Got big emotions? It’s pretty taboo stuff. As kids we learned to hide them. Are you comfortable getting vulnerable and talking about big emotions, “being” with them, sitting with them, exploring how they make you feel, what they mean to you, what it feels like to “lean” into them and let them “dissolve” within you? What do these feelings look like in your life, and what you have learned from them? Bonus Content: hyperlinks to favorite resources on values, beliefs and emotions, to help you on your journey.

Although some may beg to disagree, CO19 has done us all a big favor in bringing Grief, Sadness, Loneliness, and Loss to the forefront. We are surrounded by these emotions every day, all around us. Exposure to them helps us identify our values, and process our feelings. It also helps us get rid of beliefs, imprinted on us as kids, that are harmful or no longer serve us. Some of us are lucky enough to live in households with others open to talking about and exploring these topics. Others. Not so much.

If you’re not spending time sitting with and talking about the values, emotions, and beliefs, find someone who can help. One thing we have learned from scientists and doctors is that even if it doesn’t feel like it, we all suppress our feelings and retain beliefs antithetic to our values. It’s bad for our health and wellbeing. For example, suppressing emotions has been shown to be a contributing factor to little things like our happiness and stress, and big things like changes in health, behavior, development, memory, executive function, decision-making, scholastic achievement, and even acute and chronic illness. Medical specialists have demonstrated that talking about how issues make us feel, like CO19, climate, and the future of humanity, is crucial to healing and developing coping skills.

Typically, around age 7, kids start becoming aware and afraid of real-life dangers, like CO19 or climate change. But the emotions associated with these dangers are out of reach, causing anxiety. Kids simply can’t put their feelings into words. Not only must we all learn put our feelings to words, but also how to “be” with these feelings.

Here is a list of some of my favorite videos, articles, films, books, poems and songs that helped me embrace big emotions, values and beliefs. I hope they help you too. And be sure to sign up for my mailing list to receive a comprehensive list of over 100 live links that will take you directly to additional resources to help you, your kids, and family to cope, and also to thrive, prosper, and succeed in life, regardless of what keeps you cooped up inside!

https://positivepsychology.com/positive-effects-of-nature/ https://www.activehope.info/index.html
Terry Tempest Williams: “Survival Becomes a Spiritual Practice”
ShuNahSii Rose: Can our willingness to grieve save the burning world? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/10/impact-of-climate-crisis-on-mental-health Ciara O’Rourke: Climate Change’s Hidden Victim: Your Mental Health
Clarissa Pinkola Estes: We Were Made For These Times
The People Paradox: Self-Esteem Striving, Immortality Ideologies, and Human Response to Climate Change
Mary NurrieStearns: Transforming Despair: An Interview with Joanna Macy
Erika Spangler-Siegfried: The Miraculous Hope of Climate Realists Eve Andrews: Climate Anxiety Doesn’T Have To Ruin Your Life. Here’S How To Manage It.
Lama Willa Miller: 5 Buddhist Practices to Face the Truth of Climate Change and Take Action
Lynae Bresser: Building a Locus of Control: Protecting Yourself From “Climate Trauma”