Howdy readers! Long time no see with the bi-monthly issue of what’s hot & new in psychology and wellbeing information out there.
Been a couple of busy months, where I found out that singers and fashion models can also hold emotional education and regulation workshops. (oh, maaan!)
This is just my way of saying that as much as I love to see the awareness of mental health topics, I cannot help but wonder if it’s too large and too open. Just be careful about who is organizing that next well-being workshop that you will attend and take the information with a grain of salt.
Back to our curated and evidence-based information about well-being:
I. About how NOT to lose it
This cool piece is golden. Do you know all those times when you reacted in an angry or arrogant manner and regretted it afterward? So do I.
So this article takes you through a cool, quick method to pause before you react.
Pausing and taking a deep breath activates our parasympathetic nervous system. This reduces the release of cortisol, a major stress hormone, and naturally lowers our emotional temperature. Pausing also gives us the chance to quickly ask two useful questions: “How have I handled situations like this in the past?” and “What would my best self do right now?”
Along with permission to feel, we must also give ourselves permission to fail. When that happens, we can only try again — take a deep breath or two, envision our best selves, and start over. We also need the courage to apologize and forgive ourselves as we’d forgive others. Courage might even mean seeking professional help when all else fails. We’ll never stop having to work at being our best selves.
II. About emotions you didn’t know you had
How many emotions can you name and recognize? *take 2 minutes and think about this before reading further.
If you are like most people, somewhere between 7-10 is the lucky number. It would seem like enough, but actually, it’s not. The more granular (meaning we can express emotions with a wide range of words) we are in expressing and recognizing our emotions, the better we are at regulating and managing them.
Have you ever heard of “schadenfreude”? It’s a German word explaining a particular emotion, meaning the pleasant feeling that you have when someone has a misfortune.
This fun article gives you a quick snapshot of other emotions out there.
Desbundar (Portuguese) – to shed one’s inhibitions in having fun
Tarab (Arabic) – a musically induced state of ecstasy or enchantment
Shinrin-yoku (Japanese) – the relaxation gained from bathing in the forest, figuratively or literally
Gigil (Tagalog) – the irresistible urge to pinch or squeeze someone because they are loved or cherished
Yuan bei (Chinese) – a sense of complete and perfect accomplishment
Iktsuarpok (Inuit) – the anticipation one feels when waiting for someone, whereby one keeps going outside to check if they have arrived
There’s more where that came from. Also, did you know you can make up your own emotion?
III. About you
How often do you get so caught up in your thoughts that is so hard to do what you wanted to do? I sure am. So if you want to find out a quick and cool way to get unstuck, stay on the lookout for our substack on Monday.