Hello, beautiful humans and welcome to the mental Wellness. Wake up, show a weekly podcast where growth minded creative people, come to learn, best practices from both spirituality and psychology that create lasting well-being. I am your host mental Wellness, expert improvised acting teacher therapist and Coach, Don McMillan. Let's get to it. It. Hello, you gorgeous. Beautiful humans. Thank you for being here. Thank you for hanging out with me. Thank you for giving me your
time and your attention. It's a beautiful day, my friends. It is a beautiful day no matter when or where you are listening to this, I guarantee you there's something of beauty that you could attend to, and if you can't think of anything else, fine. Joe self a mirror and check yourself out because I guarantee you You are beautiful, true fact. True fact hear me now, believe me now and later you are a beautiful being. So, what I want to talk about today are emotions, even emotions.
I read this amazing quote, it's from Hale dwoskin, the leader of the Sedona Method institution process would over. Ooh, he didn't create it, but he's expanded it. So the didn't Sedona Method is a releasing and letting go process that can be wildly transformative. So I actually bought the Sedona Method book. I've bought other resources from Hale dwoskin and he actually has monthly calls. We can just hop on and do releasing with him. It's pretty cool.
Here's the quote. Emotions are just emotions. They are not you. They are not facts and you can let them go. and I tell you if if we could all just crack that and fullness, if we could just really deeply understand that I would be out of a job as a therapist. Please put me out of a job. I've always secretly wanted to open a barbershop, spend my days doing shaves and Fades. So feel free to unemployment by understanding emotions are just
emotions. They are not you, they are not facts and you can let them go. Emotions are just emotions. They are not you, they are not facts and you can let them go. In our culture, we tend to swing wildly from on the one end. Emotions Don't Matter. Their distractions be hyper-rational hyper logic logical.
Ignore and suppress your feelings and in response to that we have the other end of the pendulum, which is emotions are the most important thing, we must feel them, Express them, obey them, follow them, and let them lead. All of our life's decisions and control our experiences. for those of you who have been around me for a while, you're going to hear a both and 99% of the time when you find yourself in an either or situation, there's a both and available to
you. In fact, either or black and white thinking is a cognitive error that tends to lead to suffering. either, or it's this or that it's black or white, you know what else is a cognitive error that leads to suffering, emotional reasoning, emotional reasoning. So let's break that down. Let's break that down so that we can really allow it to sink into our bones in a way that enables us to use this quote in our lives starting now, But before I do that, thank you. Thank you for being here.
Thank you for being here. Did I say that already? I don't know. This is my second pass it recording. Thank you for being here. And if you're new around here, welcome, welcome, welcome. This is a safe place for you to be and I adore you even though I haven't met you in person yet. And for my continuing listeners, I don't know how to tell you this, but you are. In fact, some of the most amazing people on the planet today. It's true people talk It's a true thing. So thank you.
All right, so emotions are just emotions. What does that mean? Your emotions are created by thoughts that you believe in Sensations in your body. Your emotions are created by thoughts that you believe and Sensations in your body. Classic example, your heart is racing, your palms are sweating. If you are about to walk on stage in front of a thousand people, you might think that you're anxious. If you are about to get on the fastest roller coaster that's ever been made, you might think
you are excited. bodily Sensations are the same the thought that you are choosing to believe in that moment determines, which emotion shows up for you emotions are just physical, Sensations and thoughts that you believe You're probably hearing the subtext, which is, if you choose to have different thoughts and or believe different thoughts, or shout out to our people who have actually reached Enlightenment in this lifetime. You can not entertain your
thoughts at all. You can exist in a space outside of the thinking mind, in a way that allows you to be aware of your thoughts and not necessarily have any feelings about them at all. They come, they go. They come, they go. So, if your emotions are just emotions thoughts and pictures in your head, sorry, I have to say pictures. I forget not everyone is as
verbal as I am thoughts and pictures in your head. that you're making important in bodily Sensations that you are giving meaning to Tada end of story. So those are not you. I know, you know, that intellectually but there are a lot of us who are operating from, I feel therefore. I am. We give Credence to our personality as the way that we feel. Like I feel about this.
I feel about that I like this. I like that I was just talking with my sister about, there's a country Festival coming on Amazon soon and we were just talking about fandoms, you know, and how sometimes we Define ourselves by, I love country music. I'm the kind of person who loves country music, that's who I am. I feel strongly about this kind of music so that's my Identity or I Hate space. And that's who I am. I'm the kind of person who hates space and going to make a tribe out of that.
And an identity out of that, I like the color pink and that's my identity. We allow our emotions to Define our identity. And therefore, we think that what we feel. Is Who We Are. Descartes is famous for saying, I think, therefore I am Some of us live as though, I feel therefore I am. Excuse me, I can feel some sort of hat, I can feel some sort of objections coming up if I'm not what I think. And I'm not what I feel. Who am I? So, jump to the chase you. Or The Thinker who thinks the
thoughts, you are. The feeler. Who feels the feelings. You are not the thoughts. You are not the feelings. You are the Thinker. Who thinks the thoughts. You are. The fielder who feels the feelings. So feelings are just feelings. They are not you. Feelings are not facts. You're like, wait, it's a fact that I'm having a feeling sure, but the content of that feeling is not a fact. Emotional reasoning is a cognitive error that tends to cause suffering.
