Getting comfortable with mindfulness of current emotion
Practicing mindfulness of current emotion is basically the art of letting yourself feel like crap—or feel amazing—without trying to change a single thing about it. It sounds simple on paper, but if you've ever tried to stay calm while your heart is hammering against your ribs or your stomach is doing somersaults from anxiety, you know it's anything but easy. Most of us are taught from a young age to "fix" our feelings. If we're sad, we should cheer up. If we're angry, we should calm down. We treat our emotions like a messy room that needs to be tidied up before guests arrive. But this specific type of mindfulness asks us to do the exact opposite: just sit there in the mess and notice the color of the wallpaper. ...