Identify Toxic Emotions – 3 Steps To Release Them

Sometimes is hard for us to identify our toxic emotions. If we are not able to have clarity there is no way we can release our toxic emotions that no longer support us. In the process of letting go of toxic emotions I have found that is a must to be aware of them. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed and hurt that is even hard for us to become aware.

What does it mean to be emotionally repressed? Being emotionally repressed means that you are unable to feel your emotions or release them, therefore you hate being asked how you feel about something or someone. 

Toxic emotions can be anger, fear, low self esteem, resentment , rage, jealousy, shame or guilt that all create negative feelings about others or us. When we are not able to identify our toxic emotions we tend to repress them. It takes a lot of energy to keep our emotions buried.

How do you we know that we are repressing toxic emotions?

Here are some symptoms:

• Chronic fatigue
• No apparent cause of depression
• Not talking about our feelings
• Pretending that something does not matter when it really does
• Overreacting
• I don’t care attitude
• And so on.

The best way to have emotional freedom is to not only identify your toxic emotions but also to release them. If we repress our toxic emotions we are going to react to events in the present with the same reactions of past events. We are going to bring our past to our present and this creates a suffering cycle that never ends. Our behaviour and reactions will have a negative effect on relationships and our life in general.

What they do not know is that emotions that are repressed and are not fully expressed may even lead to serious cases such as having cancer and other chronic illnesses. The reason is because when a person experiences unpleasant emotions such as frustration, depression or fear, these emotions in turn elicit a different chemical reaction in his body that is totally different from the chemical reaction that is elicited when a person experiences pleasant emotions such as happiness, love or contentment.

Getting in touch with your own emotions and being able to recognize them and to know the proper way to release them is very important. One should be aware that other people and material things cannot change your emotions. Meeting new people or possessing new things can give you a temporary distraction or a different emotion but they still cannot change how you feel permanently.

A person also cannot change his emotions so it still boils down to how you keep up with your emotions, whether they are positive or negative. Accepting these emotions, recognizing them and releasing them is a way to manage your emotions.

With all these, how can one effectively recognize his emotions and how can one release them? The most essential thing is being able to identify one’s emotions. In order to do so, there are 6 methods to identify your emotions. A pivotal element to start identifying your emotions is being aware.

4 Methods To Identify Your Emotions

How do you identify emotions? The first method is to identify emotions is to  be aware of listening to your daydreams and thoughts. Daydreaming is a normal part of a person’s everyday life. It is, in fact, a constant aspect in people’s mind. As a person daydreams, constant thoughts are made. So you should make use of them efficiently by holding onto these thoughts and keeping them into your conscious. Write them down in a journal or a diary so that you will understand your thought patterns more and to attain awareness of them at a higher level.

Another method to identify your emotions is to recognize all the pain and hurt you have in yourself, even the unimportant ones. People are unaware but even the smallest and oldest pain that they have experienced can still affect them. Repressing these pains and hurt and unrecognizing their existence can create hardships with the self and even with one’s health. So identifying these pains will help you know why such emotions exist as they could actually stem from repressed emotions before.

Furthermore, recognizing the indifference between what you say and what you do is another method. People have a tendency to agree to something that they actually do not want to do. Hence, they end up being depressed, sad and mad toward the people around them that made them agree to it. Having this kind of thought may even result to having unpleasant feelings toward other people. If you are the type of person who has a hard time saying no, this specific method is especially for you. Emotions from these situations are essential to know how you handle your emotions.

The next method is crying as it is a natural form of releasing emotions for every human being. Through crying, a person can release all the hurt, stress and pain that he is feeling which is very helpful in expressing one’s emotions. If you are the type who is spiritual and believes strongly in your faith, then another method you can do is to ask for guidance and help from the divine collective energy. Ask them to help you not only to feel your emotions but also to be able to identify the core reasons on why you experience these emotions.

The last method is to write down your positive emotions. It is important not only to identify your negative emotions but also to identify and recognize the existence of your positive emotions because there should always be a balance in one’s emotional state.

3 Steps To Release Toxic Emotions

1. Know what emotions are. Understand how emotions are created (emotions , thoughts and feelings). Deepak Chopra suggests that we define the emotions in an emotional vocabulary that does not represent victimization. For example: Feeling sad is a genuine emotion. Feeling abandoned, on the other hand, represents victimization. You become a victim because deep inside you believe that it is not okay to have needs. Everyone else’s needs appear to be more important than yours. In this case, feeling abandoned is a toxic emotion.
2. Take responsibility, as Deepak Chopra says: if you are waiting for somebody else to change so you can feel better, you might wait for a long time. You take responsibility by acknowleging that you have this feeling.
3. Feel the sensations in your body and release them. When you think about it, were do you feel it in your body?. Place your hand on the part of your body where you sense that the feeling is located. Say it out loud: “It hurts here.” Breath and with every exhalation of your breath, have an intention of releasing that hurt. For the next 30 seconds, just feel the painful sensation leaving your body with every breath.

You can also write on a paper all the memories that come to you. Then, when you are ready you can burn the paper.