Why You Need The Skill of Emotional Resilience

Emotions are helpful and important. They provide us with vital feedback about our internal and external experiences, but sometimes they can feel overwhelming and like they’re working against us and our long term goals.

As a result, we often struggle against them. We avoid them. We fear them. This is difficult, because whether we want them or not they’re there all the time; making life pretty miserable. In fact, our efforts to escape them often result in more problems. So what is one to do when the idea of dealing with our emotions seems daunting but we can’t escape them no matter how hard we try?

When we feel at the whim of our emotions, when emotions feel too intense or out of control, or when we feel the need to avoid emotions at all costs, it can create significant suffering for us. On the other hand, if we can observe and take in what emotions are telling us, use it as one piece of a larger puzzle, and honor the emotional experience while making choices that are consistent with our long-term goals, it can enrich our lives on a deeper level.

It is often effective for us to simultaneously work toward the seemingly opposite goals of acceptance of “what is” and changing what is possible; and emotions are no exception. When we apply this concept to emotions, we call it “emotion regulation”. This process of honoring both sides of the equation can help you move towards a more peaceful and balanced relationship with your emotions.

The ability to bounce back from adversity is resilience. Difficult or strong emotion will always be something you will navigate in life, so the ability to be with that experience without being felled by it is emotional resilience. However, we often are not taught this by our families of origin, or perhaps our life experiences has made this difficult in some way. Regardless of the reasons for our difficulty is addressing our emotions, it is absolutely possible to develop emotional courage and forge the skills of emotional resilience. It just takes help and guidance.

If this resonates with you, you aren’t alone, it’s a common problem for many people. So much so, that one of our talented psychologists, Dr. Katherine Bracken, has decided to offer an Emotional Resilience group in the new year.

If you are looking to learn more about emotions, emotional processes, and how to navigate and regulate emotions, this may be a group for you.

This group will help you:

• Enhance your insight into your own emotions
• Learn to identify and influence your emotions so that they can become a source of strength, even in times of stress and discomfort
• Gain skills to experience and validate your emotions in healthier and helpful ways
• Increase your understanding of the links between thoughts, emotions and behaviors
• Learn options for influencing emotions when they seem to be working against you or your goals

The group will meet on a weekly basis on Wednesdays from 12-1:30pm EST starting in mid-January 2023.

If you are interested, please contact us today to learn more.