How Leaning into Negative Emotions Can Help Your Mental Health

"In a study published last month in the journal Emotion, researchers found that people who habitually judge negative feelings — such as sadness, fear and anger — as bad or inappropriate have more anxiety and depression symptoms and feel less satisfied with their lives than people who generally perceive their negative emotions in a positive or neutral light.

Why judging your feelings can backfire

When we perceive our emotions as bad, we pile more bad feelings onto our existing ones, which makes us feel even worse. Avoiding or suppressing feelings can be counterproductive, too. Research also suggests that if you have a habit of negatively judging your emotions, you can become more upset when faced with a stressful situation.

How to make peace with your feelings

First, remember that unpleasant feelings are part of the human experience. Negative feelings can even serve a purpose.

It may also help to remember that the feeling won’t be around forever.

Practice and experience may also make emotional acceptance easier.

It’s important to note that accepting emotions is different from accepting the situations that cause bad emotions"

Read the full article on The New York Times

✨Takeaway: Trying to suppress or ignore negative emotions can actually make them worse in the long run. Embracing negative emotions and acknowledging them can lead to better mental health outcomes. This approach is known as "radical acceptance," and it involves accepting negative emotions without judgment.

✨Reflection: How do you currently deal with negative emotions?

#Emotions #Negative #MentalHealth #EmotionalWellness

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