SELF-IMPROVEMENT
Fight, Flight, or Chill, Baby?
Day 12, 50 questions for deep self-reflection
This is day 12 of the 50 Questions for Deep Self-Reflection challenge from Know Thyself Heal Thyself created by Diana C.
DAY TWELVE: How can you become more mindful of the way you handle composure vs. emotional expression?
This is a very interesting question for me to explore today as I’ve just been unpacking the idea that my emotions have significantly stabilized over the past week. As a result of that stabilization, I haven’t been craving sugar! It’s an interesting and unexpected turn of events.
I feel like I’ve never handled my emotional expression with much composure unless it was an emergency situation. Let me offer a couple of comparative scenarios to explain:
- Emergency Situation: I can assess the situation in a moment and instantly know how others will react, therefore, if I need to take charge, I will. I don’t even know how but I hold myself together until I no longer need to — and then I disappear and have an emotional breakdown.
- Protector: I will step between anyone and someone I care about (or even vaguely know) if I sense danger. I’m 5 foot 3 inches. That has little bearing. I will size up against anyone and it is not wise!
- Flight/Flight/Freeze: I fight. Simple. It’s my natural response. Why? I wish I knew. Not only can my mouth get me into trouble, but so can this uncontrollable automatic nervous system response.
So the most interesting part to me about this question is not the answer to it, but rather, the awareness that in the calming of my seemingly chaotic emotions over the past week, I’ve naturally become more mindful of my composure vs emotional expression.
Prior to today, I would have had an easy response: meditation — through calming my mind and soul and visualizing how I would like to respond. And that still stands, but my personal experience of coming more into me is like an effortless and natural meditation. I’m intrigued to see how it will play out.
I love this journey we call life!
If you are interested in the journey so far — all the days that came before, I’ve collected all the article links here:
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