothpaste. Why is your face hot?
We could go down a list of things that happen on a daily basis that stir up some form of emotion or feeling. Most of the time however, we ignore those little moments of frustration, as mere annoyance. But how often have we gotten done with our day, and realized we felt a consuming sense of anger? How many times have you laid down in your bed, and took a deep sigh and smiled because it was a genuinely great day?
We believe it is important to acknowledge that you felt the emotion and determine the why of it as well. Spend some time in the coming days or weeks exploring your everyday emotions. Are you experiencing extremes? Can you determine the root cause of them?
Join our 21Day Journal challenge and start documenting your daily emotions.
This process can go a long way to identifying people, experiences, and activities that you enjoy. It will also reveal the toxins in your life. You’ll identify the negative emotions that nag at you throughout the day and potentially see how your reactions to everyday life are affecting your mental stability.
This would be a great thing to discuss with a counselor if you have one. If you are in need of one, see our Resources page for referrals.
The very first step in becoming emotionally healthy is simply making ourselves aware of the fact that we have them. How do you change behaviors, reactions, or “feelings” if you aren’t aware of what they truly are? Take some time each day to make note of the feelings or emotions you experienced.
When you feel you’ve made progress here, move on to stage 2: Acknowledge and Understand.
