Don’t let your emotions get the better of you.

Slow down. Pause. Take a minute.

Last week, I finally got my Covid vaccine. To say the process was anxiety provoking would be an understatement; no, I don’t mean the process of actually getting vaccinated. I mean the balancing act of not succumbing to the urgency of booking the first slot available (because who knows when I’ll get this opportunity again) and waiting until the weekend (so that the post-vaccine symptoms don’t disrupt my work week).

Eventually, it served as a good reminder for me to slow down, take a minute and breathe.

I mean this quite literally: when was the last time you took a breath and paused?

As you go through day-to- day life on ‘auto-pilot’, you may realise you are doing something before you even had a chance to register the feeling you may be having or the thought you are thinking. For example, you may listen to yourself saying something or notice yourself doing something before consciously putting together the thought or emotion that may be driving that behaviour.

Alternatively, you may register an emotion first – it could be a feeling of joy or sadness, anxiety or anger, or worthlessness or hopelessness; each feeling in itself is typically accompanied by a bodily sensation. For example, I often notice my anxiety once I identify the physical restlessness that comes along with. For others, this can be butterflies in the stomach, breathlessness or tearfulness.

The moment you start to identify the way you experience each feeling, you have tuned into your experience of joy, anxiety or anger. When you start to witness your emotions and the embodied sensations that come with it, you get a chance to take a minute to re-orient yourself. You now have the opportunity to relate to it, as a sort of compass, and use it to make sense of what is going on for you, so that you get to decide what you would like to do with that feeling.

---

About the Author: Mallika Verma

Mallika Verma is a psychologist, and couples and family therapist. She has previously worked across a range of public and private healthcare settings in India and the UK. She now practices privately in Mumbai and Delhi. Learn more at: www.mallikaverma.com or get in touch with her on: mallikavermatherapy@gmail.com.