December

A Dive Into Sadness

When most of us think of sadness, we view it as a negative emotion - one that we certainly don't want to experience ourselves and one that we don't really want to encounter when working with others. Emotions in general are often difficult to navigate, but sadness seems to give us the most trouble, doesn't it? Maybe it's because of its intensity. Or maybe it's from the fear we feel when we think that if we feel it, then it won't ever go away.

The truth of the matter is that some sadness really doesn't go away. But recognizing sadness doesn't have to be a bad thing.

Read more about sadness and how learning to process those feelings can strengthen our resilience muscles in Onward, pages 188-191. Explore the resources below as well.

Exploring the Power of Sadness

Let's take a dive into sadness. I know, doesn't sound like much fun, but there are ample opportunities for building and strengthening our resilience when we deal with our emotions head-on. This TED Ed video The Brief History of Melancholy is a great place to start exploring the emotion of sadness from ancient times until now and how sadness can actually positively affect resilience.

If you have read Chapter 2 on Understanding Emotion, you know that Elena also believes that the Pixar movie Inside Out should be required watching by all humans. This is why she shares this video, The Power of Sadness in Inside Out, as a resilience resource. It addresses the concept of negative emotions and explains how they can actually guide our rational thinking and strengthen our resilience.

From Sad to Mad: How Suppressing Your Sadness Invites Anger - GoodTherapy.org Therapy BlogWhen we don't allow ourselves to fully experience sadness (or judge ourselves for it), that bottled-up energy often evolves into anger.

Processing Sadness

Feeling Overwhelmed? Remember RAINTara Brach addresses feelings of insecurity and unworthiness through mindfulness and compassion with a meditation called the RAIN of Self-Compassion.

How To Turn Sadness Into CreativityNegative emotions need to be channelled well in order to deal with them effectively so find out how to turn sadness into creativity.