Vulnerability, Courage, Shame, and Empathy | Strategies for Reckoning with Emotion

Lesson Objectives

• Practice and develop skills to recognize, engage with, and get curious about emotion.
• Integrate the skills you have learned so far in order to begin writing your own Rising Strong story.

Reading Assignment

Rising Strong — Chapter 4  

Exercise: Strategies for Reckoning with Emotion

            
Mindfulness

Definition from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley:

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-­by-­moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment. 

Mindfulness involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—­without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. 

When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.

“The research participants who taught me the most about breathing occupy what we would traditionally think of as opposite sides of the professional continuum: yoga teachers, meditation leaders, and mindfulness practitioners on one side and soldiers, firefighters, first responders, and elite athletes on the other." —Brené Brown

Tactical Breathing

Breathing is used by a wide range of practitioners – from yoga teachers and meditation leaders to firefighters, elite athletes, and military professionals. Instead of offloading emotion, mindfulness and breathing give us the awareness and space we need to make choices that are aligned with our values.

Here's how it's done:

Inhale deeply through your nose, expanding your stomach, for a count of four – one, two, three, four.
Hold in that breath for a count of four – one, two, three, four.
Slowly exhale all the air through your mouth, contracting your stomach, for a count of four - one, two, three, four.
Hold the empty breath for a count of four - one, two, three, four. 
You can think about the process as "box breathing."

Thinking about Mindfulness and Tactical Breathing answer the following:

This is a good time to revisit your permission slips.

I give myself permission to:

What strategies help you stay mindful or pay attention? List 2 or 3 examples.

Practice tactical or box breathing and take note of how it felt.

List some situations when these strategies may be helpful.

Exercise: Getting Curious About My Story

My fall story or "face down" in the arena moment:

01. How did I know I was emotionally hooked? 

02. Am I willing and ready to get curious?