Rocket Fuel

Rocket Fuel: Overcome Feeling Agitated Through Harnessing Emotion

Meditation: Lighting a Fire

Begin by taking 3 long, slow, deep breaths. Breathe in……..and breathe out. Breathe in……..and breathe out. Breathe in……..and breathe out. And let your breathing be slow and regular.

Allow your eyes to close and use your mind’s eye to picture a wooded campsite, with an inviting campfire ring. You have a stack of uncut wood, that you want to chop and add to a magnificent fire. You take an axe and begin to shape the wood. The movement is swift and you feel the power of your body meeting the energy and stored potential in each piece. Chop after chop, you prepare the wood for the fire. Stacking the firewood in the fire ring and adding the kindling, you take time and care to prepare for a beautiful blaze. You strike a match and the potential in each element of the campfire comes into play and the scene begins to unfold. You feel the heat, smell the fragrance, have a taste in your mouth from smoke, see the flames, and listen to the crackle of the burn. You sit and take in the moment. Each flame and ensuing ember glows and dances before you. It is a time of calm and reflection as the fire dazzles and sends you into a tranquil repose. As the evening winds down, you relax and feel centered. You allow the fire to burn out and take to your bed to sleep through the night.

We will close by taking 3 long, slow, deep breaths. Breathe in……..and breathe out. Breathe in……..and breathe out. Breathe in……..and breathe out. Return your attention to the room.

Rocket Fuel: Harnessing Emotion

When we feel angry and agitated, there can be a tendency to act out. We might yell and scream and say things we will regret, out of that anger and agitation. It can also go as far as getting physical and doing things we feel ashamed of later when the time of those feelings has passed.

Emotions can run pretty high in life at times. These are definitely opportunities for us to harness and engage our emotions to accelerate change and meet our goals. We can utilize that emotion to activate and sustain our willingness to alter ourselves or our environment to better meet our needs and overcome the challenges that got us angry and agitated in the first place.

When emotions run hot, that burst of energy can be harnessed and utilized if we choose or it will just burn us up and keep us agitated. It’s really up to us to determine if we will reframe our anger and agitation and use it to propel ourselves forward toward change. Or, if we will just writhe in our own feelings and allow ourselves the resulting resentments and anxiety, plus the rumination and whirling mind, that comes with anger and agitation.

Learning to harness our emotions to spark and fuel change is really a beautiful thing. Mindfulness and willingness are required elements in this process. When we do use the dynamic energy in our anger or agitation to propel us forward and not burn us up, we can look back after the opportunity and really feel a sense of pride in our ability to harness our emotions and have a productive outcome.

Having strong emotions is very typical. We all have them. It’s what we choose to do with that energy that matters, either burn in it or harness that emotion towards our own evolution and meeting our goals. We can create contentment and a centered place in ourselves when we interact in productive ways with our strong emotions.

Centering is a loving practice we can gift ourselves. It is in those times we can really find contentment and peace if we have a shift in our focus and rely on our inner wisdom to evoke a change in the way we relate to our emotions. This practice is a form of self-love and self-compassion. We also engage our forgiveness in those moments as well, instead of layering shame, blame, and unmanageability on ourselves. This is an opportunity to really love ourselves in those agitated moments and release those unproductive responses and attend to, through harnessing emotion, making the emotion productive. We can bless ourselves with the ability to harness our emotions and this can really change the course of our lives.

Parable

My anger, and resulting agitation, are rocket fuel for change. Just like rocket fuel, there is so much potential energy in me that when I hit a flashpoint, I can burn hot and fast. Rocket fuel has so much potential when awaiting ignition and when it is lit, a power that can propel me forward. It’s where and how I apply that energy that makes those flames useful or destructive.

To harness that emotion, I realize that I am angry and agitated and apply that energy to meeting my goals and actively participating in my life. I know anger and agitation are a window into how strong my feelings and convictions are on a particular issue.

I don’t just bitch and moan out of anger. I find ways to actually apply my energy to solutions. I use that focus to derive solutions that I actively work on and sustain as I work towards resolving issues over time. I put effort into evoking the change I hope to see.

