Taking in the good means to pause and sit with a positive emotion for as long as you can. When you pause to take in the good you are letting your brain really soak up all that goodness and you are helping your brain to rewire itself to start taking in more good.
To take in the good we need to be mindful of our thoughts, feelings, and the ways that our brain and body communicate our emotions to us. If you are a busy person, this skill might not come so easily for you. To start getting into the habit of noticing your thoughts and feelings you can practice doing what’s called a body scan. To do a body scan you would close your eyes, or if you aren’t comfortable closing your eyes try sitting and focusing on your feet, the floor or a neutral object in front of you. Take a few deep breaths and try and tune into your body. Starting at the top of your head and moving down to your toes notice what is happening inside your body. Are you noticing any tension in your forehead, neck or shoulders? Is your heart racing? How does your gut feel? Notice without judgement they ways that your body is communicating to you. After you’ve done your body scan take one more minute and ask yourself “what am I thinking?”, “what am I feeling”. Notice what comes up for you. Don’t judge what comes up, just notice. You may want to record what you notice in a journal to refer back to. Over time and with practice you’ll start to understand your emotions with greater clarity and you will notice those moments where you should stop and take in the good.
Need more support tuning into your emotions or with rewiring your brain to notice the good? Therapy is a great place to start learning about your emotions and yourself. In my practice, Gwendolyn Nelson-Terry, LMFT I help clients to use the information that they gather from their body and brain to start making sense of their emotions, start rewiring their brain so that they experience less anxiety and less depression, and I help client’s to learn skills that they can use right away to start experiencing less anxiety and depression.
Call or email today and schedule a free 20 minute phone consultation to find out how therapy can help you to start feeling better. (619)383-1900 or gwendolyn@gwendolynnelsonterry.com