When we learn the tools to help us emotionally regulate, this doesn’t mean we’re going to be perfect from there on in. The trick is to keep remembering that which we push aside. The more we remind ourselves of the tools we have learned, like eating healthy foods at predictable times, a regular sleep pattern, outdoor exercise, boxed breathing, meditation, and communicating with honesty with our Inner Child, the more we will recognize when we are off track and even understand why we are off track. For example, we might get angry and fall into old patterns and then, afterward, remember our tools and realize that we eaten, haven’t been exercising outside, and haven’t been taking care of ourselves in general. Believe it or not, this is OK. We are not going to be perfect in how we heal and grow. It’s not possible to be perfect. Even when we are on track all the time, if we are being too rigid about it then that is also a problem. Rigidity in thought and action is also a form of dysregulation. By being persistent in our awareness of ourselves, we can allow for give and take. Just know that once we are off track for a while, habits form and we will need more time to overcome that as well. By being persistent, patient, kind and loving to ourselves, we can make it through the fallen debris of our ups and downs.
-Janice M. Burke
Image by Dominic Kurniawan Suryaputra from Unsplash
Comments