This week I’m talking about something that is a little mind-bendy and not at all obvious...but it's something that I've personally experienced and seen with enough clients that it's worth exploring.
Typically, when I talk about buffering, I'm talking about things like: food, alcohol, sex, drugs, social media, shopping, work. We look to things / activities OUTSIDE of us to help us numb the pain INSIDE of us.
It's *hard* to feel our feelings. And it's not like anyone ever pulls us aside somewhere in high school and let's us in on the big secret (see episode #5 for more on that!).
And sometimes, because it's so damn hard to feel our feelings, we choose one, big, dramatic experience that we can hit the "replay" button on so that we can, essentially, avoid feeling anything else.
It's emotional buffering. And many of us who experience anxiety, do this *exact* thing with anxiety.
This is mind-bendy because: who would CHOOSE anxiety? It doesn't make logical sense to our brains.
This isn't obvious because: if I'm feeling something, I might as well feel the ACTUAL feeling and move on.
But this seems to be the case. With a lot of us.
Tune in and let me know what you think: is this your experience? Have you ever, or do you currently, buffer other emotions with anxiety?
And, as always, I’d love to hear from Y-O-U! Comment below, send me an email, or connect with me on social media. I’d love to keep the conversation going with you between episodes.
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Here are the podcast links so you can listen in to this week’s show. See you there!
For iTunes, just click here.
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And Spotify? Click here!
To find out more about Jesse Blake, who is responsible for the wonderful music on the podcast, click here. He’s got loads of great stuff and all of you yogis, meditators, and yoga teachers will find his stuff especially wonderful for your practices and classes.
