Name It to Tame It, Feel It to Heal It

Self-awareness - a powerful and fundamental element to unlock your true potential.

It’s the first step towards leveling up to a high performance mindset.

How do you become more aware of what’s going on in your mind and body?

By creating some stillness, sitting with the hard stuff and dealing with the feelings that are unpleasant. 

For example this morning I woke up with a headache across my forehead.

A headache I knew was caused by leftover pain from my struggle to find sleep last night as I lay awake overthinking and stressing about made-up scenarios.

So this morning I got my coffee brewed, drank some water and then I sat, I felt, and I breathed fiercely to push all those cobwebs out.

Soon enough, my perspective changed about all those things I was overthinking.

I felt more calm and in control but it took intention and attention. 

This is a micro example - a measly headache caused from self-sabotage.

But I know we all have been there.

We all have gone through some caliber of trauma and pain.

The hard work starts when you are willing to face the feelings you have been shoving down, avoiding, and allowing to simmer in your pressure cooker.

Growth and comfort can not coexist. It is either one or the other.

So what do we do from here?

Here are two steps to work through unpleasant feelings and emotions that continue to loop through your head and have kept you stagnant at times. 

STEP 1 [NAME IT] 

Start with identifying the emotion. Below is an emotion wheel.

Find the emotion that is filling your mind and body at this very moment.

Think about those feelings as a separate entity from YOU.

By identifying that emotion or feeling, you can start to create SPACE to work through it.

Saying that emotion or feeling out loud can help make it not feel so big. Tame that little rascal down. 

Source: https://www.calm.com/blog/the-feelings-wheel

STEP 2 [FEEL IT] 

Here comes the possible discomfort.

I challenge you to SIT with that feeling.

It is hard (but important) work to create stillness and deal with the feelings that are unpleasant. 

Take time to feel the sensations in the body when you have that emotion.

This is for any emotion on the wheel.

There is no “good” or “bad” feeling, those thoughts are only our perspective of it.

Try not to judge the feelings that you experience but instead identify how it feels inside and outside of your body. 

Something I have found is when I sit with those different feelings it helps bring meaning to my life.

Because what does it truly mean to be human?

To me it means to experience life on a spectrum.

To explore all the possibilities and redefine who we truly are.

To raise the ceiling and expand our capabilities. 

And those two steps are it!

Easy, right? Definitely not.. Simple maybe, but not easy.

This kind of work is the toughest, but also some of the most rewarding work we can choose to do.

Working on this kind of self-awareness can help you blossom into the person you’ve always wanted to become. 

The beautiful and challenging part of working on your mindset is the work is never done.

Each day is a new opportunity to find ways to level up. 

For your athlete, I encourage you to have a conversation with them about these two steps.

Taking them through this exercise (with intense and not so intense emotions) can help cultivate their self-awareness.

Helping them discover this inner power and coping method has the potential for high yields in the future. 

We got deep today, people. All of this work is good work to help bring out that inner WARRIOR who has truly always been there.

I would love to hear from you and your experience with this exercise. Hit that reply button or comment below so I can learn more about you and your experience!

Keep doing the work. Carry on, Warriors!