02/19/2026
🌀Emotions can feel abstract, but it can be helpful to understand them like children inside of us.
When a child is loud, clingy, or acting out, it’s usually not because they want to be difficult it’s because they need attention, safety, or reassurance.🙏
Our emotions work in a similar way.
When we feel tension, worry, anxiety, or a sensation that keeps getting “louder” inside, that’s often our nervous system signaling that something needs care. These feelings don’t disappear simply because we ignore them. In fact, when we push them away, they tend to amplify — showing up more frequently, more intensely, or in different forms (tight chest, racing thoughts, irritability, fatigue).😮💨
From a nervous system perspective, emotions are adaptive signals. They are information. When they are unmet, they escalate in an attempt to be noticed.
Avoidance can temporarily reduce discomfort, but it does not resolve the underlying activation. What actually helps regulate emotion is gentle, intentional attention.☀️
The very thing we often fear, turning toward the feeling is what allows it to soften.
Getting acquainted with an emotion means:
Noticing where it lives in the body
Naming it without judgment
Allowing space for it
Offering curiosity instead of criticism
When emotions feel seen and acknowledged, the nervous system receives cues of safety. And safety is what allows intensity to decrease.
They don’t “go away” because we suppress them.
They settle when they are understood.
