How often do you consider your emotional well-being, through pausing to consider your mood, nature of your thoughts, energy and needs? It can be difficult to answer colleagues, friends, family and partners when asked ‘How are you?’ if you are not in contact with how you are feeling or have not assigned language, words, or perhaps shapes and colours to these feelings. Some have been building a language to express their feelings for many years and have been supported and guided in the process. Others may come to this at a later stage, perhaps because they have not had the space, encouragement and safety to do so.
There is always more to learn about our feelings, their size and depth, where we feel them and our response. This is always changing. Sadness may seem manageable one day and leave you feeling unable to carry your body with the weight of it the next. The more we can allow ourselves to be in the landscape of our emotions, exploring, playing and being still, the more able we are to know ourselves and depict this landscape to others.
Feeling disconnected from others or lost in that landscape alone can at times feel like a fearful, overwhelming and lonely place to be. We might be better equipped to manage these times if we feel able to communicate these felt experiences to others, whether this is verbally or through other means such as art, movement or music. Spending five minutes each day noticing your felt experience and any accompanying thoughts may enable you to move away from a place of loneliness to one of connection. With practice it becomes easier and provides you with an opportunity to become familiar with feelings you may want to move away from or be closer to, those you would like to hold on to and those you would rather never experience again. You may become less fearful in the process after noticing that there is constant change and you can manage how you respond to feelings. Learn how to express your own landscape!
Rochelle batten 