Hint: It’s inside of you
Hello Friends!
Thank you to all who shared your reviews of my first workbook for kids. It warmed my heart to read your experience and truly was a birthday treat! And welcome to our new premium subscribers!
Today, I’d like to share a little about feelings. This past weekend I felt abundant positive feelings as family and friends shared birthday wishes with me. I allowed myself to bask and soak in feelings of love, which made my heart area feel warm. That being said, there were also opportunities to notice and be with difficult feelings. There always are!
When I talk about emotions with kids, I like to highlight that the second part of the word e-motion is the word “motion.” This is because emotions are meant to move through our bodies. The Latin root word for emotions is “emovere,” which literally means to “move out” or “stir up” or “energy in motion.”
Emotions show up in the body in the form of sensations. Below is a quote from the Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Workbook for Kids, Volume 1:
“Emotions and sensations are like best friends, they always go together.”
This means that when there is an emotion, there is also a corresponding sensation in the body. For me sadness, can show up as a tightness in my throat. Fear can show up as a tightness in my chest. And anger can show up as tightness in my jaw. What about you, how do emotions show up in your body?
Below are a couple of pages from my workbook volume 1 that encourage you to get curious about sensations in the body that correspond with emotions:
Becoming aware of emotions’ sensations in the body is key to allowing emotions to flow. I will be sharing another post soon with specific practices that can aid in the movement of emotions through the body, but it all begins with awareness.
Here are a few related posts that you can check out that include body awareness and sensing emotions in the body:
Note: You can access paid subscriber posts, attend live-online gatherings and support my work by upgrading your subscription for just $5 a month, or you can get three-months’ paid subscriber benefits FREE when you review my workbook this month!
See if you can get curious about emotions’ sensations the next time you experience a positive or difficult emotion. If that seems challenging to you, I recommend beginning with body awareness in general, including things like Mindful Yoga. We will unpack more about how to be with sensations in the body at our live-online gathering on June 10th.
Thank you for being on this journey with me!
Warmly,
Jamie Lynn
P.S. For my birthday I asked my daughters to give me two experience-related gifts: 1) tidy the front closet and 2) go on a birthday hike with me. The front closet hasn’t been touched yet, but we did have a lovely birthday hike together!
