Many years ago I worked with the incredibly inspiring Raphael Cushnir, author of 6 books on emotional connection and present moment awareness. He profoundly helped me through a tough time and together we worked with a brilliantly simple technique which has informed so much of my coaching ever since.
When emotions plummet, when we feel ourselves falling a long way short in our pursuit of happiness or when we just feel overwhelmed with our emotions or workload, we can seem buried in confusion, frustration, anger or regret. We often find ourselves so immersed that the emotions begin to define our attitudes and behaviour. In short… we get stuck and overwhelmed.
I have spoken and written often about emotions and I believe the clue is contained in 85% of the word – ‘motion’! They move, when we let go of them!
The two questions that can get us unstuck or out of our feelings of overwhelm are simply:
What is happening right now?
Honestly, right now, what are the sensations and emotions you are feeling? What is the truth of your situation right in this moment? This question assertively unlocks our thinking from annoyances, regrets or sadness of the past and concern or anxiety about the future. In most cases right now is never as dark as we were emoting it to be. Simply notice the sensations.
Can you be with it?
Can you accept this feeling, these present-moment circumstances? Can you allow them (the emotions) to simple be? Could you embrace them and let them travel their own course, and stay in motion (because they will if you let them)?
In asking and sitting with these questions you may not experience instant gratification but you will notice a positive change. The more often you ask them, the more they will become part of your everyday attitude and the more often you will enjoy being in the now!
This is part of what I develop when coaching clients, their ability to be in the now. Feelings of overwhelm or being stuck are often impacted by anxiousness or stress that lies in our past or our thoughts of the future. By returning fully to the now we are able to rebalance ourselves and, ultimately, create the fertile soil for new solutions and options to grow and our impact to be enhanced.
Good luck and keep it simple.