The only kind of label that matters...

There's no one in the entire world that can't resonate with the feelings of uncertainty this pandemic has brought us. It has been two years plus of not knowing, thinking we know, confirming we don't, hoping we know again, and then not knowing once more and on and on. 

And what does uncertainty do? It confuses us, makes us uncomfortable, and causes suffering. 

There's another thing I've been writing about in my book that causes uncertainty in our bodies and rattles our nervous systems. Emotions...when they are overwhelming, confusing or we try to avoid them. 

So today I am going to explain to you how an extremely simple neuroscience-backed tool for emotions can help us feel less uncertain and have less suffering. 

Studies actually show that the simple act of just labeling our emotions calms our nervous systems and even decreases fear in our amygdala in the brain. Just simply labeling them.

But it makes sense if you think about it. Let's say you come home from a hard day of work where you felt invalidated, dumped on and bad about yourself. 

You may just feel a ton of overwhelm as you return home under that deluge of emotions. And want it all to go away. But Netflix will only rattle your nervous system more. Part of the overwhelm is not acknowledging exactly how you are feeling.

So instead if you simply say to yourself or someone else, "I feel...
 angry..."
 dismissed..." 
 hurt..."

Whatever emotion(s) you are feeling. That simple labeling actually settles the sympathetic nervous system and turns down the threat response.

And even more amazing, the studies show that even not trying to solve the emotions or believing this will help will still set those processes in motion. 

So even if you collapse on the couch and feel like you want to avoid all of it, do this simple act of labelling what you are feeling or better yet, anytime through the day that you're feeling a cascade of the feels and don't know what to do. 

Hope this helps! Let me know how it works for you. 

Y'all are like my insider book peeps that get to see all the science I'm finding before everyone else  Until next week...

Live well,
Tanmeet