What happens when you hold down an inflated beach ball? It will eventually bounce back up.
What happens when you hold in your pee? It can become painful and become a health problem if repeated over time.
What happens when you suppress a cough? It eventually comes out forcefully and awkwardly.

Emotions act the same way.

The more you try to ignore a feeling the more intrusive it becomes. If you think “I just want to stop feeling stressed!” Or “I just need to get over it” — two things eventually happen. Either your body manifests these emotions into physical illnesses (i.e headaches, chronic neck pain, stomach aches) or it manifests into behaviors that hurt others (blaming, saying hurtful words, hitting). One way or another, our body and brains are meant to process emotions.

Researcher Steven Hayes, PhD, has come up with a compassion-based method that has shown to be effective since the 1980’s. Studies have shown that this method significantly reduces depression, anxiety, PTSD, chronic illnesses, and more in both adults and children. In particular, it can help build self-esteem, resilience and teach you how to self-manage the difficulties in life.

The methods below may appear challenging only because we are so accustomed to either avoiding our emotions or reacting to our emotions, so remember it takes time and practice just like any new skill we learn.

*Fun Tip: If you are a parent, using the initial examples above are a great way to teach your kids why it may be unhelpful to hold in their thoughts and emotions.