Story

Happy Thursday, y'all!

This Spotlight design has a very special card text (in my opinion). "The moon is a reminder that no matter what phase I'm in, I'm still whole."

Oof. Like a punch to the heart, right? I think we have all been in that moment of life when we feel broken or incomplete because of the season of life we're in.

The thing is: just because you feel a certain way doesn't mean it's true.

I feel hypocritical saying that because I'm also letting my feelings plague me right now, but it's true. Facing that – accepting that – though means that you need to understand the fact that tough things are happening and move forward anyway.

Easier said than done, right?

Did you know that attempting to resist painful emotions actually increases psychological suffering?

Seems counter-intuitive, but it makes sense. Bottles eventually burst from too much pressure. Just saying...

Face Your Feelings

Again, easier said than done, but here are a few practical ways that you can begin to accept and understand how you're feeling.

Value Your Feelings

If no one has told you lately, it's okay to feel. In fact, it's great to cry, to emote. Emotions shouldn't be feared or suppressed. I'm the type of person that cries when I get angry, and I used to be so ashamed and upset that I did that, but now I know that it's just the way I'm able to express how I'm feeling. Rather than ignoring your feelings, try to pay attention to them and find the source of them. Example: why is this feeling happening right now?

Identify Your Feelings

To expand on my previous point, if you can figure out if something triggered your emotions (such as an event vs. stress or memory), you may be able to learn to control them so in the future, you can express your feelings in a different way.

Express Your Feelings

There are so many ways you can work through your emotions. Maybe you're a crier, a screamer, a kicker, a hider, or a venter. When responding to your feelings, you don't have to suppress them or express them in one certain way. Instead, you're welcome to think about them (why am I feeling this way // what do I want to do about it?) and make a decision from there. Sometimes, it's really helpful to tell someone what you're feeling. They may be able to help you work through whatever it is brewing inside your heart and head.

Finding Light In The Dark

Are you a person that counts your blessings or would you rather dwell on the negatives? Either way, you may find the following ways helpful in trying to work through the difficulties that life brings.

Practice Mindfulness

If you're like me, you may zone out when something's on your mind. Instead of trying to distract my thoughts by focusing on the present, I can get sucked into moments that have already happened. Playing them over and over again in my mind as if I can relive a painful moment and make it work out differently. What's not helpful about that is that it makes me worry more about what has already taken place or causes me to worry about things that haven't happened yet. As my grandma always says, don't go borrowing problems.

Being in the present, actively choosing to live in each moment, is a super helpful way to work through hard situations. In focusing on what's going on right here, right now, you're less likely to worry about things you have no control over, easing anxiety with each passing minute.

Be Kind

Sometimes, giving to or helping others can boost our own happiness and change our moods for the better. Also, it's a pretty great exercise in channeling your emotions into something positive.

Practice Gratitude

For those blessing counters out there, this one's for you. And for everyone else, give it a shot, won't you? When you practice gratitude, you intentionally find time to acknowledge the good things that have happened in your life, shifting your thoughts from what could (or is going) wrong to what has gone right. If something good has happened before, it's sure to happen again.

If there's one thing I hope you take away from this ZOX is that even if you don't feel complete or whole right now, that doesn't mean you aren't. If moons show us anything, it's that sometimes we just can't see the whole picture, but in a different light, things can completely change.

Be bold,

Landri

Artist

Sabrina Steuberg

Going Through Phases

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