I feel like this person is my soulmate and therefore, even though I only met them an hour ago, I'm going to let them move into my apartment with me and sign over all of my checking accounts to this person because I just feel it in my bones. I really feel like something terrible is going to happen. There for something, terrible is going to happen.
Feelings are not facts. Fact. Yes, you're having a hearing fearing a feeling you're having a feeling but the content of that feeling is not necessarily a fact. You are believing something, you are choosing to believe something.
You are choosing to create meaning, but Donna doesn't feel like a choice, usually, it doesn't because it happens so fast and it's so we have been so programmed to have the thoughts and the feelings that we have most of what passes for thinking during the day is re cycling the same stuff over and over and over again, most of what passes for Um during a day is just random stuff that's been encountered by us are programmed into us by our and in our environment before the age of 8,
your feelings are not facts. I feel stupid. Does that mean? I'm stupid but a stupid even mean. I feel afraid. Therefore, there's something to be afraid of is there is their feelings are not. Facts. You do not have to believe them. You do not have to obey them. There is a way of being that acknowledges. Oh, look anxiety is present. Isn't that interesting? Hmm, I am noticing some despair. What am I noticing in my body? Oh my. I'm feeling tightness in my chest. What am I believing?
And believing that there is no hope for Humanity. Huh? There you go. There's the despair. Feelings are not facts. But Dawn, what about intuition? Intuition is not a feeling, what? No intuition is not a feeling, it's something else. It transcends and includes feelings, it transcends and includes thoughts. It is something else. And one of the ways that you can distinguish intuition from a feeling, is that intuition Is in compassed that the word I'm looking for enveloped in peace.
Even an intuition about something air quotes. Bad doesn't come in with, doesn't show up with Dread normally Maybe you you get this intuition. That something aversive may be about to happen in you put the dread on top of it, but the intuition itself shows up in an envelope of Peace feelings or are not facts, just because you feel, it doesn't mean it's true, doesn't mean it's useful, doesn't mean you have to do anything about it. Feelings are just feelings. They are not you.
They are not fact and you can let them go. You can let them go. You can let them go. Baja with. Oh well that's a lot of the work of therapy. If you want it to be and in the same way that you can drop a pencil, you can drop a feeling, you can choose not to continue to entertain the thoughts that are creating and promoting the belief. You can choose not to focus on the internal.
Station one of the read, one of the ways in which an anxiety Sensation turns into a panic attack is by believing that the anxiety sensation is important and terrible and we start to focus on it. Oh my God, my heart is racing. Oh no, no, my heart is racing. So we can let our feel sorry. I hope that didn't trigger you take a big deep breath. Blow it out. Like you're blowing out a candle. You can let your feelings go.
You can do various techniques and there are a gazillion of them to unwind from your programming to change your thoughts. You can direct your attention away from the feeling where the thought you can remember. That feelings are just thoughts or images in your head that you believe and Sensations in your body and put different thoughts and images in your hand. There's so many ways that you
can let a feeling go in the Sedona Method. one of the main techniques is, could you welcome this feeling? In this moment, as best, you can. Could you let that feeling go? Would you let that feeling go? When yeah, it can be that simple it can't be that simple. Another Stone in method technique which is one of my favorites is to vacillate between the air quotes positive in the air quotes - A lot of people have issues with their body. so, you would I hate my body.
I love my body. Can I allow myself to love my body as best I can in this moment? Can I allow myself to hate my body as best I can? In this moment, I love my body. I hate my body, I love my body, I hate my body. Spoiler alert, that's also a diffusion technique from acceptance and commitment therapy. And then after a while, it starts to become some sort of nonsense and or there starts to
be some space. The thought or the feeling so that you can then choose what you would prefer to attend to feelings are just feelings. They are not you. They are not facts and you can let them go. And what do you put in their place? Choice. Choice. I feel like something terrible is going to happen if I get on that airplane. Okay, let that feeling go. Now, will you choose? You can choose to get on the airplane or not, but how much better is it going to be for you
and your well-being? If you make that decision in peace rather than making that decision and panic? Feelings are just feelings and you can let them go. This episode is getting a little long. So I want to jump to what about feelings? I like, hmm, the Buddhist Temple Hospital us that we are controlled by both are of versions. The things we hate and can't stand and want to get rid of and our Cravings. The things we lost four and want to grab on to and hold onto for dear life.
Feelings are just feelings. Even the so-called good ones. You can let those go to, you don't have to cling to them, you don't have to reject them all feelings. When left to their own devices, they arise they fall they come they go and freedom. Freedom is found. In the space, where thoughts and feelings come? And they go. You are the Thinker who thinks the thoughts. You are. The feeler. Who feels the feelings.
You are the perceiver who perceives the sensations and everything else, arises and disappears. That's okay. And that's okay. You know? What else is. Okay, you, yeah, yeah. Alright. Yeah, you were whole. You were perfect. You are complete. You are worthy and deserving of peace. Of peace in your mind, in your heart, in your body, in your life. You are worthy and deserving of peace. Until next time, you beautiful humans. Thanks for being here.