Tag Archives: Emotion

The cartoon elephants are here!

Click here for The Emotional Extremist’s Guide to Handling Cartoon Elephants: How to solve elephantine emotional problems without getting run over, chased, flattened, squished, or abandoned by your true cartoons. Here is a sneak preview of the book chapters: Part … Continue reading

Do cartoon elephants (emotions!) really exist?

Cartoon elephants do, indeed, exist. The question is whether or not you believe in the existence of your own elephants.  In truth, life will be much harder for you if you go around pretending that you don’t really actually feel … Continue reading

Get your cartoon elephants (emotions) some air!

Here are some tips for breathing: Put one hand on your stomach and one hand on your chest. When you breath deeply – into your diaphragm- the hand on your stomach will go up and down. This is one way … Continue reading

How snow banks can help you regulate your emotional temperature

One way to reduce emotional arousal is to get your parasympathetic nervous system to help. When people are under emotional duress, their body kicks into fight or flight mode. Emotions serve to protect us by revving up our body and … Continue reading

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What are your emotions telling you?

Airplane emotions Click on the link above to watch a two minute video clip on how your emotions are like paper airplanes- and what messages might be flying by.

Making space for your jumbled, confused, disorganized, messy, or incoherent cartoon elephants (emotions!).

This is a picture of what your elephants (emotions!) might look like if they get bunched up like a bad traffic jam. A lot of effort may need to go into sorting, identifying, labeling, and describing your elephants. It is … Continue reading

When trauma forces us to look at what matters: Newtown, CT, and surviving emotional pain

Traumatic experiences have a tendency to shake us to the very core, calling into question our beliefs about humanity, safety, influence, power, control, and faith. When traumatic things happen, our vulnerabilities are exposed. We may feel raw, defenseless, or powerless. … Continue reading

6 quick tips on mindfully navigating the holidays when you aren’t “feeling” it

Notice what you feel without judging. Sometimes people believe that if they don’t feel a certain way, they are missing out on some kind of grand, spiritual, or wonderful experience. I am reminded of the Charlie Brown Christmas special in … Continue reading

7 Tips for handling stressful holiday interactions:

Try to plan your interactions or the time you spend with family in such a way that you can take “breaks” from emotional intensity.  This can include limiting or structuring the time you spend together, planning for short periods apart … Continue reading

When problems with eating isn’t just about the food

Here are some questions to consider if you are trying to change behaviors around eating habits and may need some additional help getting at the core of the problem. These questions may also help you determine if severe or extreme … Continue reading