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How can I regulate my emotions during busy work periods? · Wellbeing Solutions - Ask A Counsellor

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  SPEAKER_00: How can I regulate my emotions during busy work periods?
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  SPEAKER_00: How you regulate your emotions during busy work periods will depend on the time you have available and your surroundings.
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  SPEAKER_00: So we feel emotions.
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  SPEAKER_00: Emotions are a manifestation of our thoughts.
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  SPEAKER_00: I like to also break the words down emotion to e motion, energy, emotion.
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  SPEAKER_00: Emotions are always telling us things about the world and the people around us and how they make us feel.
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  SPEAKER_00: So in the workplace, I like to encourage clients, if they have time and privacy at work, to regulate, but not dismiss and ignore the emotions.
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  SPEAKER_00: So it's likely not a good time to think too deeply about why they're there and what they're trying to tell you, but it is the time at work to manage them.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can go home later and journal or analyse or sort of try and understand why you felt you did when you get home.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's not always an option to do that at work.
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  SPEAKER_00: So getting into your body and out of your head is my favourite and most effective approach.
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  SPEAKER_00: Some great regulating techniques start with a breath.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's hard when you're overwhelmed to think of counting breathing exercises sometimes.
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  SPEAKER_00: So I find that clients prefer colour breathing, which is my go-to.
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  SPEAKER_00: So thinking of a calming colour, everyone's is different.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's the colour blue, like the clear sky, or a warming, soothing pink.
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  SPEAKER_00: Then I encourage you to think of a colour which is weighing you down, or that represents stress, worry, and tension.
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  SPEAKER_00: So just taking a nice deep breath in to start all the way to the belly, and slowly releasing.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's the basic deep breath, breathing out of your mouth.
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  SPEAKER_00: So now we introduce the colour.
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  SPEAKER_00: So imagine on your next deep breath in that you're breathing in your calm colour.
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  SPEAKER_00: See it coming into your nostrils, calming down your airways, into your lungs, and pushing that colour even further down into your belly.
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  SPEAKER_00: So big yoga breath.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then gathering, noticing where the stress and tension colour is in your body, and as you're breathing out with your mouth and the outbreath, blowing that colour away from you and releasing it from all areas of your body.
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  SPEAKER_00: So just repeating that a couple of times, really imagining those colours in with the calm and out with stress.
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  SPEAKER_00: So this technique removes your need to try and challenge stresses or the thoughts or think positively or anything.
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  SPEAKER_00: So micro moments of mindfulness are also really good.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'd encourage you to go and get some fresh air if possible, even if it's opening a window and taking a few deep breaths.
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  SPEAKER_00: What can you smell?
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  SPEAKER_00: What can you see?
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  SPEAKER_00: How does the temperature of the air outside feel?
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  SPEAKER_00: Or taking a cool sip of water, feel the coolness of the glass or the cup, taste the water, smell the water and feel it going down your throat.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you prefer tea or coffee or another drink, go for it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Just do just drink mindfully or snack mindfully with taste.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you have a bathroom nearby, go and run your hands under a warm tap with some soap.
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  SPEAKER_00: You smell the soap, feel the slipperiness of it.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you need complete presence and to feel where you've checked out, run your wrists under a cold tap.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is great and releases endorphins, although regulating and soothing techniques are preferred over stimulating.
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  SPEAKER_00: It just depends on what you need.
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  SPEAKER_00: The important process here is to regulate your nervous system, and as your body responds and returns to a regulated state, the racing thoughts and worries tend to fade or become quieter.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: Give these things a go, but we're not built to be in overwhelming environments for long periods of time.
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  SPEAKER_00: Communicate your struggles to a colleague or line manager to see if you can get support.
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  SPEAKER_00: Do not try to manage on your own.
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  SPEAKER_00: Please take care and I hope that this has been helpful.