It is a natural process for a person to experience emotions, both negative and positive. Often, social factors (norms of behavior, ethical norms, etc.) influence the body’s behavior.) make us suppress our feelings. Restraint of current emotions creates a lot of psychological problems, which later transform into diseases of the body. How then to be? It is necessary to work out a way to let the accumulated emotions out without negative consequences. In this article you will find the answers to your questions and learn how to live in harmony with your feelings.
Why is harmful to suppress emotion
So, a study by Yu.e. Kravchenko, published in the journal “Experimental Psychology” proved that the suppression of behavior caused by a violent emotional reaction to the object, person or event leads to increased subjective experience of these feelings. That is, the more we try to hide real emotions, the more we experience them inside.
Alexander Loewen, the founder of bioenergetic analysis and a psychotherapist working in body-oriented therapy, in his book “The Psychology of the Body. Bioenergetic Body Analysis speaks to the close connection between the emotional and physiological realms. So, the interruption of the natural living of current emotions (anger, grief, sadness) leads to spasms of the muscle groups. Amid spasms, circulation is impaired, a person’s breathing becomes shallow, and intimacy suffers. In a state of constant tension, it becomes difficult to achieve orgasm.
To what other consequences leads to inhibiting emotions:
Chronic stress. The unnatural living of feelings is an alien psychological mechanism which generates an intrapersonal conflict. Thus, the systematic suppression of feelings creates a permanent tension, which is perceived by the body as a stressor.
Increased fatigue. To contain emotions and hide them deep in the subconscious, takes a lot of psychological and physiological resources. Increased energy expenditure leads to increased fatigue, which contributes to a significant decrease in performance.
The genesis of neuroses and complexes.Constant suppression of feelings in order to comply with social norms and fit their behavior into the unspoken social rules leads to a change in attitudes. A person begins to shy away from negative or positive emotions (fear, genuine joy, excitement, etc.).d.).
The risk of “exploding” after a while. Sigmund Freud, in his writings, notes that systematic repression forces current emotions into the subconscious. Accumulated tension, difficult to contain because of stress or fatigue, later transforms into insomnia, nightmares, depression, or anger.
Disruption of natural ways of responding emotionally.Skillful games of hiding true feelings often lead to stale. That is, the personality gets so used to hiding feelings that it actually stops feeling them. Traumatic events or joyful news cease to cause a response or lead to a weak intensity of emotion.
If you want to avoid chronic stress and other negative consequences of the suppression of feelings, then here are the best recommendations for you to constructively live the accumulated emotions.
Recommendations for constructive release of accumulated negativity
In order not to have to cope with the accumulated feelings of rejection, it is important to reflect on time. Excellent help in this case, consultations with a psychologist or psychotherapist, where you can jointly identify repressed emotions, analyze them and learn to accept. By yourself you can cope with feelings through their identification and acceptance. For example, you feel angry, but have no way to react to the anger. The first thing you do is breathe deeply, consciously, then admit to feeling angry (whether justified or not). And then you allow yourself to live it. Tell yourself that feeling angry is normal and natural, and there is nothing unusual or shame-inducing, guilt-inducing about it. If you have already acquired a whole baggage of unreflected emotions, repressed feelings that are about to break out in a stream of negativity, the following recommendations will help you.
Breathing practices
Collected together, unlived emotions are reflected in bodily reactions. Headaches, dizziness, muscle pain (due to spasms), etc.d. That is, stress, fatigue (psychological problems) stimulate changes in the body. These include activation of the adrenal cortex (cortisol production) and increased breathing. Superficial, rapid, and confused breathing is a direct consequence of negative experiences. In this situation, we can create the right illusion for the body. Start breathing deeply, smoothly, deliberately lengthening the exhalation compared to the inhalation. Such breathing signals the disappearance of the stressor, and we calm down. So constructive deception of the body will help you feel better, preventing an “explosion” in the most inopportune conditions.
Here are two interesting breathing practices from yoga to help you get into a resourceful state:
Kapalaphati Technique.Take deep, slow breaths. After fully filling the lungs with air, make an intensified, rapid exhalation, by engaging the lower abdomen. Concentration on a sequence of actions will allow to shift the focus of attention from the negative and to calm down.
Nadia Shondakha Technique.To do this, pinch one nostril with your thumb. Breathe in deeply with the open nostril, and at the maximum inhalation let go of the thumb and clasp the other nostril. Then breathe out for a long time. The technique will help synchronize the hemispheres of the brain, improve analytical thinking functions, and calm down.
Tears
Tears are used to release repressed emotions and negative experiences. After a good cry we feel relief. Often when we begin to cry for one reason, we give an outlet for other, repressed memories and feelings. So do not hold back, put on sad music or a movie, stock up on tissues and cry as much as you want. And this recommendation is not just for women. Tears have no gender. Everyone, regardless of gender, has the right to cry from the soul.