I also engage others in solutions, rather than blowing up on them and stating my position with no action on my part to evoke change. I see where and who my allies are and I reach out to them as I work to resolve internal or external issues that light me up. 

In the end, I always stay mindful of my anger and resulting agitation, as this points me toward problems that need solutions. I harness the dynamic power and emotion that I have and seek and engage in resolutions. In this way, I manage my distress by harnessing my emotions to evoke more and more positive change in myself. I spin anger and agitation into energy I can use to accomplish goals, seek solutions, and have the inner force to engage in coping strategies that help me plan for a better tomorrow when I cool off and can attend to my evolution and change.

Moral Harness emotion to overcome anger and agitation by evoking change.

Reflection

Are anger and agitation something you feel or struggle with?

When have there been times, people, or issues that cause you to feel anger and agitation?

Is it easy for you to complain about the issues or do you act on evoking change?

How can you better apply your anger and resulting agitation to bring changes into your life?

Are you willing to harness emotion and grow through the process?

Would harnessing your emotion and applying it to change bring more fulfillment to you?

How would it feel to respond with action instead of anger or agitation?

Exercises

Empowering Cards

In this exercise, you will be making a set of coping strategies you can use to soothe your anger and agitation in times of distress. The purpose is to be able to blindly deal cards with coping strategies and affirmations that you can act on to relieve your distress.

Get your journal or some paper and a writing utensil and reflect on the coping strategies you have worked on so far in these exercises. These could be “Go for a walk.” or “Take some long, slow, deep breaths.” or any of your coping strategies. Try and brainstorm about 10-15 different coping strategies and write these down in bullet points. Next, research or think about 10-15 affirming statements that resonate with you and write these down as well. These statements of affirmation could be inspirational quotes or as simple as “I am awesome.” or “I am growing and changing.”

Get some index cards and write a coping strategy or affirmation on each one. Deal the deck of coping strategies and affirmations when you are distressed and meditate on the affirmations or perform the coping strategy on the card. Deal yourself three cards. This method takes away the need to think of coping strategies or affirmations in moments of anger or agitation and relies on your calmer mind to direct you down a path of recentering.

Were you able to brainstorm some effective coping strategies and affirmations to add to your cards? Are you willing to use these cards to help you manage your distress?

Drawing Emotion

In this exercise you will be laying out and drawing your emotional distress to you can see it on paper. The purpose is to map out your feelings and really see how it’s affecting you.

Get a large sheet of paper, a writing utensil, and some colored markers. At the top center of the page, write a brief statement about a situation that angers you. You can write it in a color that resonates with you about the situation. In the center of the page, make a medium-sized box. In the box, fill the space with colors and shapes or a drawing that represents the intensity and vibrance of your emotion. You can draw something simple and just colorful or a detailed drawing representing that emotional intensity.

Next, make lines off the box and bubbles and fill these in with the unmanageabilities of the situation. Think about the facts of the situation that evoke so much emotion. Give yourself some space around each bubble. After you have laid out what is so unmanageable to you emotionally, start branching off actions you can take to shift the situation, whether it be action, inaction, or coping strategies for your own distress. Think about engaging yourself, your family, your friends, and even your community in the solutions.

Finally, use this map as a pathway to make a difference in your extreme and emotional situation. Commit to some of the actions that you can take. Engage in some solutions.

Were you able to creatively lay out a distressing situation that you are facing? Did you make a plan you can follow which engages you in the solution?

Pulling Weeds

In this exercise, you will be doing something physical to burn some anger and agitation. The purpose is to process these feelings and work them out in your body.

Find an area near you where you can pull some weeds or rake. Try and be very focused in your weeding or raking on improving the appearance of the space and stay mindful. Concentrate on your progress and be grateful for each and every weed you pull or leaf you rake. Allow this physical work to build your patience, release your emotion, and have you thinking about the task at hand.

Were you able to engage fully in the weeding process as a way to get past your emotions? Did you process your distress physically in this way?