Are You in Touch With Your Emotions?

When you're faced with a powerful or uncomfortable feeling, how do you deal with it? Sometimes when we don't know what to do with an emotion, we turn to food to cope with it or cover it up. This response can become so automatic that you may not even be aware of the emotion that's triggering your impulse to eat. But if you understand what you're feeling and what you really need, chances are you will realize that food isn't going to meet that need.

The next time you experience an uncomfortable emotion, try the following steps. They can help you understand where your feelings are coming from and how to manage them.

1. Connect with the emotion. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and continue to breathe comfortably and fully with nice, gentle, full breaths. Focus on your bodily sensations. Recognize how your body feels "in the moment" without judging or interpreting. Notice how your chest rises with each breath and how the air flows through your nose and into your lungs.

2. Observe the emotion. Ask yourself, "What am I sensing? What am I feeling? What am I thinking?" Resist the urge to figure out why you are feeling a certain way — just experience the emotion.

3. Evaluate the emotion. Practice recognizing your true needs. Perhaps you are bored? Then your need might be for activity. However, if you are lonely, the answer may be quite different — activity involving friends or at least other people. Now ask yourself, "What do I need right now? What is missing?"

4. Choose an action. Understand that there is no right or wrong here — individual needs vary. We'll offer some ideas, but the best actions are the ones you come up with yourself — the ones that meet your needs in the moment. For example, you may need to:

• Express the feeling in private (cry, write in your journal, etc.).
• Release the feeling through action. For example, you might find release through movement, like walking or dancing.
• Use relaxation techniques like deep breathing or meditation.
• Express the feeling to others you trust and seek their support.

Reconnecting with your emotions can help you find outlets for them that don't involve food. This week, focus on improving your emotional awareness.