Physical Activity
Researchers proved that sports are the best cure for chronic fatigue and stress. How physical activity helps to cope with accumulated and repressed negativity:
As a result of strength training, there are micro-traumas of muscle fibers.To restore them, the body secretes a substance designed to minimize unpleasant feelings. A bonus to this property is the stimulation of endorphin production. As a consequence, we feel happy and get rid of heavy, oppressive emotions.
Realizing one’s physical potential provides one with excellent sleep.In sleep, brain activity is suspended and the brain recovers. Getting enough quality sleep on a regular basis helps one to cope better with stressors.
The authors of the survey also showed that people who practice various kinds of sports in 70% reported improved mood and increased efficiency after a good workout.
Expressing anger at objects
A study by an international team of scientists was carried out on a group of respondents consisting of men who work in the medical field. It was designed to study the effect of showing aggression on the risk of stroke and heart attack. The research was conducted during two years with regular monitoring of the physical and psychological condition of the respondents. Found that men who showed moderate aggression were at less risk of heart attack and stroke than those who showed low levels of aggression.
Make a point of letting the aggression out. And that its manifestation does not spoil relations with other people, you need to show ingenuity. You can beat a pillow, shoot at a shooting range, pound old dishes, etc.d. If the described methods of expressing aggression do not fit, then there is another way – yelling. Go out into a deserted place, visualize suffering, pain, anger, and scream.
Creativity
Creativity is a way to express yourself, but also to sublimate your feelings and emotions. University of Minnesota researchers conducted an experiment over 30 days. In it teenagers participated, who were invited to engage in various kinds of creative work (embroidery, drawing, playing musical instruments, etc.).l.) throughout the duration of the study. As a result, it turned out that all 30 days that teens spent doing creative activities, they were in a good mood.
Therefore, you can get rid of stress and constructively express the accumulated negativity through various kinds of creative activities. Choose any activity you like and create a masterpiece, eradicating pain, fatigue and suffering.
Sex
We mean not duty sex on the run, but high quality, conscious sex with preliminary caressing. An orgasm produces substances that stimulate areas of the brain responsible for pleasure. Feelings after great sex are comparable to feelings after taking psychotropic substances that cause euphoria. Stress recedes, the mood improves, and the adaptive characteristics of the organism increase. Therefore, we do not try to quickly brush off in bed, but a responsible approach to psychotherapeutic interventions.
Writing techniques
They involve reflecting experiences and transferring suppressed emotions onto paper. What happens while you’re describing your feelings:
Analyze past experiences.Approach the analysis of suffering more consciously, reduce emotional involvement, and make the emotion conscious.
Look at the situation from the outside in.When you finish the letter, you reread it from the position of an outside observer. Then you think about what you would recommend to the person who wrote it? What options do you see for getting out of this situation??
Release from the oppressive negativity. The main point is to pee from the heart. You are not writing a school essay, but using writing for personal purposes. So we reflect everything that we feel on paper.
The hardest thing about writing technique is getting started. The first words are the most difficult. To make it easier to conduct the technique effectively, begin writing with the brightest feelings (negative or positive – it doesn’t matter).
Getting rid of junk
Take apart your desk, closet, and dishes and remove everything you’ve used less than once or twice in a year. It’s hard to believe, but getting rid of junk brings mental clarity and helps improve your mood. Also in the process of cleaning you will have time to think about your life, the people around you. Slowly you’ll come to a conclusion about which people make you feel comfortable and which make you feel negative. All this will help to come to internal harmony and transfer it to the relationship with others.
Laugh
Research confirms that laughter helps minimize stress and reduce the power of stressors to affect a person’s condition. Humor helps:
Depreciate fears.Fears, ridiculed by witty remarks or funny caricatures, lose their power over the personality.
Stimulate production of the happiness hormone. Laughter accompanies events in which we feel good and comfortable. Model this situation by having a hearty laugh at a funny joke.
Express emotion constructively. You’ve probably seen people on the verge of a breakdown laughing hysterically. It’s a pathological reaction to stress, but you can avoid disruption by laughing enough in advance.
Reflection
It is impossible to vent negativity without consequences, bypassing the stage of introspection. Understanding the essence of the problem, the analysis of the origins of a tangle of emotions will help to come to a logical solution. High-quality reflection is available to mature individuals who by the will of fate have fallen into the net of negative emotions. Analyze from when do you feel there is a problem? Now go deep into the memories and look for the root cause of negativity. Much will become accessible and understandable if one treats oneself more attentively and consciously.
Conclusion
Faced with repressed emotions, looking for an outlet, no need to panic. The right approach will help you get rid of the negative, without ruining relationships with loved ones and others. And to prevent the accumulation of unpleasant feelings, analyze all questionable emotions and give yourself permission to be human, with your own merits and demerits.
