Second roller coaster ride (2)

[Card29]

Hi DnJ

It’s pretty common for one to be more emotional in the morning. A technique that works for a lot of folks is to allow yourself to feeling your emotions for a set amount of time, then get on with your day.

We you get up, set a timer for ten minutes. Let your feelings go wherever they will. Impossible, dreadful, worry, fear, sad, sorrow, etc. The purpose is acknowledgement, to let those feelings be heard and expressed. Trying to stifle our emotions just bottles them up and we become a pressure cooker.

After the ten minutes, stop. Utilize the stop sign. Imagine a big red stop sign. Rein yourself in, and get ready for your day. This “controlled” feeling helps with detachment.

Attachment is the uncontrolled being emotionally dragged around, here you are purposely allowing your feelings and then pausing them. Note, the stop sign “stops” for the moment, you are really only pausing your feelings.

Thank you for this image. Several of these times, I've realized that the hamster wheel just wasn't going to stop so I had to just start moving or do something. I will try envisioning a STOP sign. I just did it at my desk. It worked for like 5 minutes, but still with a burning sensation in my chest and stomach, but was able to work. Then the thoughts were back. STOP again.

You can perform this technique through out the day as well. Find a safe place and just feel for a few controlled minutes. Then pause and continue. As you progress, the time between pauses gets longer. The number of necessary pauses through the day becomes less and less, until only the morning one is left. Eventually that ten minutes becomes five, then three, then one, and then zero.

In my brain I know it will start to get easier (at some point). In my gut it feels like this is the rest of my life. I know it's not true, but it feels true. And I know it's not true because I've survived this before. I just haven't reached that belief yet. I know hundreds of people have come through here and went through the same thing. I know the path is there, I just can't see it yet.

Thank you all so much for your support. I need as much as I can get right now. I finally get to see my best friend today. We're meeting at the gym on our lunch breaks.