Do you usually cocoon your emotions? Do you find it difficult to express your emotions? Does handling and dealing with emotions become a gruesome task for you? Don’t worry; you can surely get over these difficulties and issues. Therapeutic emotional expression will help you explore, identify, nurture and deal with intense emotions.

But, why is that necessary? I know many of you would be thinking this. Emotions form a vital component of our lives and entity. It is due to emotions that we feel pleasure, pain, fear, anger and other such sentiments. Without emotions we would be just like “plastic human beings”. Exploration, having and insight and dealing adaptively with your emotions are very necessary because it helps in your meaningful and worthwhile survival.

If emotions are not dealt with or resolved effectively then they can cause serious mental health issues. Emotional turmoil, anxiety, stress, depression, bipolar illness, etc. are some of the common ailments one can confront if his/her emotions are handled unhealthily. Therefore, it is very significant to identify your true emotions, explore them deeply, accept them, mould them into acceptable ways and finally express them in adaptive ways. Following are some of the effective ways through which you can achieve this:

Diary Writing / Journal Writing

Journal or diary writing is one of the best ways to explore, identify and express your emotions in healthy and adaptive ways. It also aids in the resolution of negative or problematic emotions. Now I am going to tell you about how you can do the same:

STEP ONE: CATHARSIS
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Write about anything and everything that comes to your mind or creating negative/positive state in your mind. This step acts as a vent to the pent-up emotions or feelings within you and makes your mind lighter.

STEP TWO: TARGETED THINKING:
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Write about the most important thing that has been running in your mind throughout the day. It could be a long lost memory, or any situation created in the present day, about a remark by a person………..anything that tends to disturb or excite your mind throughout.

STEP THREE: UNRESOLVED ISSUES AND AIM:
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You should try to fix any unresolved issue of the day related to any person or situation. If it lingers for a longer time, then you might be literally churned by it time and again. Therefore it is always wise to resolve the issue then and there. If the issue is not resolved or if it’s next to impossible to resolve then the mental blockage related to it should be taken out of the mind immediately. That’s why while diary entry you need to write down the mental block related to the unresolved issue.

The next sage is to write about your long term and short term plans, things you want to achieve or want to happen.

STEP FOUR: PLANNING:
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Make strategic plans to achieve you goals, both short and long-term

STEP FIVE: CELEBRATION:
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Write words of praise for yourself and celebrate even the smallest accomplishment / success of the day.

Secondly, write about the time or situation when you had gone wrong

Thirdly, scrutinize or make logical inferences about the what, why, how questions related to it

Fourthly, give self-suggestions to yourself to not to repeat the negatives and strengthen the positives again.

Expressing Emotions through colors

Colors are the best pathways to let your emotions speak out. When you feel a gush of emotional turmoil try taking a plain paper and color your emotions out. Use dark shades, light colors…. any color that helps you to vent out your suppressed emotions and makes you feel better.

You can have your own sketchbook where you can color your emotions out. Some other similar techniques are sand painting, art therapy through mud, collage work, oil painting, colors with tactile sensation, etc. These are easily available in the market and in nature too.

After you are done, you can save the painting and look at them during free times. Looking at your own colorful work will help you feel proud of yourself for having dealt with your emotions healthily; it will make you feel good that you just achieved another milestone of self-control and resolution of your problems.

Meditation

Thought flow in the sway of meditation has enormous positive effects on your emotional health. When your emotions make you feel down in the dumps, try to calm yourself down by meditating. While doing this you can also play your favorite music in the background. Think of the good times you have lived, think about a bright future, meditate about the ways through which you can resolve and express your emotional turmoil…finally, take a deep breathe and let your emotions flow out. Feel that after the meditation session everything’s going to be all right, you will be in a much better position to deal with your potential problems. Believe in yourself, believe in the strength of your emotions and believe in the best!

Individual and Milieu therapy

When you need someone with whom you can share your emotions, individual therapy or sharing your emotions with the ones you trust will be of immense help. If you want to know about how others feel and face their emotion then group therapy will serve the purpose.

Emotions form an integral part of our daily lives. If you leave them unattended and unresolved they can cause serious problems in future. Therefore, we all should try to understand the beauty and significance of our emotions. A sound emotional health is the key towards physical and psychological health too.

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart” – Helen Keller

Best wishes,

Sareeta