Riding The Waves

I was listening to a Podcast the other day and the topic was learning to ride the waves of life, leaning in, and calming the inner storms. 

Every time i hear anything about the waves of life I think of a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh, 

"Enlightenment is when the wave realizes it is the ocean." 

The waves can’t quite get there when caught in the storms though, so how do we work to calm ourselves when in the midst of the waves of life? 

This is where emotional regulation comes into play. A development of the ability to withstand the challenges that we are all faced with during life. The good news is that no one is immune to the suffering here, we all get a turn. The other good news is that each large wave of emotion will not  last forever, it will settle, it will pass. They all do. It is the sitting in them at the moment that presents a problem for most of us. 

Mindfulness is one of the ways I have learned to calm those inner storms without bypassing any of my feelings or hindering my process in the long run. Being present in the moment, allowing that big feeling to just be, and also allowing to just move on. We get into trouble when we hold on tightly, especially to things that are not helpful. 

When I start to feel myself get entrenched in my own feelings, I start my mindfulness training. Let me back up and say first, I have done some work on being able to identify what these intense feelings feel like in my body. When I start to feel anger boil up, I know that I start to sweat, the pit on my belly starts to get hot and I feel the heat of anger in my chest. 

Once you can identify how you are feeling, you can start to move more fully into a healthy solution, a mindful solution. 

I wanted to share an exercise with you on reframing and putting yourself back into the present moment. This is how you calm those storms, this is how you ride the waves, with emotional regulation. 

Being here now can be so challenging when you are in fight or flight mode. One way that I like to use to help me stay steady when the seas of life come crashing into me, is to mentally pick out one color in everything around me.

I usually go for green first, it's my favorite color. I say everything that I see in my head that is the color green. The trees, a book,l a stuffy on the couch, the cup in front of me….. And so on. 

After doing this for a while, I feel better. I feel more connected, I feel back to reality. Try it and let me know what you think!