Treat to your feelings as you would your child
Any child needs to be heard, help and seen…..we need to hold a space and listen to them! But should we act and behave in accordance to everything they tell us to do?
The Power of Mindful Emotional Responses: A Key to Growth in Life and Mindset Coaching
In our daily lives, emotions are constantly being triggered by people, events, and situations. Often, our natural response is to act on those feelings. We believe we are making conscious decisions, but are we really? More often than not, these reactions feel like knee-jerk responses. And here’s the challenge: our emotions are deeply shaped by past experiences, which means we’re sometimes reacting to the present moment based on old wounds or beliefs. When we act on these emotions without understanding their root causes, we end up projecting our past onto our present—and potentially our future. This is why many of us see the same patterns repeating in our lives.
As a life coach and someone who specializes in mindset coaching, I’ve seen how these unconscious emotional reactions can hinder personal growth and prevent us from making progress. But the good news is, there’s a way to break free from these cycles.
Are You Acting From Your Past or Your Present?
While there are certainly times when it’s appropriate to act on our emotions—like distancing ourselves from someone who is making us unhappy—the issue arises when we act impulsively without understanding where our feelings are coming from. If we don’t take the time to pause and reflect, we risk repeating the same patterns of behavior without real growth or change.
This is where understanding emotions becomes powerful in the context of mindset coaching. By becoming more aware of our emotional triggers and learning to process them, we can stop the cycle of automatic responses and make more thoughtful decisions. The key is slowing down and practicing emotional awareness in a structured way.
The Three Stages of Emotional Awareness
Over time, I’ve developed a method that’s helped me—and many of my clients—gain control over our emotional responses. I encourage you to approach emotions in three stages:
- The Initial Feeling (Triggered by an Event): This is where your emotions are first activated. It’s important to recognize that feelings are a natural part of the human experience and can arise from any number of external factors.
- Taking Time to Listen and Understand Your Feelings: Much like how we would listen to a child who is upset, we need to give our emotions the time and space to be acknowledged. This step often gets skipped, but it’s absolutely crucial. When we take the time to truly understand what’s beneath the emotion, we create an opportunity for deeper self-awareness.
- Making a Conscious, Informed Decision: Once we’ve processed our emotions, we can then make a thoughtful decision about how to respond. By stepping back and considering our options, we are in a better position to choose the healthiest course of action.
Why Listening to Your Emotions Is Essential for Personal Growth
Most people jump straight to action without considering the second stage of emotional awareness. But that step—the one where we listen to and understand our feelings—is vital for true growth. When we skip this, we tend to either act impulsively on our emotions or suppress them entirely. I used to suppress my own feelings, thinking that by ignoring them, I was avoiding pain. But I soon realized that by dismissing my emotions, I was also dismissing a part of myself.
As a mindset coach, I believe that every time we invalidate our emotions, a little piece of our authenticity fades away. We become less in touch with who we truly are and what we truly need.
By fully listening to our emotions, acknowledging them, and validating them, we gain clarity and insight into our feelings. More often than not, when we process our emotions fully, we realize that acting impulsively isn’t the best choice. This helps us make more conscious decisions that align with our true desires, leading to healthier relationships, increased confidence, and better overall well-being.
Releasing Emotions for a Healthier Mindset
The beautiful thing about listening to your emotions is that once they feel heard and understood, they often lose their power over you. Just like a child who feels validated, emotions that are acknowledged can settle and stop demanding your attention. This is where real growth occurs.
By practicing emotional awareness, we create space for more thoughtful, intentional decisions. And through this process, we let go of the emotional patterns that no longer serve us. This is a key part of mindset coaching, helping individuals break free from limiting beliefs and habitual reactions.
Take the First Step Toward Emotional Awareness
If you’re tired of reacting based on past emotional patterns and want to make more empowered decisions, start by slowing down and listening to your feelings. Whether you’re working with a life coach or doing it on your own, this practice of emotional mindfulness can be transformative.
When we take the time to truly understand our emotions, we begin to see that we are in control—not our past, not our triggers, but our conscious choices. And that, my friend, is the first step toward living a more authentic and empowered life